Of the millions of websites that make up the internet, you probably only use a handful every day. Sites like BBC News, Facebook, and Amazon appear on your Bookmarks bar because they provide a great news resource, allow you to keep in touch with friends, or buy cheap books. These sites are memorable for what they enable you to achieve online, and using them is usually a positive experience. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t go back day after day. Or, in the case of Facebook, hour after hour.
Sadly, not all websites are so easy to use. For years Mildred has bought catnip for her cat Fluffy from her local pet shop. Ever since her daughter told her you can get better deals online Mildred’s been keen to check out Catspajamas.net. To start with Mildred found it difficult to find catnip among the different departments and categories on the site. She finally chose a catnip product, no thanks to the cluttered product review section. When asked to sign up as a member of the site, Mildred encountered a long form with many mandatory fields. With Fluffy in mind she soldiered on... until she started the checkout process. At this point Mildred needed to go for a lie down.
Poor Mildred! All she wanted was to make Fluffy happy. Poor Catspajamas.net! Many more experiences like Mildred’s and they could go out of business. And poor Fluffy! He can’t take himself down the shops for his catnip fix - he's got no pockets for the money.
Unlike successful websites, Catspajamas.net wasn’t thinking about the user when they designed their site. Although the site made sense to them as sellers, they started with the technology and tried to shoehorn the functionality in. Putting the user at the centre of the website design process allows you to build a site that helps all of your audiences all of the time. By understanding what site visitors want to achieve, how they behave, and the tasks they have to complete, you can design a solution for their needs. This is User Experience design, or UX for short.
User experience designers conduct research that’s led by end users rather than the company behind the site. In a digital agency UX designers might hold day jobs as graphic designers, developers, or content specialists, but take the glasses off and their UX superpowers shine through.
Throughout the website design process UX designers test, iterate, and test some more to make sure the new website works for real people.
Knowing Mildred, if you asked her what she thought of Catspajamas.net she’d probably say, “It’s fine dear.” Watching her struggle through the checkout process would tell a different story. UX gets beyond what people say, and observes what they do.
A good UX designer will juggle the three main features of every project: the business objectives of the website, the needs of the users, and any constraints to budget or time. With these as the guiding principles UX has real practical application.
Can users find the content they need easily on your site? Do users complete your online shop checkout without any problems? Are your forums fun rather than frustrating? If not, maybe you need UX in your life.
Even if you don't yet know a UX designer, you can start to put the users at the centre of your website. Apply these rules today, and help every Mildred and Fluffy find the catnip on your site.
1. Research site search terms. Find out what people are searching for within your site, and you’ll discover what information is difficult for users to locate.
2. Think like an outsider. The main navigation of your site shouldn't reflect the internal structure of the organisation. It should be what makes sense to a user.
3. Observe people using your site. Quick usability tests are easier to run and less expensive than you might think, all you need is a willing volunteer or two.
4. Use clear link names. Clarity trumps fun, so opt for ‘Jobs’ rather than ‘Career opportunities’ in the main navigation. But when you're linking to other pages within text use several words. The user will be much clearer about where the link goes.
5. Ignore the fold. People get hung up about what information appears 'above the fold' on a website (without having to scroll). Users are happy to scroll as long as the design and content of your site suggests there's information worth scrolling for.