Good user interface design ensures that visitors to your website do not leave it shortly after coming. How user friendly a website is usually determines its success. It is hard to imagine that a website with clumsy and complicated user interface design keeps its visitors for long. This is why usability should be the number one consideration during the entire development process, beginning with user interface prototyping. In this blog post I would like to point out the three most common usability flaws to consider during user interface prototyping.

Unclear or complex navigation is your first enemy. When a user comes to your website he has a particular purpose: find your phone number or buy a pair of sneakers. User interface prototyping is the right stage to consider how clear your navigation is. Are you using obvious labels? Is information broken into logical categories? These days many designers are obsessed with innovative navigation design concepts. It is advisable to get those tested during the user interface prototyping stage to avoid rework in the future.

Something that truly annoys me in many websites are horizontal scroll bars. You don’t have to be a usability expert or do any user interface prototyping to know it is a bad idea. Nevertheless, user interface prototyping would show you that mine is not an unusual opinion. Most importantly, many users do not bother to scroll so the information never reaches them. User interface prototyping can help you plan the amount of content that will be available on the website. Remember that in many cases less is better than more.

Lastly, I have to mention small or invisible click areas. If a user can’t instantly get where he wants to go he will probably not keep trying for very long. It is a rule in user interface design to make click areas prominent. They should be noticeable and they should be of an appropriate size for a user to click on them with his mouse on the first try. User interface prototyping and subsequent prototype testing can help you determine the right size of your user interface elements. Something else you might consider is that many users now browse the web on their mobile devices. Would the size of your links and buttons be appropriate for their screens?

Use common sense and bear these thoughts in mind during user interface prototyping.

While the world wide web is often considered to be a symbol of a truly international form of communication, there are some boundaries that still exist. Even after the language barrier, there are cultural differences, which affect the very way we use the internet. This can be seen even in the user interface designs of websites.

When looking at the complexity of user interface design, it’s important to look at the functions users from different cultures expect from a website. Some international firms create entirely different user interface designs for their websites aimed at users from Europe and Asia. This is done to improve usability of the user interface design for local and international users. Components, such as color and graphics, play an important role in many cultures, which should be reflected in the user interface design. However the functional layout of user interface design can also vary across cultures. When we consider that Japanese script is often written vertically, this changes the way a Japanese audience reads text on the internet and navigates through a user interface design. While people from some cultures are more patient when it comes to searching though user interfaces, others appreciate efficiency. This is why usability is key and needs to be considered with the relevant audience in mind. When creating a user interface design, it is important to think about the hierarchy of information for a user. What information is most important to them and what do they want to access more quickly.

In order to create a universal user interface design, simplicity is usually the best option. Information should be clearly laid out and easy to access. If you want to see how your international users respond to your user interface design, you need to observe how they interact with your website and optimize the accessibility of your website across cultures.

This is the second part of my two-part blog post on psychological manipulation through the user interface design of e-commerce sites. In this part I shall discuss other user interface design elements that encourage purchasing.

What other user interface design elements encourage purchasing?

Another way that e-commerce sites encourage purchasing through user interface design elements is through time. Adding the urgency of a clock running down to the user interface design encourages decision making in a “I better take this opportunity before it goes away forever” way. Ebay and Groupon are two great examples of e-commerce websites that incorporate this into their user interface design/ user experience. Groupon even introduces the characteristics of peer pressure into the whole mix. Their user interface design showcases the number of other users who have signed on. However it is also the time limit placed on the product that accelerates a users decision making. The user interface design also shows how much a user would save by signing on to the deal. The psychological call-to-actions don’t just stop there as there is also a convenient ‘Buy it for a friend’ conveniently placed to drive users towards purchasing even if a particular deal might not be for them. All these user interface design elements combine into a hard to resist cocktail that encourages purchasing in one way or another.

How do some e-commerce sites counter the negative feedback of impulse buys?

Psychologist working for retail companies have long been aware of the guilt that burdens shoppers who have undergone impulse buys. This guilt needs to be minimized as it can engender thoughts of returning the product as a defense mechanism. One of the ways e-commerce sites, Apple in particular, counter this negative feedback is to delay the negative feedback loop. With their App Store, Apple decided to not send receipts the moment of purchase. This tactic is simply so as not to instantly remind the user of their purchase as seeing the consequences would be negative feedback. In the case of the App Store this is absolutely understandable. Most apps don’t have a trial version of the full version. This means that for many users forking over cash is the only way to really get their hands on an app. Naturally if it turns out that the app was not all it was cracked out to be then negative feelings out of the impulse buy might brew. Next time you’re about to go on a shopping spree online ask yourself who’s pulling the strings?

Through prefab stencils (e.g. radio buttons, links, navigation items, controls etc.) interface designers can create clickable and animated web or software interfaces in no time. Without any programming skills, interface designers can focus on the web concept and use cases, site structures and the overall layout of the site, instead of getting lost in details that only matter at a later stage of the project.

Through prefab screen elements (e.g. radio buttons, links, navigation items, controls etc.) interface designers can create clickable and animated web or software interfaces in no time. Without any programming skills, interface designers can focus on the web concept and use cases, site structures and the overall layout of the site, instead of getting lost in details that will later be overhauled anyway.