Why good UX, UI and UJ give your brand a boost

The design of both websites and apps has improved immensely over the past 20 years. In the Internet’s early days, it was common to use one font for an entire page. And nobody thought filing pages with loads of copy and a rainbow of colours was weird. Thankfully, this has all changed, thanks to UX, UI and UJ. Just check the Web Design Museum and you will see the difference UX has made to the world.

UX = user experience

The experience that someone has with your product is called user experience. Whether you have a digital or physical product, using it must be comfortable. UX helps you unknowingly choose between, for example, bol.com and blokker.nl because 1 of these sites is much easier to use. In other words, it provides a positive user experience; something your customers love. UX principles ensure logical and accessible products and can be divided into UX design and UX copy.

You want to know straight away where to click and not get lost in too many options.

UX design

UX design is based on patterns and logic that are agreeable to people. Details can make a huge difference. Like the little cross that allows you to close a pop-up window; it is always in the top right corner. So if you’d put it in the bottom left, a lot of people would miss it. Thanks to UX design, you don’t need a manual to use your banking app, and booking a flight online is a piece of cake. How your UX design looks, is down to your UI, the user interface.

UI = user interface

The user interface is the combination of visual parts that determine a website or app’s look and is often created by a visual designer. Thanks to the UI, the user knows where they are, where to click and what to do. It is the buttons and images that give a website its shape and colour. And just like UX design, UI has its own logic and patterns. Such as red for ‘cancel’ and green for an ‘ok’ button. Is the user unsure of where to go? Then you know something is wrong with your UI.

UX copy

UX copy is the text that help the user to understand and use a website. And like before, there is a psychology of best practices that supports it. And for good reason. Do you remember these kinds of error messages?

Information that is impossible to understand and therefore useless to most people.

People read quickly (or hardly at all). You can counteract this by creating accessible copy. Writing at CEFR-level B1 helps you to create copy that feels natural. And when you dive even deeper into UX copy, you’ll find the terms UX writing and microcopy. These are the (often short) lines in pop-ups, buttons or titles. Copy that is unfortunately often overlooked, but that can make or break usability.

UJ = user journey

The user journey, or customer journey, is the route your user takes on your site or in your app. This journey usually starts with orientation and then takes the user towards a decision; a purchase. Online shops pay a lot of attention to their user journey. Coolblue.nl, for example, does this very well. There’s a quick overview, the categories make sense, you get product advice and the check-out process is easy.

The customer journey doesn’t end after an order. Does the customer change their mind? This starts a new user journey to return the product. This is why you often include a return form with your shipment. All things that need careful consideration beforehand and that make a huge difference to your customers.