Website UX Design - Let’s Simplify

No one is questioning the importance of UX strategy, especially not me! However, it is now almost dominating other disciplines such as design and functionality.

Shed the Overhead

In my time with one of the large network advertising agencies in Toronto, I had to go through our UX Director to book a UX expert to move a button on a wireframe. This usually takes 2-3 days.

I was not allowed to put any wireframing software on my computer, and I was not allowed to use my own software to make the update myself. This is because as “Senior Project Manager” for this large account it was not within my role.

That became one very expensive button!

"If all that research and meetings has led to a mediocre product, then something is definitely wrong with the process."

Do Not Compromise Results

With all of these highly qualified expert opinions, and inevitably inflated egos, decisions made were based more on how to keep everyone happy, rather than achieving the best result.

We are all talking about “customer-centric user experiences”, but there is rarely anyone truly representing the customer in the discussion. It is time to take a step back, and look at whether our UX designs make sense.

Here are just a few questions to ask yourself:

• Do the CTAs (Calls to Action) make sense to the context of the page?
• Are the CTAs overwhelming to the user, and therefore annoying?
• Have we overused the brand colours to the point that no one sees their significance anymore?
• Are the popup forms getting in the way of the brand experience?

The end result should cater to the needs and wants of the customer, not the brand.

Streamline Website UX Design

Over-inflated budgets and timelines are not necessary. There does not always need to be 10 people in the call or meeting. UX strategy and design does not need to take over the life of the project. It is absolutely a fundamental starting point, but it is not the entire journey.

We need to go back to combining disciplines, where a Designer can design for UX and a Project Manager can research and define target personas. It is possible, and it is what small- and medium-sized businesses need.

The ideal streamlined approach for creating a website that looks good, that meets the business needs, and converts visitors to customers is as follows:

1. Define the website objectives (or business requirements ), including clear measurable goals (KPIs)
2. Build target personas , also known as buyer personas
3. Do strategic keyword research to understand how your audience is searching online
4. Design the website structure, and define the types of content (focus on content that attracts the target personas) and interactive features
5. Create a content calendar to focus on keywords that present opportunities
6. Create the wireframes to outline the webpage templates and functionality
7. Define the functional specifications, detailing use cases for the website’s interactive features, as well as the backoffice features:

• how content will be managed
• how form data will be monitored
• how website activities will be collected and analyzed
• etc.

The advantage of this approach, which Mawazo has refined over the years, is that our clients end up with an “architectural blueprint ” for their website. This documentation can be used by any designer and development team, and for development on almost any technical platform.

"It should be the smaller guys that do remarkable things for humans because they are driven by quality. Corporations are driven by something else entirely."