Successful project launches are a combination of good website design, appropriate content and a little bit of lunch. However sometimes even the best intended design can get derailed by simple UX design mistakes. These tiny but important details can confuse the user and muddle the intended actions of the interface. Even the most seasoned designers could make these mistakes, leading to users feeling lost and confused with the UX/UI design and how to accomplish their goals on the website or app.
However many of these design mistakes are extremely easy to correct if paid attention to.
Let’s understand what these common design mistakes that can ruin user experience are.
1. Lack of User Research
Designers or organisations should never assume that they know exactly who their users are, what they want and how they can solve the problem for their users.
Doing proper UX research is critical for establishing the domain of the problem/context, and to determine what your intended users need and want. Never jump into designing a new product without understanding what problem you are really trying to solve and who you are trying to solve it for. How can you solve this problem for them in a way that no one else does?
2. Unreadable Typography
While the typography and fonts you use might seem like an inconsequential detail, if the typography can make it hard for your users to read your content, it can cause very real problems for the user.
While novelty typography can feel exciting to use, be aware of how the letters look in the words you are using. Ensure that you maintain the readability of the text. Be wary of typefaces that have very severe slants, tight and condensed letterforms, elaborate swashes, tails or ligatures and letterforms that have uncommon shapes.
This is an easy problem to solve. Simply switch out the unreadable typeface with something that is both readable and interesting.
3. Unclear Information Architecture
As you know, the information architecture clearly defines the organisation of your information, and the pathways that a user will take to access it within their experience. If your information architecture is overly complicated, your users will have a hard time locating the information they need. If your users get lost and complicated they are most likely to exit from the website or app and never return. Thus ensure your information architecture is planned in a way that makes it easy for them to locate the information they need.
4. Poor Accessibility
Most adults have some form of disability that makes it hard for them to use websites and apps. Thus keeping accessibility in mind while designing your product is not only essential for good user experience design, it is the right thing to do. There are some very simple ways to achieve this.
- Make your site screen-reader friendly
- Keep your navigation scheme simple
- Go easy on the JavaScript
- Make sure you have good labels and are using semantic markup
- Use accessible colors wherever possible
- Check in with accessibility specialists to ensure quality accessibility
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are a great starting point to understand whether your product adheres to the accessibility guidelines.
5. Poor Alignment
It really doesn’t matter what kind of alignment you opt for, but it is important to have consistent alignment throughout your website or app. Type and elements should rest comfortable within a grid. Avoid jagged edges so that you do not interrupt a users visual flow. When their visual flow is disrupted, it can make it hard for users to move from one element to the next in the design. They could also end up missing out some really important content.
You can solve for this by using mock text to preview your layout, adjust the design and then establish a set of guidelines based on what works.
6. Failing to Adjust for Mobile Display
Having a responsive template is not a one-stop solution.The design will need to be adjusted for different screen sizes. Designers may neglect this detail and this could adversely affect user experience. Designers need to ensure that the type sizes are not too small, or that images are sized responsively and proportionately for different aspect ratios of a mobile device. These little details can seriously annoy users.
To fix it, make sure you spend some time with your mobile design. Take a note of small details that might seem out of place and cause frustration. Check text sizes, images, load times, button placements and make necessary adjustments to provide a more seamless experience.
7. Too Many Pop-Ups
While having a chatbot can be a great way of offering quick, convenient and personalised customer service, having poorly designed or too many pop ups can have the opposite effect. If they are too distracting, they could annoy your users and completely turn them off.
Chatbots for customer service or lead capturing should use state of art AI so that responses are timely and relevant and are easy to use but not distracting. This is essential for good UI and UX design.
Conclusion
While many of the things we’ve listed might seem really small and inconsequential, they can actually ruin your user experience. By avoiding then you can create user experiences that are robust, resilient and which can help your users get to where they ultimately want to go.