Quick Tips for Non-Designers to Enhance User Experience

In the current digital world, it takes little hitches in user experience (UX) to make a web application fail big time. However, if you are not a designer or have scanty training in design, then undertaking UX design can be very overwhelming. Luckily, improving UX is not confined to practitioners with an artistic orientation. In this article, the reader will learn about several UX hacks that will make the online experience much more seamless for the end-user.

And so, here you have it, a concrete guide to improving the digital user experience for those of us who are not designers. With these simple tips, you can make significant changes in the usability of your website, app, or digital product with little design skill.

 

1. Start by Understanding Your Users’ Needs

It’s not just about how something appears to the eye, but creating an interface that meets functionalities in the most efficient way possible. The first step is to know what your users need or expect when they come to interact with your website or better still your application.

If you are not a designer but still need to enhance digital experiences, a roadmap should begin with defining user needs. Ask people questions and use data mining software to check which topics people have problems with most. This way, when you’ve understood what they’re going through, you would better know where to direct your UX.

 

Quick Tip:

List the major objectives of your platform. Regardless of whether you’re enabling a sale or information exchange, always consider these goals when making UX changes.

 

2. Streamline Navigation with Clear, Consistent Labels

For those who are not UX designers, one of the most straightforward tactics is to upgrade the site’s navigation. Always, the user should be in a position to locate the item that he or she wants in the shortest time possible.

Group foods in a natural manner and provide easy-to-understand and meaningful names to the categories of foods. It is not advised to use terms that will be difficult for users to understand as well as grouping is recommended. Clear conventions of naming and positioning can enhance navigation and weaken sources of frustration in users’ interactions with the website.

 

Quick Tip:

There are simple techniques like ‘tree testing’ or ‘card sorting’ through which one could understand how they expect respective information to be categorised. These techniques assist in structuring navigation according to the real expectations of the users.

 

3. Prioritize Readability by Choosing Simple Fonts and Ample Spacing

Non-design backgrounds have readable content as a basic UX essential for websites. Choose a simple and clear alphabet – font, avoiding any factory-mediated changes to completeness and no more than two style types – a pure and simple sans-serif. Do not use text formatting such as using different fonts for different words or texts, or using too many layouts.

Ensure text has adequate vertical depth (distance between lines) and width so that the users can just slide through and understand the content easily. Instead of reading large chunks of text, break down these with headings, bullet points and bold to lead users to important information.

 

Quick Tip:

There is one rule of thumb that users should never use more than two or three different serif faces across their platform.

 

4. Use Consistent Colors and Visual Elements

When considering a fast way of improving upon the User Experience, try focusing on the color. Such colors help users remember your brand and feel more familiar with the services you offer on your platform. Stick to basic primary and secondary colors throughout and use this to set priority and focus on key areas such as buttons and CTAs.

Think about the psychological implications when choosing the specific which the shades will belong to. For example, the color blue may symbolise trust while the color red may cause urgency in consumers. Another design aspect is that shapes, icons, and space must be consistent, and provide a professional and attractive interface to a user.

 

Quick Tip:

You can also use a color contrast checker to check if the text can be easily read from the background color which is a huge plus for users with disabilities.

 

5. Emphasize Fast Loading Times

It also does not make any difference how well-designed the site might look if users have no patience to wait for it to load. UX design tips that non-designers can use to speed up their site include reducing the number of images where necessary, and eliminating unnecessary features, as well as reducing code space where possible.

The time it takes to load your platform matters; if the page takes too long to load, users will quickly exit the site. There is no need to have heavy professional design skills to implement image compression tools and caching, which are the tools of a beginner to speed up the work.

 

Quick Tip:

Google PageSpeed Insights is a free service, which provides recommendations on how to optimize your website within visitors’ perception. Use it to diagnose and correct all the problems that are causing your site to slow down.

 

6. Make CTAs (Calls to Action) Clear and Compelling

CTAs help point users in the right direction directing them to enrolling, buying, or finding more information. For anybody who is not a designer, this is one of the easiest and most basic yet effective UX improvement techniques.

Make sure that your CTAs are clearly seen and for better results incorporate contrasting colors with the rest of your website. The text should be clear, simple, and result-oriented—the kind that, for instance, says, ‘Start My Free Trial’ as opposed to ‘Submit’. CTA placement also matters; the CTAs should be placed based on their usage; for example, some of the best places for CTAs are on the top of the page, below a good section.

 

Quick Tip:

There it is possible to discover, which CTA wording or colors result in higher click-through rates. It is a handy concept for improving UX, which does not require intricate artistic developments.

 

7. Keep Mobile Users in Mind

Responsive design is a crucial aspect in anyone’s guide to improving the user experience of a website on a mobile device. People visit sites with their mobile phones, so it is important to optimise for mobile.

Make sure that the text is readable when the buttons and images are shrunk down to fit a much smaller tablet or smartphone screen. Also, avoid placing buttons and links too close to one another or too small making them easily tapped with the finger. Most of the CRE and website design tools come equipped with mobile optimization features, making the process easy for your CMS platform.

 

Quick Tip:

Conduct a GUI test to see if your platform looks good and does not have some distinctive features that can hamper usability from smartphones, tablets and desktops.

 

8. Use White Space Wisely

Negative space is not just aesthetically helpful, making a design look cleaner, it also helps in understanding and attentiveness. It is important not to overload the page – in this case, a user feels the information overload, on the other hand, well-proportioned white space helps users’ eyes to rest.

Non-designers can apply this simple UX hack by erasing visually heavy content, meaning scrolling elements, and tweaking the margin between texts, images, and buttons. In doing so, white space can help lead users in certain directions or enhance the general look of your platform.

 

Quick Tip:

One suggestion is to have one focal point per page. They established that each web page should have one focal point – this could be a CTA or piece of information – and enough whitespace to back it up.

 

9. Incorporate User Feedback Loops

One should be able to note that establishing feedback mechanisms can go a long way in making UX enhancements without necessarily requiring a design education. Users can also give feedback on what works best and what goes wrong through simple surveys or quick polls offered at key interaction points.

Review this feedback to first identify sources of concerns so that you focus on problems that can be easily solved. Responding to user’s complaints can enhance UX and make users know that their complaints are valued. It is a highly efficient but non-well-suited for designers method for constant platform development.

 

Quick Tip:

It is suggested that one or several less intrusive ‘Feedback’ buttons should be placed on each page or at the end of buying/singing-up processes.

 

10. Use Simple Visual Hierarchy for Better Flow

This is a basic principle unique from visual language, which educates its users on where to look first. Non-designers can take advantage of this by ensuring objects that need the visitor’s attention are placed at the top area of the website or are bigger and written in bolder letters.

This first-hand UX design for non-designers is a piece designed to make a point that it is quite easy to guide the attention of the users towards specific pieces of content that they need fairly easily. That is why the application of the visual hierarchy is so great – when done correctly, it has a direct influence on engagement and usability alike.

 

Quick Tip:

Use the advice of the ‘inverted pyramid’, meaning that essential information has to be presented first, with the less important information following below.

 

Conclusion

Improving UX is not a big deal when one does not have a degree in design. Often, users who have a non-design background may struggle with the usability of your platform, but with these few UX principles, you are well-equipped to fix that. Always begin by identifying the target audience, de-clutter your website, ensure easy-to-read content, and use colors, calls to action, and spaces effectively in the right places.

Each of these UX improvement strategies is designed to create usability improvements that will not look forced or resemble a hack, even when working with no prior design training. The minor actions such as loading time, navigation organisation, and collecting feedback would drastically change as a whole. Therefore, consider these bona fide UX improvements regardless of your design background for more satisfied users of your platform.

But, as you have heard, the goal of the UX is to make users’ lives easier—and that is possible for anyone.