What Is User Interface(UI) Design? 4 Benefits of Great UI!
User interface (UI) design is the process of designing visual interfaces for software, and websites that grab the attention of the viewer. User interface design deals with the creation of the graphical layout of a website or application.
Buttons, typography, images, sliders, contact forms, all the other assets the user interacts with are created within the user interface design process. This contains transitions, screen layouts and animations as well. Any visual element is included.
Good interface design can’t be underestimated in a world where 55% of people spend less than 15 seconds actively on a web page. If you only have a mere few seconds to grab the attention of your readers, then the design needs to be visually appealing and easy to understand.
You may have engaging and informative content, but people may never read it if their first impression of your website is a poor one. A good user interface design directly correlates to a good user experience, which correlates to overall good customer experience, and a good customer experience means higher conversion rates.
As a side note, while UI design and UX design are closely related they are not the same thing. A user’s interaction and overall experience with a company’s website or services can be defined as UX. On the other hand, UI is the specific assets users interact with.
What Makes Good UI Design?
Scientists have spent hundreds of years trying to analyse what humans find beauty in and why. Although there isn’t a definitive answer that will apply to all people, there are some tried and tested techniques.
For example, when it comes to colour, you want to create a high enough contrast between two objects so that one of them can ‘pop’. Too little colour contrast and the content becomes washed out, and too much and you enter into the garish territory.
Our eyes tend to scan the top and left sides of objects first, so designing your website with an F-shaped pattern is another way to make your page easier on the eye.
As another example, proper typography is vital for a good UI design. Typography aims to provide an aesthetic and easily readable copy to readers with proper font styles, appearances, and structure.
4 Benefits of Great UI Design!
1. Customer Confidence
A good UI interface will give your prospective buyers confidence in your brand. If your website suffers from poor UI design because it is clunky, unresponsive, and visually unappealing it gives off the impression that you either aren’t capable of designing a good website or that you don’t care about customer experience.
Accessibility plays a significant role here too. Your potential customers can come from all walks of life and if a customer is having issues navigating your website due to disability, they’ll move onto a company who accommodates them better.
2. Customer Acquisition
You could be losing hundreds if not thousands of potential customers due to a poor UI design. According to the Digital Customer Experience Improvement Playbook for 2019, a well-designed user interface could raise conversion rates by up to 200 per cent!
3. Standing Out
We live in the digital age where creating and maintaining a website is easier and more accessible than ever. This means that competition is fierce. Your website design is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
Prove to your customers that you know what they want and like as well.
4. Customer Retention
Because competition is so fierce, hanging on to your loyal customers is more important than ever. Customers care about having a consistently high-quality experience with your company, and if they don’t, they may look elsewhere.
You want to keep your customers coming back because they are guaranteed a pleasing and smooth experience with your website.
Conclusion
Your visual identity matters. It’s no longer enough to have a simple website with all the right information, you now need a website that is visually stunning and will hold your customer’s attention. There’s a lot of power in picking the right images, fonts, and colours because it speaks to your brand’s visual identity. Your visual identity is how you become memorable to your customers and potential customers.