It’s a jungle out there, and while most of the jungle is wild and filled with some rather vicious monsters, we’d like to consider ourselves the jungle guides. Nothing scares us and no beast is too large to manage or tame (*cough* 10 cooks in a kitchen *cough*). Many of our previous clients return because they value the CreateApe difference and know that we are experts in our field when compared to what’s out there. The pickings are slim people!!

We attribute our success to a successful kick-off with our clients. The first meeting always dictates the tone, direction, and collaboration amongst our clients and our team. Our founder and CEO, Alessandro Fard, has broken it down to some key questions to kick off the meeting, and we’re proud to say it works! 

Aside from narrowing down a meeting date, time, and location that works for everyone, we also have a general pattern of the questions we like to ask for the first meeting. We make it a point to hear out the client’s vision and expectations for their new product/service launch. Leadership is not just about directing the path and giving orders, leadership takes an open mindset and ability to adapt skill sets into the path we map out collaboratively speaking. 

So what are these general key questions?

• What do they do?
• Why do they do what they do?
• What have they done or tried in the past?
• Why did they do it?
• What happened or what was the result?
• What do you think went wrong? Or right?
• What they hope to achieve next?
• Who’s going to be around to do it?
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What’s your company about?

This question is a given. This is their opportunity to shine and dazzle you with a history of how they got started and where they see the company or product heading. The important part to address here as UX designers (which usually doesn’t come up) is how the company makes its revenue. Did you get that? HOW DO THEY MAKE MONEY?!? No money, no business. No business, NO client. NO CLIENT!!! WHAT?! 

Create Ape knows successful UX ninjas prioritize not only the user, but the business as well. While learning the history and vision of the client, it is important to know the profit and benefit for both the user and the client from a business perspective. And guess what else? Some of the best challenges are when the users goals and the business goals are completely different. How do you marry the two? Great UX gurus live for that!

You also have a chance to address the essential reason of why they called you in the first place: how they can make it better and how they can MAKE MORE MONEY. What else draws businesses to launch new services and products? 

With years of experience, it’s safe to say that most companies come with limitations, and it’s a ninja’s job to exploit those limitations and convert them into possibilities. Mind blown, yet?

What has been done thus far?

This question opens the discussion about time and money. Another favorite thing to talk about! Many times than not, a client comes to us when “sh*t hits the fan” and they are down to a final deadline, the last inning of the game with little to no resources left to spend. Then you’re left to clean up the mess, and possibly start from scratch…depending on the beastly damage. Yup, damage control. We said it!

Remember to keep realistic expenditures and time frames for clients, especially if they’ve already been burned. It is better to be real than to try to meet their demands in order to land the job. It all takes time and money, don’t beat around the bush! Transparency is what wins the client and keeps them coming back. 

What should we review to be caught up to speed?

Give the client an opportunity to expound on what has worked and what has not. AND MEMORIZE IT!! Ok…maybe not memorize it, but definitely pay attention. This is different from the company history in that it relates specifically to the project at hand. This is important information to make sure that you’re not busting out the same ideas as the last team. 

It also gives you feedback on direction and concept with what has worked in the past, and allows you to expand that concept to further limits. We love pushing limits, not buttons.. Dive deep into the core brand/product and don’t be lazy in your review. 

SO don’t just flip specifically to what has worked and ignore what hasn’t. The stuff that didn’t work is equally as important. Knowing what exes to avoid from the past saves you time and money. 

What would you like to achieve next?

While the client has already given you an overall goal of where they want to go. This question is meant to deepen the goal and methods or conversion rates they wish to apply. 

Driving traffic is easy, but what you want the traffic to do is where the nitty gritty stuff comes in. Questions like: Do you want to increase sharing? Increase page views? Increase sign ups? Increase retention rates? 

As the client answers these questions, explain to them that for every action there is a reaction. We can’t escape Newton people!! This will help you remain transparent (and apply some physics to your accolades) so that the client can decide what the priority is and how it will affect their results. You can’t have your cake and eat it too…..or can you? 

Client Collaborators & Team Collaborators

Who is going to report to you and who will be reporting to them? When it comes to UX design it’s a lot smoother to have less collaborators because the more eyes it needs to reach the longer the turn around rate is before it actually gets approved. (Remember that kitchen *cough* we talked about?). 

This swings both ways, and in an ideal world, we like to have 1-3 points of contact on a project to create true villain magic. It nicely ties back to our leadership spiel and navigating what it takes to successfully kick-off a product/service. Once you establish the team on both sides it helps establish you into that leadership role, which in turn helps everyone out and holds everyone accountable. 

Another thing we’d like to address while on this topic is the method of communication that both teams will use to get the job done. One of our teams favorite is Slack. Be clear as to where the primary communication will go down so that the client knows exactly where to go to find the goods. 

Sometimes with so many apps and management tools out there, it can be easy to get lost in communication. We also like to hold weekly meetings with our stakeholders to ensure that everything is getting communicated effectively and that goals are being met by the team. 

Lastly, let them know you got this:

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The grand finale of the meeting is your chance to shine. We know it sucks holding in all of your awesomeness until the end, but trust us it works! 

The conversation should end with the approach you’d like to take from there–that first meeting. Yup, how are you planning to tame the beast? 

Talk about the research you plan to review of previous successes and disasters to avoid. Also mention future steps after reviewing everything they give you, the interview and selection of users you’d like to talk to, and the outcome of the similarities and/or differences that affect the vision of the product. 

More future topics to shine light on include: the product mission statement, competitive design principles, success metrics to track, wireframes, and prototypes. Let the client know that through every step of the way, from infancy to maturity, you will be holding their hand–advising and answering any questions that arise. 

Yes–these secondary steps will follow the initial approach, but it is important to highlight what is ahead so that they can see a light at the end of the tunnel and know what to expect from a UX ninja. 

Recap…

• First meeting MATTERS MOST.
• Leaders aren’t cocky, they’re open-minded.
• Let the client shine FIRST.
• Prompt the client further with key questions.
• Don’t be lazy, do the research. 
• Get to know the team you’ll be working with.
• Seal the DEAL! 

It’s been a fun tour of this jungle ride, but now it’s time for us to go tame more beasts!! We hope you feel better equipped to do the same. Or at least more organized with the kick-off flow. ?

What is UX Writing? And why is it an essential component of any digital product design?

Let’s do a fun exercise together. Pull up your favorite song on Spotify or YouTube and give it a quick listen. What sticks out to you the most?

Is it the masterful composition? The energy and vibe? Or maybe a lyric that really hits home? Are you blown away by how much emotion a songwriter packs into a simple line with their word choice?

Now picture your favorite song without those lyrics. Sure, it sounds pretty on its own, and maybe you can paint a picture in your mind — but something FEELS incomplete.

This is the idea behind UX writing. If your favorite app didn’t have any written content, you would only have some cool designs to look at. You would have no idea how to use it to accomplish your goals. The UX/UI design might as well be wall art at that point.

Just like your favorite song, digital products need UX writing to compliment the tone of the design, communicate ideas, lay out directions, and support the overall experience. And we’ll show you how to use your brand identity to craft your website’s “lyrics.”

What is UX Writing?

There are multiple types of writing out there, so we need to draw some distinctions.

The three common types of business writing are copywriting, technical writing, and UX writing. All three require strong analytical skills to break down concepts and communicate them in ways that are easy to understand. 

Copywriting has a strong focus on marketing. Copywriters persuade the audience into buying their products, fulfilling a “want.” The goal is to bring in new customers, appeal to their desires, and talk them into making a purchase.

Technical writing is much more complex. It’s all about communicating complex information and processes in a easy way for the end user to understand and implement. In the UX/UI design field, this usually means material related to computer software and consumer electronics.

If you need an example of a technical document, dig in your miscellaneous drawer and grab the box your iPhone came in (because we know you’re saving it for SOME reason). The instructional manual has to show the average user how to set it up and how to use it.

UX writing combines copywriting and technical writing, but with a different endgame in mind. Simply put, copywriting sells, technical writing teaches, and UX writing solves.

The emphasis is on the user’s journey in UX writing. We’re writing for existing users, focusing on solving a problem and achieving a goal. In this scenario, there is no room for the abstract, so keep it simple and don’t overthink it.

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The Characteristics of UX Writing

While most copywriting services give you plenty of room to explore ideas, UX writing has a few more intricacies. Unless we’re writing a blog or some other long-form piece for a client, we are usually working with limited space.

Like a songwriter that packs a big punch with a well-written lyric, the copy on your digital product needs to communicate a lot while saying so little.

Empathy

UX design is driven by empathy for the user — and our designs wouldn’t be as impactful without written content. Being unrelatable is NOT an option.

It’s all about putting yourself in the user’s shoes and understanding how to communicate with them on behalf of the client. In UX writing, we need to know exactly what to say and when to say it to strike the perfect chord with our audience.

When you’re writing, always be thinking about what the user wants to hear and how the client can get them to the finish line.

Utility

It’s worth repeating every time: our online attention spans are short. We don’t have time or room to write a college dissertation about how amazing our clients are.

We have to reel in the audience with some thoughtful copy, help them understand the big picture, and get them where they need to go. Not only does the content need to be written well, but it needs to be structured perfectly in order of importance.

Utilizing active voice helps UX writers be as clear and unambiguous as possible, but it’s also on the UX writer to cut down on wordy sentences and paragraph length. Just remember the last time you looked at an enormous paragraph and thought “Nah, I’m not reading that” (even if the answer lies within).

Creativity

The client’s digital product is often the face of their brand. We cannot (under any circumstances) lose the client’s voice and tone for the sake of brevity.

After all, the client’s communication style plays a big part in shaping the user experience. We form our designs around these identities, and copy that does not support the look and feel makes for a disjointed and awkward experience.

Be aware of UX writing constraints, but let your imagination run wild within them. Form some key messages that sum up the client’s purpose and weave them throughout the written content with some clever, inventive word choices.

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Establishing Voice and Tone

Whether the client already has their voice and tone set in stone or needs help creating them, they are absolutely crucial in creating copy that resonates with the user.

Think about a high-end luxury watch company. If you go to their website, notice how the messaging isn’t all over the place. It’s smooth, suave, and succinct. You get the big picture of their personality and target customer just from reading a few headlines and buzzwords.

This is because they have an established voice and tone — a style and flair that shapes the storytelling and breathes life into written content.

A company’s communication style plays a massive part in their brand identity. Sometimes it’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions a brand. Take Wendy’s for example…is the first thing you think of their square burgers or their savage Twitter roasts?

Voice characteristics are like personality traits. Let’s stack the watch company and Wendy’s against each other. If they were people, they’d live completely different lives. How would you describe the brand if they were a real person?

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Voice and Tone Discovery

Like all things UX, you’ll get the best idea of the characteristics your copy needs to emulate by talking directly to the end-user. Your interviews will show you how to play into the communication style that resonates with them.

Client interviews are also super helpful because they likely already have an idea of what their brand is about and who their users are. They’ll likely have some key messages about what makes their brand the best and know how they want the user to feel when reading those messages.

The user knows how they like to be talked to. They also know when they’re being pandered to. And the client knows what they’re all about and the audience they want to reach. It’s up to the UX writer to fine-tune that research into characteristics that make a brand stand out.

Ask these questions to hone in on voice characteristics that work for the client and audience:

Client Interview Questions

• How would you define your brand?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses as a brand?
• Who are your biggest competitors? What are their strengths and weaknesses as a brand?
• What sets you apart from your competitors?
• Why should your audience choose your brand?
• What are some other brands/communication styles you admire?
• Who is your target audience? Define them in three words.
• Are there any keywords we should include?

User Interview Questions

• What brands do you gravitate to? Why?
• What are your opinions of the client’s product? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
• Why do you keep using the client’s product?
• What drives your purchasing decisions?
• What is most important to you when using a website/mobile app?
• Where do you mostly use digital products? Desktop, mobile, iPad, etc.
• What turns you away from buying/using products?
• What are some of your favorite/least favorite marketing campaigns?

15 Tips for UX Writing

From Hemingway to Wilde and even Taylor Swift, we all have different writing processes. A special routine to help us get in the zone to write a masterpiece of literature (or just some really great digital product copy).

So brew a fresh pot of coffee, put on your favorite playlist to get in the right headspace, and keep these UX writing tips in the back of your mind.

• Be concise. If a sentence is feeling wordy, it is!
• Write for an 8th-grade audience. Not everyone visiting your page is an industry expert.
• Keep your interview notes and voice and tone guidelines handy for quick reference.
• Review brand and style guides beforehand to make sure everything gels.
• Look at competitor messaging and consider how it could be improved.
• Avoid jargon whenever possible. If you have to, explain it in the most basic terms.
• Present tense and active voice are your best friends.
• Use SEO keywords like spices – don’t overdo it!
• Keep a thesaurus by your side to vary up your vocabulary.
• Draft alternate copy to explore more ideas and give the client choices.
• Empathize with the user by leading with the primary goal of the page.
• Keep copy consistent and on-brand.
• Peer reviews are super useful for exploring ideas and catching errors.
• Keep your headlines and microcopy as short as you can.
• Utilize bulleted lists to your advantage to make content scannable.

Who Can Help Me With UX Writing?

Allow us to throw our banana into the ring!

If you need us to take care of the whole design from beginning to end or just need help writing copy for a landing page, we’ve got you covered.

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On top of our expert UX/UI design and full-stack web development teams, we also have an in-house UX writing team to provide copywriting services for all your digital products. Websites, mobile apps, product copy, blogs, investor decks, scripts, social media content — you name it, we can write it.

We’ll work with you to form a unique voice your audience won't soon forget, then craft copy to solidify your style. And since we work in tandem with our UX/UI designers, all the parts come together like a perfectly-produced top 10 hit.

Like what you're seeing? Do you need to UX-ify the copy for your digital product? Start a project with us today!

Google, Amazon, and Apple are among the strongest brands of the last decade. They have created billions in brand value and have industry-leading business performance. What else do they have in common? Their brand success can be directly tied to simplicity–to making life simpler for their users, that is. They also adhere to simplicity rules to define their brand experiences. These rules are worth considering for any brand trying to simplify their customer experience and drive customer satisfaction, commitment, and connection.

Consider the context.

Every brand thinks it’s the most important thing in their user’s life. Seldom is this true. A user’s experience with a brand is just one event in an action-packed life. Good brands map out their customer experience looking for opportunities to simplify, eliminate steps, confusion, and complications in ways that add value. Great brands look to where the brand and the experience fit within their user’s overall life, looking to make not just the experience easier but a user’s overall life easier. Amazon, with its 1-click ordering, is a great example of a brand that ‘considers the context’. Typical web marketing theory of the time said that the goal was to keep customers on a brand’s website for as long as possible to increase interaction and engagement in the belief that this would increase purchase. Amazon took a counter approach, creating a 1-click ordering option where user preferences and purchase information could be stored in order to enable a single click purchase. Amazon’s 1-click ordering, and the resultant user satisfaction with its simplicity, is core to the Amazon’s brand promise. By making online shopping as quick and painless as a single mouse click, Amazon made simplicity and customer-centricity core to their brand over 13 years ago.

Go deep.

Simplicity is not just eliminating steps, clarifying language or using intuitive graphics. Brands that succeed due to simplicity understand that everything must work together, clearly and seamlessly. Apple is a brand that lives this. Not only are the devices beautiful, simply to understand and use right out of the box. Not only do the devices work simply with the iTunes store, iCloud storage, and other Apple systems. It isn’t just that their user interfaces are a model of clarity and simplified interaction. Apple realizes everything matters when it comes to simplicity. That there isn’t an end to what can be simplified and made better. That in order to get it right, they must consider everything, they must ‘go deep.’ Only by going deep can brands understand how everything fits together and how everything matters to the user.

Avoid ‘feature-itis.’

Rather than continuing to add incremental features to a brand experience over time, great brands stand firm once they reach a level of simplicity, resisting the urge to add brand bells and whistles. Melissa Mayer, former VP of Google Search Products, is credited with keeping the interface of the Google search page blissfully simple: a white page with a blank box. Despite constant pressure to use the power of one of the most visited pages on the web to promote other brands, Google resists that urge, maintaining a simple page in the best interest of the user.Simple is a powerful strength for great brands like Amazon, Apple, and Google. Increasingly, it will be necessary for every brand. In a world of ever-increasing complexity, brand simplicity is critical for brands to get right or risk customer disappointment and defection.

Picture it, you’re shopping for an outfit for an event where you HAVE to make an impression. Are you gonna settle with an off-the-rack article of clothing from Walmart or Target, or will you invest in a custom piece from a boutique designer?

Now, we’re not dunking on Walmart and Target too hard (we appreciate budget-conscious options). But in our competitive digital market, a mass-produced templatized solution won’t get you very far with your target audience.

As businesses crawl over each other to deliver flawless user interactions, choosing a UX design partner is not an easy decision. So, if you’re torn between investing in a larger firm or a boutique UX design agency — consider the unique and unexpected advantages of the latter.

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Boutique UX Design Agencies & Their Benefits

Cost-Effectiveness

The allure of boutique UX design agencies stems from the laser-focused attention they offer to their clients. These firms deliberately limit their client intake, enabling a truly immersive understanding of your needs, aspirations, and hurdles. 

This level of personalization results in finely honed, cost-effective solutions. In many cases, smaller and personable teams are more likely to work with their clients to construct designs and visual assets within shifting timelines and budgets. 

With resources optimized and focused solely on a handful of projects, the budget is allocated where it truly matters, enabling a higher return on investment.

Less Reliance On Templates

While a highly researched, tested, and iterated solution might work for one type of audience, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution in UX.

Boutique UX design agencies excel in shaping journeys that resonate with a client's target audience. Through close collaboration and intimate knowledge of client goals and user needs, these firms craft experiences that feel tailor-made to specific audiences. 

This level of connection ensures that every design decision aligns with the audience's preferences, driving engagement and satisfaction to new heights.

Smaller Teams, Real Impact

Unlike their larger counterparts, boutique UX design agencies boast compact, nimble teams. 

Some clients may worry that limited manpower means the project will take longer. But with fewer clients and more resources at their disposal, the designers and developers can dig deep into your project and truly become extensions of your company.

Every team member's role is clearly defined, contributing to a collective synergy that propels the project forward. This focused approach expedites decision-making, minimizes communication gaps, and maintains an unwavering commitment to project timelines.

A Better Understanding Of Your Industry

Boutique UX agencies stand out through their profound specialization in specific industries. This pinpoint expertise allows them to delve into your industry’s competitive landscape with a keen understanding of its nuances, challenges, and user expectations.

As a result, the solutions they conceive are not adaptations, but rather inventive answers born from an in-depth knowledge of an industry's intricacies. 

By collaborating with a boutique firm, clients benefit from a partnership with experts who effortlessly navigate their field's terrain.

The Value Of Focus

At the core of boutique UX design agencies lies an extraordinary value proposition you don’t see in a large, bustling firm.

In a landscape perpetually defined by unity between businesses and users, boutique firms exhibit an uncanny ability to adapt. Their size keeps them agile, pivoting swiftly and embracing opportunities with unmatched dexterity — an invaluable quality in generating customized solutions and overcoming obstacles.

As a boutique agency ourselves, we’re more than service providers – we’re enthusiasts of the UX design craft. Every pixel and every interaction is infused with genuine passion, forging connections with users on a deeper level.

A UX approach is a strategic investment in excellence, but a collaboration between your business and a boutique firm sparks better digital products and long-term partnerships.

In a market where differentiation reigns supreme, let CreateApe help you unlock the unparalleled value of personalized solutions. Start a project with us today!

When I first started as an intern at CreateApe, I was new to the UX/UI space. While I was familiar with some components of it, but understanding wasn’t fully developed. Now in my academic and professional career, I interact with the psychology of User Experience and User Interface design non-stop in daily life. As Cristina (our Director of Communications) and I were browsing blog topics for the month, one of the things we found really interesting were the blog topics on UX Magazine.

Why These Categories?

UX Magazines featured topics are under the categories: Accessibility, Data Visualization, Emotion, Empathy, Personas, and Storytelling. UX designers are familiar with all these categories, but I found some of them surprising. Why are things like emotion and empathy critical when talking about design?

Understanding UX/UI has changed the way I look at communication. At UC Berkeley, I’m seeing so many things I haven’t seen before, especially when connecting UX/UI to consumer behavior and human emotions. Upon deeper exploration, I’ve concluded that UX design goes beyond just the aesthetics, it’s the psychology behind the design in our lives.

Data Visualization

At Berkeley, it’s incredible the amount of emphasis that is put on numbers. “Big data” and “data analytics” are buzzwords that float through classrooms. It seems as if everyone is in a number crunch race, but for what reason? Numbers tell a story. Number’s tell stories, sometimes even better than words.

For example, in UX/UI, we use heat mapping to let the user tell us a story. We utilize reports on what users have been clicking on the most, where their eyes first land when browsing a landing page and more. This data helps interpret a path the user takes through a series of clicks. From the amount of time someone stays on a landing page, to what part of the website they frequently visit- all aid in the quest of understanding our actions and why we act in certain ways. When we see a perfume ad, our first instinct may be to look at the people in the ads. Why is that? It all boils down to psychology and it’s the UX designer and marketers job to explore and understand why.

Qualitative vs. Quantitive

Data can tell us where the future is moving. Both qualitative and quantitative data gives us valuable information about consumers and how they approach design. Although there is an emphasis on numbers, qualitative data is just as important.

This Ted Talk by Tricia Wang reveals why human insights in data are so crucial. Nokia had been conducting surveys about smartphones in rural Asia and receiving the data back. While the data stated that the demographics of the area had no interest or need for smartphones, Wang’s ethnography findings found just the opposite. She had talked to and observed those in rural Asia and found, in fact, that there was an increasing desire for smartphones within the community. Nokia refuted the data simply because it wasn’t rooted in the numbers and has been trying to catch up in the smartphone industry since.

The UX/UI designer is in many ways an ethnographer. They have to observe a user base, understand how they use their current tools and design accordingly. Like a 5-year-old, they must ask many ‘why’ questions and never stop re-evaluating, why? Both qualitative and quantitative data are essential in allowing designers to bring a human insight approach to design. Quantitative data can tell us about a demographic but qualitative data can extensively show us how the user is interacting with designs (like user testing).

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Storytelling

There’s no doubt that storytelling is crucial in the way designs are presented. Storytelling is a form of communication that’s designed to connect with the user. We tell stories to connect with others. It’s the same with UX. We create pathways and stories through designs that are impactful and connect with users on a personal level.

Good design limits choice. In consumer behavior, we talk a lot about decision fatigue. If a user is overwhelmed by a decision in which they have too many choices, they end up making no decisions at all or make a rash or spontaneous decision. This is why storytelling is so crucial. Users don’t want to make decisions 100% of the time, and if they do they want them to be easy. In order to create an impactful story, we must use anticipatory design.

Anticipatory Design

Anticipatory design eliminates choices for the user. We think we want a lot of choices, but psychology has proven we actually don’t. This is evident just within the In n’ Out menu. Its simplicity and limited choice have allowed the brand to flourish. There is a freedom in limited choices, like having your credit card information already on file rather than choosing which one to use and re-input every time you shop. There’s a reason why designers like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg wore the same thing every day.

When we have choices omitted from us, it’s easier to follow a path or a story. That’s what UX aims to do for the user. Designing simple and impactful illustrations is what makes using products and browsing interfaces that much more enjoyable. Good UX is supposed to anticipate our next move before we do, and it works. Designing stories and a path for users to take utilizes anticipatory design.

Accessibility

When scrolling through UX Mag’s website, their articles about accessibility focus on availability. It’s about designing for everyone. UX/UI isn’t just about design, it’s about breakthroughs. It’s about that ah-ha moment that makes life just that much easier. It’s no surprise that great designs can change the world, but they can only change it if they’re accessible. A great example of this is the Apple Watch. Their interface is designed for an athlete, stay at home mom, student, chef, or virtually anyone. It’s designed for the everyday user and pushed the boundaries of design. The creators of the Apple Watch anticipated wearable tech that now has opened many possibilities for design and made it accessible and friendly for each user.

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Emotion

Emotion in design is impactful. We see, think, and feel emotions every day. We make choices and design our life based on emotions. The world around us has the ability to influence user experience and design. Going back to the Apple watch example, it was designed to be worn on the wrist because of its psychological placement on the body. The design was made with emotions in mind, our wrist being associated with being delicate, often intimate and right on the pulse. We can now send our heartbeat to a loved one via our Apple watch and our Spotify recommends playlists are based on our moods. Emotions shape design.

Amanda O’Grady, the Design Strategist at Intuit says, “True emotional connections come from experiences that feel magical and meaningful.”

Even the actual design of emoji was made for us to convey emotion. Each emoji is based on a feeling, an emotion that is designed based on movements in facial features. Dr. Ekman, ranked among the most influential psychologists of the 21st century, is world-renowned for his research on facial expressions, emotion, deception, and compassion. His research has aided to furthering emotions in design and worked on movies like Inside Out. This inherently shows that we gravitate towards designs that help us convey or relate to emotions. This trait is crucial in UX/UI as the first step of design is understanding the emotions behind it.

Empathy

I thought it was amusing that UX Mag’s image used for this topic was a man changing one foot into a heeled shoe. We see empathy in design everywhere. In the design world, and the real world, there aren’t any empathy filters. Designers aren’t going to wake up one day and think to start designing with empathy. But empathy allows us to consider how people are thinking and feeling. Being empathetic in design is to put yourself in the user’s shoes.

Most designers designed something because they have empathized with themselves. For example, the person who invented the bike probably hated the fact they had to walk miles and miles every day. Empathizing with users allows designers to gain a genuine understanding of how to solve users problems and build better products. Designing with empathy is human design. It’s not an algorithm made from a device, that’s why UX/UI is so crucial, it’s personalized designed built from human nature.  

“No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”- Theodore Roosevelt

Personas

A persona is a group of users who all exhibit similar types of behavior. This is the ideal customer or user, the one who is going to have the most impact. In consumer behavior, personas are often used in targeting a certain demographic and usually require some research. Personas allow for perspective. Like empathy, personas put you in the user’s shoes and allow the designer to ask the crucial questions on how the user will perform while using their products. Understanding who you’re designing for is the first step to any design success.

Personas help teams find the answer of who they are designing for. Not only is this helpful for segmentation, but it’s helpful in understanding empathy. Creating personas makes designers understand that users have varying needs and expectations. A persona puts into perspective how a person interacts with a product, their patterns, and puts behaviors into context.

Psychology of UX

At the root of UX/UI is a question of why. UX is supposed to provoke questions. It’s supposed to ask why humans do things, why we do them the way we do. These blog categories encapsulate the core of UX design. UX is about combining data, regular human emotions, using empathy and accessibility to connect that to impactful storytelling. As a design field based on human nature, it has deep roots in psychology.

Additionally, there is a historical aspect to this type of design. It’s an example of who we are as a society at any given time and a peek into how we live our lives. Historically, you can look at UX/UI designs and know what society was like at any given time because designers were building for that society.

What’s ultimately successful in UX Mag’s blog titles is their ability to provoke questions. The purpose of UX design is to ask the questions. Why do we do this? Why is it purposeful? Could we function without it? The average person wouldn’t know what UX/UI design even was, so why is it so important?  UX marries both design and psychology, and in the end develops as a sort of sociological report on who we are, what we believe in and what we want. That’s why it’s important.

As industry leaders in UX, CreateApe has no trouble keeping up with digital trends. New technologies are created every day to simplify tasks, and website design is no different. Staying on top of (and sometimes starting) UX/UI trends is the easiest way to guarantee a flawless user experience.

Just like software, elements in a website’s interface become dated quickly. Redesigning your website with the latest popular features shows that you’re designing with your audience in mind. You may think your website is perfect as is, but ignoring trends eventually leads to a stale, outdated, and (gasp) boring experience for your user.

2020 and 2021 saw an explosion in technologies and platforms that made remote working and living easier...for obvious reasons. AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) were gaining popularity, then exploded because of the pandemic. We can safely predict that design trends will continue to steer in this direction for the foreseeable future. 

Certain aesthetic trends within interfacing elements also started gaining traction in 2021. Busy interfaces are being replaced with more minimalist designs. Bold, bright colors and typography are dominating over more simplistic, muted tones. And websites become more and more interactive with each passing year.

Trends ebb and flow, but we can see these UX/UI trends sticking around for a while.

UX/UI Trend Predictions for 2022

1. Dark Mode

Besides looking REALLY cool, there are many visual benefits of having a dark mode for your website/app. From a design perspective, a black background looks sleek and modern. White text on a black background is more eye-catching and helps the user fixate on the content of a web page.

Dark mode has two benefits for the user. For most modern screens like OLED and MicroLED, each pixel on a screen is individually lit on a white background, which drains the battery pretty quickly. Dark mode reduces the power drain and saves the overall energy consumption needed to power a laptop or mobile device.

Dark mode also significantly reduces eye strain, making for a more comfortable user experience. We spend so much time in front of screens, and exposure to blue light can cause problems over time. A dark, black background is much easier on the eyes, reducing the blue light exposure that causes eye strain from prolonged periods of screen time. 

It seems like every social media platform and mobile app is starting to catch on to dark mode, so we can see this design becoming the new norm in 2022.

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2. Abstract Data Visualization

A simple graph or chart is an easy way to visualize data-but let’s face it, they're overused and not that interesting visually. UX designers need to find new ways to present data that engages the user and encourages interaction.

Think outside the box with data visualization by creating infographics with inventive designs or adding interactive animations to charts. Getting creative with these elements is a great way to show users that you want to make the experience fresh and innovative.

The way you present data is also an opportunity to sneak in your voice and branding elements. Try to incorporate your typography and color schemes into charts to enhance the brand's presence. It's also a good place to add microcopy that conveys your overall attitude.

More and more small website elements will become interactive as time goes on. As a result, UX designers will look for more original ways to bring data to life.

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3. Personalized Experiences

The stereotype about technology is that it is cold and impersonal. As it becomes a more prevalent part of our lives, there is a push to make it more inviting and less intimidating. This idea is at the very core of UX and especially for CreateApe’s design process.

CreateApe prioritizes user empathy in all of our designs. What better way to show we design with the user in mind than creating an interface personalized for them? We can create a tailored experience based on the user’s wants and needs through research and data collection.

Interfaces can be personalized with the user’s location, demographics, search history, and purchasing patterns. By showing the user content that is relevant to their life, you inspire loyalty and show that you want to make your brand convenient for them. Personalize your interface to become a seamless part of your user’s life.

Plenty of big-name companies build their UI’s around personalization (Amazon, Netflix, and social apps like Facebook and Tik Tok to name a few). Since they make for such a smooth navigational experience, we don’t see this trend going away any time soon.

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4. Voice-User Interface

How easy has voice recognition made your life? Do you still watch the weather channel, or do you just ask Alexa what today's forecast is? With voice-activated assistance, you can find answers without having to pull out your phone. After all, typing is awfully time-consuming.

The main draw of this technology is that it completely streamlines the search process. It lets the user quickly find what they need while focusing on other things. We’ve noticed how convenient voice-activated devices are, and some companies are starting to incorporate them into their interface.

That said, the technology is not perfect yet. Voice recognition software is not 100% accurate yet, and some users have privacy concerns when using the technology in public and private. However, technology evolves and works out its own kinks over time.

The software needed to implement a voice-user interface is accessible for developers and the technology can adapt to the user’s speech patterns. It's not super common now, but we can see this feature gaining traction next year.

5. Bold Colors/Fonts

Your website’s visuals are a super important part of UX. However, visual trends can change pretty rapidly. Many websites put a focus on having a clean, professional look with modest colors and fonts. It’s fine to emphasize the website’s function more than the design, but it doesn’t make for an interesting experience overall.

Visual designs are starting to favor bright, bold colors. They’re much more eye-catching and tend to grab the user’s attention right away as opposed to neutral tones. If you’re looking to redesign your website or re-brand, this is an opportunity to take a risk and play with your color scheme a bit. Gradient colors are also popular right now and lend a cool, futuristic look to your site.

Don't let the bold colors distract from your site’s messaging or overwhelm the eye. A good way to combat this is by pairing the color scheme with a minimalistic design that prominently features your messaging or product. Bold fonts in a contrasting color from the background make your messaging stand out. Draw the user in with creative colors, then make sure they can’t miss your message by using a heavy, striking font.

Grabbing the user’s attention within the first few seconds of interacting with your site is critical. With the intensity of the outside world, a fun splash of color is a welcome change. 

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So Why Is This Important?

Your website should always be on-brand. However, on-brand does NOT always mean on-trend. Websites need to adapt to new technologies and aesthetics so the audience will not lose interest. When you are constantly innovating, you keep your audience coming back for more.

CreateApe's designers know how important it is to keep an updated interface. Every element that goes into the site should serve the brand identity and overall utility. We ensure that your website is on-brand, user-friendly, and conversion-optimized.

If you need someone to redesign your website to be current and on-trend, reach out to us today!