4 Visual Strategies To Redefine Your UX Style in 2021

“Design adds value faster than it adds costs.” – Joel Spolsky, Web Programmer, Writer, and Creator of Trello

The experiences that used to be one-way and static are now rich, intuitive, and engaging. The more engaging and rich your website’s user experience is, the greater success your business can achieve.

But most people have a limited understanding of user experience. The scope of user experience goes way beyond having an excellent design. It also includes usability, accessibility, ergonomics, utility, marketing, human factors, empathy, and more. 

Focusing on the user experience and its visual strategies is imperative in 2021, as the actual interactions have been replaced with virtual interactions since the pandemic. Businesses that previously didn’t have websites or applications are now investing heavily in taking their business online. And since the competition is increasing, upping your UX game by enhancing your visual strategies can help you stand out.

Moreover, paying attention and listening to how your customers feel about your website or application can increase your conversion rates by 250% approx.

Let’s get started with the visual strategies that can help you redefine your UX style and boost leads and conversions.

Go minimalistic with your navigation and internal search

It’s been observed that many designers are approaching the designing of navigation and internal search elements with a minimalistic method or some would say ‘ultra-minimal’. And when a minimalistic navigation bar is made smart, you stand a chance at providing a frictionless experience to your customers.

Let’s take the example of Tinker. It’s a watch-selling website that is utilizing the power of high definition product images along with the clutter-free and smart design for navigation.

Because of the proper usage of white space, images, and color combinations, their CTAs are properly visible and demand action from their visitors. Such a design can definitely boost your leads and overall conversion rates.

Design keeping inclusion in mind

2020 was a big year for inclusivity. People came together and raised their voices against the injustice being done to minorities by making the Black Lives Matter movement a global sensation. It could be seen as a turning point for UX designs as well. 

We are predicting more and more interest in all-inclusive website and application designs. Inclusive designing can be defined as the process of designing or creating a website or an app keeping the widest range of people in mind. 

Before the term ‘inclusive’ was limited to people with disabilities but now the aim is to design keeping all ages, sexes, classes, and disabilities in mind.

“When UX doesn’t consider ALL users, shouldn’t it be known as “SOME User Experience” or… SUX?” — Billy Gregory, Senior Accessibility Engineer

Designing for inclusivity can be seen as an enormous opportunity and according to The Designing for Inclusivity panel at frog San Francisco, the three primary principles are:

• Be Aware – Pay attention to how you discuss and define inclusivity 
• Be an Ally – Hire people from different backgrounds, socio-economic classes, genders, and races for an inclusive environment and a broader perspective on inclusion
• Make a Change Today – Audit your current designs and make the changes today for creating a more inclusive environment

Add personalization to user experience

This is where BigData and Machine Learning meet the user designing. By using data from visitors’ past behavior, interactions, and patterns, you can inculcate personalization in your user experience. 

For example, greeting with a personalized message like ‘Hello, Elizabeth. Welcome Back.’ whenever they revisit your website. Or when they are performing the first step in the order fulfillment process — placing an order, pre-fill the address section to save time, and providing convenience. 

Amazon, the retail giant, is winning the personalization game by providing its users with personalized shopping recommendations based on their past purchases. They also explore categories complementary to the users’ past purchases for recommendations.

Their recommendations are aimed at providing value and ease to their customers, which directly increases their bottom line. As seen in the first image, they’ve started incorporating navigational items in the recommendation, which is purely based on the previous interactions of the customer.

Take the number of clicks into account

When the internet was invented, the websites were less reliable and users weren’t comfortable interacting with machines. During those times 3-click rule was relevant, but now the scenario is completely different.

The users are more aware, educated, and accustomed to the Internet and don’t mind interacting with machines at all.

So, it’s safe to say that you don’t necessarily have to follow the rule of 3-clicks, but the number of clicks contributes highly to the overall user experience.

According to Chas Grundy, a Web Expert, “A more flexible approach to the classic rule is my 1 Click Rule: Every click or interaction should take the user closer to their goal while eliminating as much of the non-destination as possible.”

To define the touchpoints or number of clicks, focus on user satisfaction levels or user confidence. After the user completes their journey of finishing a particular task, use tools like HotJar to add pop-ups that ask ‘Did you find what you were looking for?’ to the customers. Based on the feedback, you can tweak your design and customer journey.

Pro tip: At any costs, avoid unnecessary steps that add no value to customer experience and journey. Such steps only make it harder for the users to achieve the goal. The harder it is for users to get to the endpoint, the worst their experience with your brand gets.

“Rule of thumb for UX: More options, more problems.” — Scott Belsky, Chief Product Officer

Lastly, don’t forget to add personality to your design

Rather than adding a concluding note to this article, we’d like to part ways with the last tip that’ll help you spruce up the user experience.

Depending on the type of your site, you can build websites effectively by adding fun elements that represent your personality to your website and application. 

People like to interact more with brands that have personality and are fun. While adding the fun and personality, make sure to not go overboard with cumbersome animations or unnecessary steps in navigation.

Before taking any action, take your whiteboard out and figure your brand’s personality.