There are an estimated 1.88 billion (i.e. 1,880,000,000) websites that currently exist (although only about 16.79% are active and being used in some form or fashion), with approximately 250,000 new websites being created every day. Whichever way you slice and interpret the data, these are the top 3 findings:
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Companies, Brands and people are creating websites at incredible speeds
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83.21% of website created have/ will become inactive for one reason or the other
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16.79% (315,652,000), while it appears a small percentage, is a huge number for any one brand to compete with for not just Google ranking but from the viewpoints of customer share of mind and wallet
Websites can broadly be categorised into these 13 types:
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eCommerce Websites (purpose is buying and selling of products online)
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Business Websites (purpose is to establish an organisation’s presence online)
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Blog Websites (purpose is to provide information in a highly informal and conversational manner to interested readers)
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Personal Websites (purpose is to promote the ideas, thoughts, feelings, talents and skill of an individual)
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News and Magazine Websites (purpose is to publish local or world news online for readers across the globe)
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Membership Websites (purpose is internal and where information access is limited to members)
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Portfolio Websites (purpose is to showcase the best work of professional individuals)
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Educational Websites (purpose is providing education information to students)
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Online Job Websites (purpose is providing job opportunities to people looking for work)
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Entertainment Websites (purpose is to convey entertainment and news to visitors)
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Brochure Website (purpose is to advertise a company’s products/ services to prospective customers)
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Social Forum Websites (purpose is to provide a social platform for sharing and discussion amongst members)
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Search Engine Websites (purpose is to provide information according to user search queries)
In this enormous digital world of website design and website development, designing a website - be it for an ecommerce website or a simple web page design, the biggest failure on the part of website creators that results in bad web design and development is when user interface design and the user experience design is convoluted.
What is UI UX Design and Development?
UI Design (i.e. User Interface Design) focuses on ways to improve the look and interactivity of a website or mobile application, with the sole intention of optimising user experience. Every visual element that appears on the page of a website has a reason and purpose behind its presence on the website.
Important UI Elements include:
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Input Controls - These are elements that allow users to input specific information into the system (e.g. Name, email id, Address, Date of Birth etc)
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Informational Components - These are elements that share information with users (e.g. Choosing between different offers or plans)
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Navigation Components - These are elements that enable users to move around the website or app
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Container Components - These are elements that hold similar or related content together within a layout (e.g. Top Navigation + Header content + Footer content etc)
UX Design (i.e. User Experience Design) focuses on optimising the satisfaction of the user when they interact with the website or application. UX design revolves solely around customer-centric development. Elements like Page Speed, Responsiveness, Personalisation, Multi-lingual etc. all contribute and impact the overall user experience.
The singular purpose of good UI UX design is to ensure the pleasure and satisfaction of the user. When done correctly and responsibly, UI UX design can not only build a business’s reputation along with brand value, but also grab user attention and maximise ROI.
Important UX elements include:
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Strategy Plane - This plane incorporates the user’s needs as well as product objectives. The simplest way to arrive at this is by asking 3 questions:
Why do we want to build this product? What are the needs of our users? How do we address/ deliver them? -
Scope Plane - This plane incorporates the features, functions and content elements needed to meet the user’s needs. It is guided by the product strategy.
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Structure Plane - This plane defines concrete elements (i.e. bringing various features and functions together and how to deliver specific information) that users need to go to the next level of fulfillment.
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Skeleton Plane - This plane defines the interface elements (i.e. buttons, images, text blocks etc) that empower user understanding and seamless movement across the platform.
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Surface Plane - This plane defines the final visual treatment (i.e. the look and feel of the platform)
Caveat: Each plane is inter-dependent on the plane before as well as the plane after. Changes to any one will have one or more impacts across all planes, in one way or the other.
5 primary components of sound UI UX design:
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Visual Design - Creating and maintaining a consistent look across the website that is simple, intelligent and cohesive with the brand. It involves the use of colours, images, fonts, videos and other elements to ensure better engagement for the user. And it determines how quickly the user can find relevant information and execute a particular task
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Information Architecture - Creating and maintaining a concise and naturally progressive information flow within a defined structure. Good Information Architecture enables users to find everything they need without getting lost and without too much of effort
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Interactive Design - Understanding how customers engage with not just the design of the site but also the information architecture. It involves determining the ease or smoothness of integration between the user and the website. And how quickly the user can reach their target page, find the relevant information or perform the desired action in the best possibly way
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Usability - Ensuring that the visual design and information architecture is built for user-friendliness. It involves ensuring that users quickly become familiar with the interface as well as enabling them to achieve quick recall on subsequent visits
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Wireframing - to ascertain and create the wireframe appearance of a prototype. Wireframing enables both designers and developers to test the website or applications appearance, features, functionality and usability before going live
Conclusion: As more businesses adopt digital transformation in an effort to improve customer fealty , generating new and sustainable revenue streams, UI UX design and development plays more than a vital role towards creating a successful brand. UI UX requires going beyond copying a design off your competitors, or even buying a template off a platform. As with any product or service business that requires conducting Market Research for product viability, understanding Customer Behavioural Psychology, understanding Customer Pain points and Biases, defining your Ideal Customer profile, defining your Value Proposition, defining your Marketing Funnel with clarity and purpose etc, all of them require time, effort and consistency; so too does UI UX. UI UX influences potential customers' decisions on whether to avail your company’s solutions or not. Not only does UI UX help business growth and revenue, but it is also crucial to the reputation of the business.
Related Reading: Harness the Power of AI, Driving traffic to your ecommerce website
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