SpyreStudios

Web Design and Development Magazine

  • Design
  • Showcase
  • Inspirational
  • Tutorials
  • CSS
  • Resources
  • Tools
  • UX
  • More
    • Mobile
    • Usability
    • HTML5
    • Business
    • Freebies
    • Giveaway
    • About SpyreStudios
    • Advertise On SpyreStudios
    • Get In Touch With Us

Tips for Planning a Lean Versatile User Experience

October 24, 2014 by Jake Rocheleau

A typical user experience design focuses on many factors that you might not initially consider. Interacting with a website or mobile app is a two-fold process – the user performs some action like a click or swipe, and the interface responds accordingly. This is the general nature of user experience design. The question is how to follow UX design principles to craft simple and usable interactions?

iphone app ux ui design frame

In this post I hope to outline a number of tips to help build lean usable interfaces. Starting from a user experience perspective allows better ideas to come out of the creative process. This should be your first priority before even designing or coding any part of the interface. By following these tips you can put together some high-quality products with a bit of conceptualizing and improvisation.

Goal-Driven Design

Another way of being “goal-driven” is to ensure that you’re solving the right problem. Designing for the user could mean designing a simple layout, or a responsive layout, or a well-designed layout, or a content-filled layout. Instead focus on what the user wants to do and not specifically how they want to do it.

This way you’re open to more ideas yet still solving the same problem. If users on a medical clinic’s website need to find operating hours you should be aiming to make that process quick and effortless. You could list operating hours in the footer, or on a contact/details page. Specifically use the phrase “hours” in a link somewhere to make it obvious. Also using that keyword in the page title would improve Google rankings.

Keep in mind that goals are not always geared towards finding content. Sometimes the goal is to increase user signups or increase retention rate on blog posts. UX design is a creative field used to solve problems related to user interfaces. Stay focused on the end result instead of just one process and you’ll open yourself up to deeper solutions.

Write Plenty of Ideas

Although this suggestion might be geared towards brainstorming it still fits nicely into UX design. Lean experiences are created by reducing the number of steps from one objective to the next. How this should be accomplished is always open to debate with other designers or within the labyrinth of your own mind.

Question your own ideas frequently. Try to build on top of the best ideas by asking “how can this be simpler?”. There’s a difference between overthinking and critical thinking. That little editor in your head can be great once you have something to edit. But glaring at a blank page with feelings of anxiety and desperation is a one-way trip to Procrastinationville. I hear it’s a nice place for vacation but not much gets accomplished.

More reading material: 28 Articles on Usability

Instead of constantly striking down every idea simply write them down. In the beginning it’s important to just get some ideas even if they’re bad. A list of 10-15 ideas only needs 1 working concept to spur greater detail.

drawing sketching notebook ideas written

Designers who prefer to draw instead of write ideas should get into the habit of sketching concepts. Some people work better through visualization and quick sketches are easy make. The point is getting down some ideas into the physical world – either on paper or digitally on the computer. After a little while take a break and reread each idea. The bad ones will be glaringly evident but the decent ones will stand out and get you on the right train of thought.

Jotting down 10 ideas that all sound terrible is a much better choice than overthinking and never writing down anything. During the early stages of a project aim for quantity, then get lean and trim the fat to aim for quality.

Aquatic Flow

Every design should flow naturally and this includes print design work. For interface design the flow is not just about symmetry or whitespace, but also about the flow between pages of content. An ideal user experience feels much like swimming in water – there is space to move but it’s also confined. The movements should feel natural and somewhat predictable.

It may help to draw a flow chart between pages. Wireframing is the process of sketching each individual page view to show how elements on the page relate to each other. Storyboarding is the process of linking these wireframes together so you can visualize the process of clicking a link. The most important thing to remember is that everything should make sense.

iphone wireframing sketches notebook

Even folks who are not familiar with technology should be able to navigate your website or mobile app. Links should be easy to read and the text should clearly denote where the link goes. I’ve seen too many websites using well-designed navigation elements that still leave me searching for a particular webpage. Clarity includes both context and content.

Use Whatever Works

Why reinvent the wheel? Obviously to innovate, but unless you’re truly innovating by improving what already exists then it will be an uphill battle. New ideas are not always the best ideas. Take concepts that already exist and see how they can fit into new project work.

User Experience as Brand Experience

Lean UX design should elicit the simplest methods to create a relatable experience. When it comes to interface design there are only so many techniques that can be relatable to a majority of users. These are relatable because they’ve been seen before. Why? Because they work!

Proverbs continue to ring true for this very reason. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and for goodness sake don’t break it! Spend time searching online to organize a series of apps or websites that are close to the current project. Put together a small list of what you like and why you like it.

Review each concept and visualize how that could work in your current project. Interface design is a visual medium which makes textual note-taking a little strange. But if your notes represent something visual then you’ll be able to recall those ideas visually in your mind. As you practice the art of designing lean user experiences the process will gradually become more comfortable.

Closing

Remember to keep these tips in mind at all times during the creative process. The initial brainstorming step is when ideas are most fluid. Beyond that point there is often more structure but still plenty of room to get messy. Lean UX design is about focusing on the end result and making the acquisition process as simple as possible.

If you liked this post you may also like:

The User Experience And Psychology Of Colour

Filed Under: UX Tagged With: howto, ux design, web design

Recent Posts

  • What Factors Determine the Best Digital Marketing Agency?
  • 31 Fresh Design Elements for Spring and Easter
  • 10 Templates for Music Concert Flyers
  • How to Build a Web Scraper Using Node.js
  • Best PHP Books, Courses and Tutorials in 2022

Archives

  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008

Categories

  • Accessibility
  • Android
  • Apps
  • Art
  • Article
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • Bootstrap
  • Business
  • CSS
  • Design
  • Development
  • Ecommerce
  • Fireworks
  • Flash
  • Freebies
  • Freelance
  • General
  • Giveaway
  • Graphic Design
  • HTML5
  • Icons
  • Illustrator
  • InDesign
  • Infographics
  • Inspirational
  • Interview
  • Jobs
  • jQuery
  • Learning
  • Logos
  • Matrix
  • Minimalism
  • Mobile
  • Motion Graphics
  • Music
  • News
  • Photoshop
  • PHP
  • Promoted
  • Rails
  • Resources
  • Showcase
  • Tools
  • Tutorial
  • Twitter
  • Typography
  • Uncategorized
  • Usability
  • UX
  • Wallpapers
  • Wireframing
  • WordPress
  • Work

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

SpyreStudios © 2022