As web design companies in Sri Lanka continue to be at the forefront of technology services outsourcing, the global IT services industry continues to attract talent from around the world to serve clients both large and small. With the typical web developing company constantly open to innovation both in terms of improving service quality as well as enhancing their technology infrastructure, EFutures aims to also adapt to changing client needs – so their business objectives are as good as ours.
Nonetheless, competition is rife among businesses, as competitors saturate even the most niche markets. As a result, web development companies in Sri Lanka have long since been put under pressure to rise up to this challenge, in order to accommodate rapidly evolving client requirements – often within record time. The industry of web development in Sri Lanka has therefore significantly proven itself to be an effective yet lucrative option for international organisations to set foundations for software and application development in the tropical island nation.
Be it web design in Sri Lanka or beyond, the best web design companies in the world know what it takes to build user interfaces that are truly world-class, while satisfying the needs of their end users. There are no corners to cut, and no exceptions; allowing the data to lead your web design strategy and always having your users’ voices heard is key – but so are several other factors that collectively make successful web design a possibility.
In this article, we discuss some basics of web design, and how your business can adopt these tips to ensure an interface that is user-friendly yet versatile.
The following web design principles are always reliable for businesses across varying volumes and industries – no matter how specific, niche or customised their requirements may be. The below tips are neither in order nor exhaustive, thereby making them great web design starting points in and of themselves.
It is essential to determine the journey your user will take to complete the task that you want them to execute, before you design the user interface of your website. With even the simplest of business models consisting of multiple steps in order to complete a task, ensuring all relevant business teams are aware of what a user needs to do, when, how and why is crucial towards building a web design strategy that is aligned with the objectives met by the products and services offered by your organisation, as well as bottom line goals on the whole.
Depending on what your business specialises in, a user task can be a transaction, purchase or social engagement. Clearly outlining this end goal will help your teams not only orient your web design strategy in the right direction, but will also amplify business development and marketing efforts in order to maximise revenue, interactions and other KPIs relevant to your business. On the other hand, failing to pre-determine a user journey can lead to a web design strategy that is unsuitable for accommodating one. This is a problem that can arise in the long run, with scale-back efforts being untimely, lengthy and expensive.
Revolving your web design strategy based on user behaviour and preferences is a general rule-of-thumb. However, many companies fall into the predicament of building rudimentary user interfaces that are presumed based on products/services being sold. This isn’t always a bad thing; the smallest companies need to start somewhere with their very first website, right? After all, user data cannot be generated until a user interface of some sort exists on your website, for access and interaction.
True, beginning with a templatized web design strategy for the very first version of your website may be an acceptable means of web design and development (although this may also require some level of customization to ensure compatibility). However, it isn’t a sustainable strategy for the long-term, especially as user demands, product offerings and technology trends change.
At this point, utilising user data derived from current and previous versions of your website can be a reliable source for analysing how future upgrades can be oriented towards building a user-driven web design strategy – so every button, menu and theme is in accordance to what your customers truly desire.
A Minimum Viable Product or MVP is a smart way to build web applications and software that are otherwise complex, time-consuming and tedious. By only including features and capabilities that are absolutely necessary for an application to fulfil what it has been built for, an MVP can be a stepping stone to future software versions that are equipped with features that aren’t just advanced, but are relevant to the user.
Excessively intricate first software versions risk the possibility of numerous features going unused, which can result in wasted time, money and efforts on the part of your web design and development team. By starting small, your teams are encouraged to only focus on functionalities that are sufficient for a user to engage, purchase, or make a transaction. Following user feedback and reviews, web design teams can extract insights and sentiments to determine the next course of UI/UX improvements that can be made to improve the current version. With smaller yet workable software also being one of the hallmark characteristics of an Agile software development process, MVPs offer all-round benefits to organisations that choose to adopt them.
In the world of UI/UX design, numerous elements have established their place as an evergreen means of accomplishing a certain task, or executing a specific command. Altering these in any way could possibly result in mass confusion among users, and subsequently, a failed user interface. For example, a bar at the right-hand side of a webpage always indicates a means of scrolling along the page. Or, how about the classic X at the top right-hand side, which offers the ability to close a window?
These and many such elements have cemented their place in UI/UX design, as users now naturally associate them to perform a set action, and nothing else. Radically overhauling and replacing these evergreen tasks/commands can do your web design strategy more harm than good. While it is essential to be innovative in the overall look and feel of your website, it is also equally essential to adhere to certain conventions pertaining to usability, so your users can expect a web experience that is predictable yet productive.
With web design and development paying prime focus on changing user and business demands, it is a field that is highly dynamic by nature. Your website’s UI/UX strategy is therefore no exception, especially as fierce competition and drastic changes in user preferences can render your company or brand’s web presence out-of-date quite quickly. In order to stay relevant in today’s highly turbulent business environment, it is vital to constantly monitor your web design strategy, and refresh it when and where required.
Again, the prompt utilisation of user data and the finetuning of your user journey will contribute to a web design strategy that isn’t only nimble, but is also cost-effective in the long-run, especially since many upgrades may be done as bite-sized goals, and as part of a well established DevOps cycle. Having the right leadership in this regard also makes a difference, as competent project managers and scrum masters can help spark insightful discussions around existing web design strategies, and the features that can render a more improved outcome over time.
Understanding fundamental aspects of web design can make all the difference between an interface that your users simply access to get tasks done, or delight them with interactions that are smart and intuitive at the same time. Achieving the latter outcome is more a matter of adopting the right principles in your business teams, so that desired outcomes can be reached for the final look and feel on your website. Accurate and candid user data can be a treasure trove of insights, and the greatest resource for businesses to utilise in order to understand what their customers are looking for and/or struggling with, hands-down.
By capitalising on user data, your business teams and web design company can collaborate accordingly to first understand customer preferences, then refine UI/UX strategies to accommodate what they are truly on the search for. With customer trends repeatedly changing, analysing user data and improving user interfaces needs to be an iterative process in your web design strategy. Whether it’s the routine upgrade of individual elements or an overhaul of the typical user’s journey across your website, user-driven data can single-handedly determine not just the aesthetic future of your website, but also reveal key patterns in other crucial business areas such as product development.