Website Navigation
User experience (UX) is vital in creating a good website as the focus must be on how the user interacts with the webdesign.
Usability/ Simplicity
Usability goes hand in hand with simplicity. For a user to find the information they require, the website must to be easy to use and navigate. It must be obvious and easy to understand, enabling the user to get from A to B with no hassle. A website must be simple in order to be usable. If a website is cluttered it can make a very poor UX as the user will have difficulty finding the information they need.
Purpose
A website should be useful and have a purpose. Without a purpose, there is no real need for a user to visit the website.
Clarity
The quality of the web page needs to be easily understood and coherent. It needs to be clear to the user what they are looking at, and needs to be consistent, so that the user understands the information on the site. Poor clarity could make the user feel like they have entered another website.
Credibility
A website must be credible to gain trust from the users. Especially those taking payments. If the quality of design is poor, it could make users unsure of credibility and whether they can trust the site.
Conclusion
To create a good website with a good UX, the website must be usable, simple, fulfill a purpose, have clarity, and be credible.
Examples of effective web design:
This homepage is beautifully designed using white space to create simplicity as it draws the user to the call-to-action button. It carries over the design on all parts of the homepage, creating a consistant and easy to understand navigation system as you scroll through. The design is kept easily understood with the minimal navigation bar at the top offering four options. This design has a clear purpose.
The simplicity and white space in this homepage is key to navigation. The subtle text and thin lines draws the users attention to the call-to-action at the bottom and as you scroll, the navigation bar appears on the left hand side. Clear use of grids encourages usability and reinforces the clear purpose of the website.
The simplicity and minimalism is utilised to create an easy to use navigation system by limiting the amount of options available to the user. The home page (left) is made up of three simple options, which doubles as the menu consisting of ‘workshop, experience, and contact’ which is all that the user visiting the site needs. Once an option is selected, the page of choice displays a video with minimal text over it (middle), and as you scroll down, there is clear use of a minimal grid (right) to create simplicity and easy navigation, and for the information to be easily accessed and understood. To return to the menu the user would click the menu icon at the top right hand side, and would be redirected to the homepage/menu. This is a clever and minimal use of the homepage, and creates a clear direction of the purpose and also creates a unique user experience.
