What is UI design?

When building a sleek website that people love to use, each element needs to be carefully considered. This all comes down to UI design, a process that shapes the look and feel of your website to create an engaging user experience. Read on for your introduction to the world of UI design.

What is user interface design?

The user interface (UI) of a digital product is where humans interact with the machine. It’s what you see when you unlock your phone, open an app or click on a website, and what you use when filling out online forms, sending messages or even playing games.

UI design is the process web designers take to shape how website interfaces look, feel and behave. The goal is to create a user interface that delivers an easy, efficient and enjoyable interactive experience—and looks good doing it. This can be divided into two separate areas; visual design and interactive design.

Visual design is all about the aesthetics, making the interface look beautiful by combining colours, imagery, spacing, typography and graphics in a way that is pleasing to the eye. The UI designer should also aim to create a look that remains completely on brand.

Meanwhile, interactive design relates to how different elements behave when a human uses the interface, from buttons and hamburger menus to search bars and notifications. For example, on a mobile-optimised site, the content should be formatted in a way that displays all the information together without users having to slide left and right to finish reading a sentence.

Zaptic is a tech company that empowers frontline workers by giving them everything they need at their fingertips. With this in mind, we needed to create a mobile-friendly site that looked great across all devices. Our UI design process also made sure that we built a consistent brand image for them, regardless of whether users arrived on their desktop or mobile interface.

How important is UI design?

UI design is one of the 3 pillars of a strong website and should be included in every website design. By considering the look, feel and interactivity of your online home, you can streamline navigation, improve functionality and make your site a joy to explore. This will increase user engagement, keeping them on your site for longer and giving you more opportunities to guide them towards a conversion.

According to the aesthetic–usability effect, people also tend to view attractive products as more usable. In other words, people believe that if it looks better then it works better, even if that’s not entirely true. This means that if you can combine a solid website build with beautiful design, you’ll have the foundations for a truly powerful website.

When it comes to the bigger picture, UI design plays a big role in building brand awareness. By bringing all the visual elements in line with your brand, people will instantly know that they’ve landed on your site. This reinforces your identity while growing their awareness.

Even if your visitors don’t make it to the checkout the first time around, a seamless experience combined with strong brand elements will keep your business in the back of their minds. Then when they find themselves in need of your products or services, you’ll be the one they turn to first.

How does the UI design process work?

UI design all starts with research and analysis. Your users should be at the heart of your design, and by researching your target audience, your UI designer can create an interface that is engaging and easy for them to use. Meanwhile, competitor analysis lets you see what works for other brands, giving you insights into what your customers expect.

Once the research phase is complete, your UI expert will start designing the layout of each page of your website with a focus on the user journey. During this process, your UI designer will put together a wireframe which outlines the layout of the different elements that will sit on that page. Here’s an example of a website wireframe we created for Eventure’s homepage to give you an idea of what to expect:

This clearly lays out where everything will sit on the homepage, including the main menu, heading, call-to-action buttons and brand logo. Once your UI designer has your wireframe, they can start bringing in brand elements by adding colours, typography and illustrations. They’ll also start designing how interactive features will behave.

These wireframes will then gradually develop into prototypes, giving you a clear idea of how your website will look, feel and behave. When you’re happy with your prototype, this can be sent over to the website developers who will set to work bringing your new site to life. Here’s what Eventure’s wireframe turned into once we added in all their brand elements:

Start your website build with our UI designers

Want to build a website your customers will love? We want to help so get in touch to find out more. We’ll walk you through each stage of the design and development process, making sure we create a user-friendly website designed to grow your brand and business.