A user-centric design listens to the needs and challenges of your customers before responding accordingly. It’s centred on a series of data that are collected through surveys, customer conversations, and usability testing.
Of course, it takes time to collect all this information. For instance, observing customer conversation is an ongoing process that’s always happening with the support staff, social media managers, and sales personnel.
Communication channels have to stay open, and UX researchers have to be on standby at all times with their user-testing regimen. In other words, coming up with a user-centric design isn’t something you wing. A lot has to be planned beforehand and factored into the designing process.
So how do you promote a user-centric design in Singapore?
It’s pretty simple: with a user-centred design, your focus should always be on the end-user. They’ll are the people to guide your designing process every step of the way
During the development phase, you must focus on the characteristics of the targeted user population, and the tasks they’re involved with, in the meat world.
That said, here’s how you promote a more user-centric web design:
Be Intuitive
You want to come up with an interactive system design. So there’s no way you’re going to leave the end-user out of the designing process.
You have to start by figuring out how you’ll be working with those that will be using the system. You have to find out what they require and serve to them exactly as they prefer it without complicating anything.
In other words, you’re creating a system design that’s centred on the end-user. The end goal should be to create a system that’s both task-oriented and user-centred.
Stay Consistent
Every new feature you include must be in sync with the rest of the features. Which is to say, figuring the system and every single website element must be something that needs little to no explanation at all.
Interface elements must be consistent with how they behave. In which case, you have to make sure that consistency is factored into the project right from the designing phase. That way, you’ll have an easy time integrating the various components for a more streamlined system.
The approach you choose to achieve this doesn’t matter. What matters is for you to make sure there’s uniformity in all the components you wish to include. You have to make sure that users will have an easy time finding their way around the system without the need to contact you or anybody else for directions.
Use Natural Dialogue
Users interact with a system. Meaning there has to be a flow of information. The user instructs the system, which response by directing them to the requested page or by serving them the information they’ve asked for.
A user-centred design rids the user any form of confusion by serving them relevant information only. That’s to say, the underlying user doesn’t have to sieve through huge chunks of information trying to find what they’re looking for.
The information provided must also aid in task completion. Where the web developer has to populate the design with content, it’s advisable to stick to simple English that anyone can understand.
Steer clear of all the unnecessary jargon and terminologies, and explain everything in layman’s terms if possible.
Don’t Make your Users strain that Much
Don’t let your users undergo any form of mental torture other than completing the intended task. It’s upon you to make sure that your site’s visitors worry less or suffer analysis paralysis while interacting with your website.
Complicated interactions will frustrate them. So take it upon yourself to oversimplify everything.
Anything that’s not connected to the task at hand is unnecessary clutter that should be cut off with immediate effect.
Every element, tool, or piece of information must contribute to something. If it’s not adding any value to user experience, common sense dictates that you cut it off.
Your design begins with a blank page. So you go about adding one element after the other, based on the intel you’ve gathered about the end-users until the project is complete.
Don’t let your users waste their time trying to learn how your system operates. Otherwise, a good chunk of them will be giving up on going through with intended tasks out of frustration. This also leaves them prone to errors.
Make sure the System Communicates Back
You’re not creating a dead system, but an interactive system that communicates back to the user. When someone completes a particular task, the system must notify them and confirm everything.
Make the site change in appearance or colour whenever someone completes a task. And if it’s taking longer than you anticipated to load up, have a way to inform the user that the system is still processing the requested information. This should help in preventing the user from giving up. Just let them know that they’ll have to stretch out their patience a little longer as they wait for the system to finish up.
In whatever you do, the last thing you want is to leave your users in a state of panicking or uncertainty.
Try Visualizing Some of the Problems you suspect your Users will encounter and Solve them beforehand
The key phrase here is user-centric design. Throughout the project, all you’ll be doing is delivering user experience in a manner that’s both intuitive and easy on the end-user.
By dragging the end-user into the designing process, all we’re trying to do is put some emphasis on why you should be solving users’ problems. And as a designer, your task is to create a holistic beginning-to-the-end user experience that will be accounting for every step a user makes as they journey your site.
What you need is empathy, iteration, some little bit of user research, and a talented team to help you come up with a smart solution that snugly addresses the needs of the individuals on the ground.
Communicate the Changes to End Users and Use their Feedback to Improve Your Design
After you’re done implementing something new, communicate the changes to some of your users and use their feedback to improve it for an even better user experience.
Communication is key here. With every improvement you make, talk to one of your users by soliciting their opinion
A simple trick would be to get a few users in a room and get them to figure out how to perform a series of tasks without being guided. You can use one of your friends or family members.
The point is to get them to find their way around the design without being guided or shown around.
Package your information more Clearly
Don’t strain your readers. So try to arrange everything in a manner that makes it easy to access. While at it, try to make it easy for the end-user to navigate to the different components and single out specific elements.
You must remember to take advantage of spaces, boxes, and visuals. Be straightforward and direct. Again, try resisting the temptation to provide more info than what’s needed to complete a particular task.
Focus on Creating a Self-sufficient system
Finding your way around the system and every single one of its elements and components shouldn’t be something you struggle to explain to anyone. It’s even better if it won’t need any explanation at all.
You may document everything. But try as much as you can to make it self-explanatory or something that someone can figure out by just glancing over your site
Also, every single bit of information you provide must be in line with the task you’ve created. Meaning, you might want to consider giving tooltips for icon-labelling some of the buttons you have
Address the Error
Never ignore anything. If you suspect of any error that’s likely to hinder users from navigating the site and completing a task, address it fast enough before it costs you a customer.
You’re merely directing users towards the right path to achieve their goals. In fact, it’s at this point where the feedback left behind by a user may help you prevent some of these errors and better your system.
The only time when you’re allowed to ignore the opinion of users is when their suggestion means limiting some of the choices they have in accomplishing a particular task. And while at it, it’s essential to make sure the system validates data entry so close, in a fashion that’s similar to an input.
The Final Thought
It’s our hope that this article has helped you come up with user-centric design ideas for your website. You may also use some of the pointers provided to revamp your site and improve on the overall user experience.
It goes without mentioning that a user-centric web design prioritizes the situation of the end-user and their use of your platform, rather than the objectives you’ve set for yourself.
That means you have to make the logging process more manageable. Make it easy for your users to interact with their friends; have a notification system that works, and most importantly, have some room for new discoveries.
This post barely scratches the surface of what it means when someone talks about user-centric design. For more help regarding this particular topic, kindly reach out to MediaOne Marketing today, and let’s see how we can be of any assistance to you.
