Web design: Improve user experience by designing for usability

Follow these usability best practices to optimize UX/UI — your website visitors will thank you 

The irony of good website design is that when a website is designed really well, many users may not even notice the design. They will, however, notice the experience.  

The best designed sites are well organized and easy to navigate, with helpful, relevant content that adds value for users (and for the businesses they represent). They create a seamless user experience (UX), use an intuitive user interface (UI), and build positive associations with the brand. They facilitate an effective user journey and further business objectives. 

And badly designed sites?

“If a website is difficult to use, people leave,” said Jakob Nielsen, co-founder of industry-leading user research firm NN/g (formerly Nielsen Norman Group). “If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave.” 

Website visitors go to your site for a reason. Whether that is to book an appointment, buy a product, or see your locations, it should be easy for users to achieve their goal once they get there.  

Keep these usability best practices in mind when designing a website: 

• Follow website conventions. 

• Make it obvious what’s clickable. 

• Eliminate distractions. 

• Break pages up into clearly defined areas. 

• Create effective visual hierarchies. 

• Format content to support scanning. 

Make it easy for users to navigate your website 

As usability pro Steve Krug famously said in his book by the same name, when it comes to website navigation, “Don’t make me think.”  

Website visitors shouldn’t have to spend time thinking about where to go on your site, how to find what they are looking for, or what to do next. They shouldn’t have to waste time hunting for information (e.g., your customer service phone number) or feel frustrated because they can’t figure out how to accomplish a certain task (e.g., remove an item from their cart). 

Make your website easy for your customers to navigate by following standard web design conventions, such as having a clickable company logo in the top left or center of the header that takes users back to the home page and having a search bar in the top right.  

Another usability best practice that facilitates navigation is to make it obvious what’s clickable. If it’s a button (or looks like one), it should be clickable. If it’s a text link, it’s design should give the user visual cues, such as an underline and a different color, to indicate that it’s clickable. 

“As a user, I should never have to devote a millisecond of thought to whether things are clickable—or not.” —Steve Krug, usability/UX consultant  

Make it clear where you want them to focus 

Have you ever visited a website and weren’t sure where to click because there were so many things competing for your attention? The more choices you give your users, the longer it will take them to reach a decision, per Hick’s Law. Keep your users focused on their objectives (and yours) by eliminating distractions on your site. 

Likewise, break pages into clearly defined areas, grouping similar elements together. This helps your website visitors to quickly find what they are looking for. 

Creating clear visual hierarchy to guide your visitor’s eyes through the page and using formatting to make content scannable are two other effective ways to improve user experience by optimizing your site for usability.  

Following the usability best practices outlined above will improve the experience for your website visitors and increase the effectiveness of your website. For more web design best practices, read my blog post on “5 ways to use visual design to make content marketing more effective.”