What is the Best Approach to UI Design?

Design has come a long way and many more companies are embracing different UI design best practices for their website and apps. While you may be keen on how the UI is organized and set up for the user, you should also focus on the actual design as the design often is what makes the UI approachable. Here are some great ideas you can play around with when contemplating the UI for your next app or website.

Minimalism

Minimalism is a UI design best practice for all users and makes the website or app seem user-friendly. In this style, the glossy icons, graphics, and fonts are replaced by simple colors, a basic presentation, and a simple font. A big characteristic of minimalist UI designs is big buttons. You can clearly see what it is that you are clicking and can click it without any fuss. Everything is focused on helping the user achieve the desired result which is what makes this design type work.

Tabbed Browsing

A great way to create a UI for a website or app that has some sophistication is tabs. Whether it’s a pull-out/collapsible navigation tab or tabs that allow you seamlessly browse different categories of content, this UI/UX approach helps declutter and simplify the user experience. It will serve as a great design for apps or websites where comparisons are being made or for work/project-related purposes.

Contextual Navigation

Too many links and buttons can feel overwhelming to users and a poor UI design choice. Fortunately, contextual navigation can fix this problem. A good example of this is comment and like links only showing up when a user hovers over an image. Or links to different pages when hovering over a keyword that may be of interest to the user. The only thing to be aware of when using this type of UI approach is to make sure that links and buttons that provide a clear navigation path are not hidden.

Sticky Navigation for Pages

When dealing with long-form content, it can get easy for users to get lost while consuming the content. In such a case, providing sticky navigation that moves with the scrolling can help users keep track of progress and go to different parts of a page and encourages a strong UI design best practice. It is also a great tool to help organize your content and present it in a manner that is easier to consume. The fact that the page will be broken down into different parts will make it especially rewarding for skimmers.

So what’s the conclusion? There are many best practices you have when approaching UI design. Figuring out what to do is a matter of what you’re trying to accomplish with your website or app and what would be of value to your audience. There isn’t one best approach, but there are plentiful UI design best practices that can streamline a design. You’ll discover that mixing and matching various UI/UX elements can lead to the best results. It always helps to find how your competitors are presenting their app or website but if your industry is still behind on design, it will help to seek inspiration from other industries to see what can possibly work.