Communicating through visuals is a skill that requires dedicated practice. Usually, beginner UX designers are assumed to make most errors while working on a project. Whether it is while wireframing, doing user research, strategizing content, or anything else under the UX design umbrella. However, in reality, it’s common for designers in a UI UX design company to make such errors despite having years of experience.
As the saying goes, you must know how things are done wrong to know how things are done right. Here we’re going to talk exactly along those lines.
- Mistake 1: Overloading the sketch or wireframe with features.
A sketch or wireframe is a basic outline that dictates how the interface will be designed. It can be thought of as a lens that first shows a glimpse of the final product. Thus, as a freelance designer, business consulting services designer, or brand owner, ensuring the design is simple is essential. Avoid cluttering your design with redundant features that might distract the user from the end goal of the product. While designing a high-fidelity wireframe, ensure you’ve left sufficient free space and have kept only the relevant features or elements that will catch the users’ eyes. A simple design will make it easier to make changes or iterations as per the user’s or client’s feedback.
- Mistake 2: Making assumptions
Even if you’re a UX designer from top consulting companies in India or abroad, you should never let doubt slip out of your mind in disguise as an assumption. Common pitfall designers often fall into is following the latest design trends they see online. Never follow a trend blindly just because people seem to like it. If you need clarification about the design at hand, always refer to the user research you’ve done to validate the requirements. If required, do not hesitate to contact your client to clarify things.
Furthermore, it’s essential that you closely follow client requirements and iterate based on user feedback. A design doesn’t need to have to stay the same for years, especially not if users start facing difficulties while navigating their way around. Always be open to changes.
- Mistake 3: Prioritizing aesthetics over accessibility and context
Undoubtedly, a good designer makes excellent use of their creativity to capture the user’s attention. A common misconception designers have is that their creativity is directly correlated to the aesthetic detail they add to their design. That’s true, but should never be the first priority. Utilize your creativity to generate designs where elements are placed exactly where a user is expected to find them. Navigation shall always be prioritized over aesthetics. For instance, while choosing the color scheme, adjust the contrast based on the element’s functionality. If some heading is more important than others, you may want to add more contrast between the background and foreground color. Not all headings need to have the same color. Your decision about aesthetics should be based on context and not the other way around.
Overall, it’s important to keep the user at the center of the design process, prioritize their needs, and validate assumptions with user research and testing to create a successful user experience.
