UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
October//20//2017
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/10/14/bad-design-isnt-just-ugly-expensive/?ref=webdesignernews.com
The Cost of Bad Design Decisions. Article hailing from The Next Web, focused on demonstrating on how poor design solutions can have damaging effects on the viability of companies/businesses. The article focuses on the triumvirate of brand, customer experience and return on investment, to make their points (with examples), of how expertly conceived design solutions can improve and provide success to the companies that choose to follow them. Highlight of the article includes:
“Though good user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design are far from easy, bad UX and UI, in the form of buggy, confusing, and lagging websites have a very tangible, negative impact. This is called the cost of frustration, and can be measured in one simple way: just divide the yearly budget for a customer service department by the quantity of calls handled. Moreover, in a digital world where companies live and die by page views, optimizing your company’s web presence (for both customer experience and search results) is essential.”
2.https://www.justinmind.com/blog/how-storytelling-can-improve-ux/?ref=webdesignernews.com
How Storytelling can Improve UX. Interesting article that associates the concept of storytelling with the definition of User Experiences that are more rewarding to the user himself. The article outlines tools, but also what underlines the usefulness of storytelling as a means to narrate what an app or product is really about. Highlight:
“Stories tap into our emotions. Imagine for a moment that you’re on a webpage and something has gone wrong. You’re paying for something and an error occurred and before you know it you’re anxious about your bank details being exposed or a payment not going through. A friendly popup or dialog can put you at ease, assuaging any conflict you may experience. You’ve been rescued. It’s little UX solutions like this that can help users stay calm and see you as trustworthy.”
3.https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2017/10/3-smart-ways-to-engage-users-with-animation/?ref=webdesignernews.com
User Engagement and Animations. Hailing from WebDesignerDepot, this article focuses on how animations (and microanimations), provide further richness to a product experience, and how they engage client attention and ultimately retention. The article highlights different animation styles into several categories, namely: loading animations, signature animations and storytelling animations (among others). Highlight:
“A very important aspect to consider when designing an animation is the frequency with which it would likely occur within a single user session. The animation might be nice the first time a user sees it, but after 100th attempt, it can get annoying, especially when it has no purpose other than being “fun”. There are plenty of UI elements you could animate in both fun and down-to-business way. But remember one thing, if you want to create marketing animation you should set a goal of creating an animation which has both style and purpose.”
