Improve Your Website with Visual Design
The visual design of our website plays an important role in determining whether the user will continue using our website or not. Anyone wouldn’t want to use a website that is confusing to look at and even harder to operate. That’s why when building our website we need to make sure that our website is visually appealing and easy to use. In this article, we will go over the things we can do to improve the visuals of our website.
Wireframe
A wireframe is a low-fidelity design of our product or a basic layout of only the essential elements of our product. The purpose of making a wireframe is to provide a basic visual understanding and the flow of our product early in a project so that we don’t miss any key elements in the product. Since it is fast to make a wireframe, it can be immediately reviewed by the client and they can give us feedback, that way we can make sure that the current layout is as the client intended. You can make a wireframe in your notebook or by using wireframe maker websites such as https://wireframe.cc/ or https://www.mockflow.com/
Mockup
A mockup is a visual way of representing our product. different from wireframe which is bland with no colours and pictures, a mockup displays how the end product is going to look like, this means it already included the colours, pictures, typography, etc. A mockup helps us and the client to agree on the final decision regarding the design of the final product. By allowing the client to review the design before the development even started, it will save us more time compared to changing the UI after the product has launched.
Usability Heuristics
1. Visibility of System Status
The first rule states that the design should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within a reasonable amount of time. This means that when the user did some action, they need to be informed about the current status until it’s completion. An example of this is when we log in to Gmail, it will show the progress bar until it is finished.
Here is the example from my project, when the user adds a new auction event, they will be informed by the alert displayed on top of the page.
2. Match Between System and The Real World
The second rule states that the system should speak the users’ language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order. One example of this is the icon of recycle bin on our desktop is an actual bin which makes it easier for the user to understand and remember.
Here is the example from my project, for my dropdown menu, we use a letter icon for message menu to make it more natural.
3. User Control and Freedom
The third rule states that users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo. This means that the user has to be able to cancel their action easily which prevents the user from getting frustrated. One example of this is the option to cancel an upload to google drive even though the upload is still in progress.
Here is the example from my project, when the user adds photos to an artwork, they can always undo it by clicking the red x button in the top right of the picture.
4. Consistency and Standards
The fourth rule states that users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions. This means that consistency will bring intuitiveness to our product. One example of this is Microsoft word, excel, and power point that have the same menu options like home, insert, etc.
Here is the example from my project, we use the same navbar for each page so that it is easier for the user to go through each page of the website.
5. Error Prevention
The fifth rule states that Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action. One example of this is when you use Gmail, it will alert the user if they forgot to attach any file.
Here is the example from my project, when creating an auction, it alerts the user when the maximal price they inputted is lower than the minimum price.
6. Recognition Rather than Recall
The sixth rule states that Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate. This means that it is better to provide options for the user to choose from rather than not. One example of this is the list of suggestions on google when we tried to search for something.
Here is the example from my project, the website has an add button that is easily accessible that when clicked will provide the user with options on what they want to add.
7. Flexibility and Efficiency of Use
The seventh rule states that Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions. This means that we may provide a faster way for the experienced user to use our website while still keeping it simple for the inexperienced user.
Here is the example from my project, we provided a choice for the experienced user to use the filters when searching for an auction, while the inexperienced user can use the search without a filter to show all auction regardless of the status.
8. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
The eighth rule states that dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility. This means that we only need to show what is absolutely necessary to the user because when we show unnecessary dialogues, it might make our product hard to understand.
Here is the example from my project, In this page, I only showed the essential info of all the artworks since the purpose of this page is to show all the artworks in the website.
9. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors
The ninth rule states that error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution. This means that when an error occurs, we need to inform the user in a way that helps them understand what the problem is and how they can fix it.
Here is the example from my project, when the user put the wrong input for the maximal price of an auction, there will be a helper text that tells the user how to fix it.
10. Help and Documentation
The tenth rule states that even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.
At the moment, my group haven’t implemented this since it is still considered not necessary because our project is still in progress, though it doesn't close the opportunity to create one in the future.
Thank you for reading my article and hope you have a great day!
