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Like every other tech career path out there, the UI/UX design jobs present their own fair share of challenges. We’ve seen this in the blueprints of what they’re all about in our previous article highlighting their not so perplexing differences.

The success of any intended website or app depends largely on an equally successful UI/UX design team effort. A dance choreography is only as good as the choreographer’s directions.

That being said, it not only matters anymore that the dancers look amazing for their performance. But they also have to dance accordingly too.

The same goes for UI/UX Design.

What makes a good UI/UX design?

The successful orchestration of a perfect UI/UX Design always comes down to a set of inescapable questions. Such as:

1. Who is the audience? Who are you designing for?

As aforementioned in our outline of visual content marketing strategies, the entire population of planet earth can not be your target audience. That’s absurd.

There is only a subset of that large population which your product, should aim to satisfy. That subset is your audience.

Every design, right from the birthing or idea forming stage, has a purpose. That purpose is for it to reach the intended audience.

Being a UI/UX designer, it’s important for you to get a good idea of who your target audience is. And what is of great value to them, as well.

Because it will help you get a better view of the market, how to go about the design process, and also, where to start from.

One other thing to always remember or keep in mind is that you hold the power of visual interpretation. You are at the forefront of whatever your audience sees, the moment they click on that link to a site or open that mobile application.

So, to positively increase the effect of your designs on your users, you have to ensure to use this bit of knowledge to your utmost advantage. It’s only when you have figured out who your subset or audience is that you can now begin designing for that audience. And how?

2. By thinking like the audience.

Crazy, right?

But every designer is no different from the average user.

What separates you from them is, as mentioned earlier, the power of visual interpretation. So whether UI or UX designer, you need to think like a user.

So that in the course of designing, you can try to be as relatable to the user as possible, putting yourself in their shoes and asking what they will interact with. As well as trying to get a good feel of their response to the interactive process.

And so, it’s not always about poring over stats and analyzing numbers or ratings, but figuring out how you can address problems and challenges faced by your audience with your design.

Designing with the mind of a user is all core to the research part of UI/UX Design, because if you can not be emphatic, or even bring yourself to feel, even in the slightest, what your users are feeling when they interact with what you’ve created, then it’s all as good as pointless.

Now, let’s move on to not just creating a design, but creating a responsive design.

3. Creating responsive design.

It all starts with a test run. Nobody builds up a car and immediately delivers it to the hand of the market without test driving it first.

Doing that is undoubtedly a recipe for disaster. Think of the car crashes and bad reviews and the many other worse things that could follow.

You can only imagine how drastic a bad UI/UX design will look. To positively enhance user experience, a good designer should always ensure to perform a user-interface testing for testing UI/UX design.

This is to make sure that the UI not only just functions, but does so properly, and to fish out any kind of hidden defect. It would also involve checking through the various design elements like the controls; menu bars, tool bars, fonts, you name it.

You can even perform what is known as interface prototyping.

Interface Prototyping is one way for a designer to create a test version of the main concept. Like say a crash version of your favorite exercise app or shopping app, for example.

It presents it in such a way that everyone who has their hands involved in the project can give their honest feedbacks about it and then whatever necessary adjustments that need to be made before the final version is released can be done.

As ridiculous as it may sound, Interface Prototyping gives you the freedom to fail as fast as you can. To correct your mistakes in time before releasing the final version of your design.

This will pave the path for your experience level to grow and your knowledge in the field will grow, as well, which will prove to be essential traits to have, especially in future projects to come.

4. Simple is the new big.

Sometimes, “go big or go home” can seem a bit excessive. Sometimes, keeping it real simple is the way forward.

If your goal is to confuse the life out of your users with so many features and icons, then by all means, do go big. But know this.

Simple designs are easier to understand, and are mostly appreciated. Also, they can still somehow present themselves as classy designs.

And if you still need visual proof of this, take a closer look at Instagram icons, the next time you want to post a pic.

What is most important to UI/UX Design?

Perhaps the most important factor to consider in UI/UX Design is that every designer has the power to think and choreograph the interactions people have with a products and services, wide across countless channels and platforms.

But the real trick to a successful design doesn’t just lie in making it as colorful or as eye-catching as possible. Or making sure buttons are in the right places.

It is about designing in such a way that whatever you’re creating is of great benefit to the people that use it.