3 tips to make any design more user-friendly

When visual design is done right, people are more likely to engage with your content.

In other words, if your design provides a delightful and painless experience, then people will read what they need to read and get where they need to go. This is especially true for the kind of design work we do at Pixo for websites and user interfaces. (And don’t forget that quality content is step one.)?

How can you be sure that your design is helping people's experience rather than hindering it? Here are three simple questions to find out:

Is your design visually consistent?

Is there a unified system of user interface (UI) elements that ties everything together? And do those elements clearly communicate the intended function?

Your website or app likely began with a clear set of design patterns. Take buttons, for example. Your UI may have started with a simple set of link styles:

But over time, new button styles have been added to meet different needs. As each button style attempts to communicate something unique, the user is forced to re-learn its purpose with every interaction.

Don’t add styles for the sake of variety — give your audience consistent visual cues that serve as wayfinding landmarks, and avoid shape-shifters that stray from the pattern.

Is the hierarchy clear?

Does your design help the reader focus on the right things in the right order?

When we look at this image, our eyes naturally follow the pattern that the text expects us to. The design accomplishes this with the right combination of size, color, space, and composition.

Your design probably doesn’t have strong visual hierarchy if there is:?

• Very little size difference in text
• Not enough color contrast between elements
• Little white space, with too many elements crowded together

Is the text readable?

Do your design choices make your content illegible? Check for these red flags:

• Is the font too small or too decorative to parse?
• Is your text blending into busy background images or graphics?
• Are the lines of text too long? Watch for this on larger screens especially. As text stretches out over a wider distance, your eyes are more likely to lose track of where you are.?
• Do you have enough contrast between the background color and the text color? The image here shows a need for more contrast.

So if you can answer "yes" to these questions (your design is consistent with clear visual hierarchy and readable text), you’re on your way to creating an interface that people actually want to use.

Thinking about a design refresh?

A design audit can help you plan and budget for website or app updates. We’d love to work with you to evaluate your current tool and offer recommendations for better usability, accessibility, and branding.

Reach out to Danielle Hendricks or get in touch here.?