UX designing is becoming an integral part of application development. Although it was part of the application development exercise, gradually, we have seen its significant rise progressively. Why do you think that is so?
This is because customer experience has become the guiding principle and a survival strategy for the business. As people are accessing more digital devices, their experiences are becoming the food for thought that designers use to build better interfaces.
UX is not only about good visuals or adding animation to the design. Now it is about creating a unique experience and, while you are at it, communicating with the design. And when work on something with insufficient knowledge, mistakes are bound to happen. So, before building any application, research the audience and understand what they like and what they don’t like. The motive is to avoid making the most common UX design mistakes and save yourself money, time, and unhappy customers.
Have you ever used Instagram? Did you know there was one application that could have given Instagram a run for its money, and it was launched back in 2011? The application was Color Labs, and the concept was simple. With this app, the users could share pictures with other users in the vicinity.
So, if you are standing in Central Park in New York, all the photos clicked by users in the same area will show on your device. The idea was great, and it picked up some pace but failed.
You know why? Yes, it was because the application was too cluttered. The users were not able to find the right options and use the right buttons. In the end, the application was taken off, and the company shut down.
There are hundreds of such examples where the application idea is phenomenal, and it can actually work. But the user experience is not good, and people decide not to use it again.
You don’t want your application to see the same fate. So, make sure to do your UX right, and by right, we mean that you do not make mistakes that everyone makes. Below are the UX mistakes that every UX designer must learn, understand, and stay away from.
Common UX Design Mistakes You Should Not Commit
The Interface is Too Complex
Do you know that the best interfaces are invisible to the user? Confused? Well, this means your interface has to be so simple and smooth that it should let the user do any work.
It has to take a natural flow from the person opening your application to completing the task. On the contrary, a complex interface is like having too many options on the same page, which derails the user’s excitement to use your application.
They face difficulties in navigating or finding the right option, most probably because the interface is clunky. Remember that anything too difficult for the audience to use will be abandoned, period.
If you don’t want to make this mistake, use common UI elements that every person using a smart device is accustomed to. Be consistent with your core design skeleton, but you can play around with the aesthetics to give your users a more soothing and relevant experience.
Not Discussing the UX Design with the Team
If you think that creating a UX design is the work of one person, this is your second common UX design mistake. Why so? Again, UX is not only about designing and adding colors.
While retaining the importance of these aspects, you also need to focus on the usability of the app. And when it comes to that, you cannot be the only authority to decide what qualifies and what does not qualify as the right UX design.
A better approach is to include as many stakeholders as you can in the designing process. The motive is to gain insights into what they know about a customer’s experience. With the stakeholders giving their insights, you can take the strategic road to create the best UX design. Conduct cross-disciplinary discussions to understand the customer’s behavior from people who are not related to designing.
Failing to Form a First Impression
Make no mistake, first impressions matter, even in the digital world. 80% of the customer won’t think twice before deleting an application if it does meet expectations. More so, 60% will delete the app or bounce off from a website after one attempt.
In this case, imagine if your signup page is difficult to understand or the buttons are not in the right place, the users will delete it after one bad experience. And that’s it.
So, you have to make sure that every impression counts and the first impression are the leaders. In a world where 90% of a person’s internet time goes towards scrolling through different applications, you have to make a good first impression.
Inconsistent Design
UX is not the place to conduct experiments, especially when addressing a population that will uninstall the app if it's confusing. Your users have set some expectations of how the application will work.
For instance, if it is a food ordering app, they will expect the add to cart button in the middle. If it's an app like Amazon, the natural process to open the cart is at the top right corner.
These are the habitual aspects of an application that the user is accustomed to. In other instances, using different words for the same action or similar control options for different actions or the UI elements are not in conformity to the UX.
Things like these will create confusion among the users, and they will feel betrayed. So, your task is to maintain that consistency that your users are expecting.
Cloning the Competitors Application
So, this is one of those common UX design mistakes which some of the top UX design services companies can also make, and it is cloning. Imitating a competitor’s application just because it has worked well is the worst idea ever for a business that wants to establish itself in the market.
The reason is simple, what worked for them might not work for you, and for this reason alone, you should not do it. On the contrary, if you find a competitor’s application and it is working well, learn from them.
Profile everything about the application and understand why their application is working. Is it good design, features, the way screens transition, etc.? Learn and innovate to build something better.
While you are at it, gather all the negative reviews about the application, no matter how small they are, and ensure that your application does not have that element.
Applications and designs get outdated quickly. So, don’t make the mistake of copying another application. Follow the trends, instead. Note where the trends are going and how they are changing.
Adding Too Many Features
Features are the lifeline of your application. Even in times of adversity, having one good feature in your application can help you sustain yourself in the market. But you will fall prey to another one of the common UX design mistakes if you think that too many features are good.
You can ask any top mobile developer about how many features are best; they will recommend keeping it to the bare minimum. If you go against this advice, your users will be faced with the paradox of choice.
This means that the more choice a person has, the less confident they will be about making the decision. The same applies to an application. Any interface that is bloated with a ton of features will not get a good response.
On the contrary, the users will feel overwhelmed about using the application; they will get confused. And you already know when you confuse your users.
To Sum It Up
Designing an application is a challenging task; we do not deny that. But, you will make it a bigger challenge by committing the common UX design mistakes. Working on the UX of an application requires you to open your mind to absorb the information present all around you.
Understanding your users and how they interact with an interface is the key to creating the best UX designs. More importantly, there is nothing general about creating an application’s interface and the underlying design.
You need to work on creating the best application your users have engaged with by first knowing what they like and what they don’t like. And the common UX design mistakes you have read above are a summary of everything they don’t like.
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