UX Design Principles For Startups

One of the major reasons why some startups fail in the digital space is due to a lack of understanding of their users’ problems and needs. UX research is often neglected or overlooked in the early stages by startups. They are under the impression that these aspects need not be prioritized. On the flip side, this process is pivotal to understanding users’ pain points, needs, and behavior.

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through some UX design principles that startups must follow to create a user-friendly design. These principles, when put into play, would help you understand your end-users better and improve their overall experience.

1. Ensure that the user needs are met

Out of all the things that would define your startup’s success, the first and foremost would be whether your product is able to meet the users’ needs. Find out what your target users are looking for and plan your design strategy accordingly. Avoid creating something based on self-assumptions. It is not necessary that a design that seems appealing to you would be captivating for the users too. Research thoroughly about your target users and learn what kind of experience they expect, what are their expectations, or what do they look for in an application that keeps them hooked. This will help you design better and more relevant.

2. Start with low-fidelity wireframes

Low-fidelity wireframes comprise basic visuals (static) and content and are often used to help map out the shell of the interface, its screens, and basic information architecture. These wireframes are often served as a checkpoint for the product team and the stakeholders to prepare functional specifications at the start of the design process.

By creating low-fidelity wireframes, you can clearly define how the software application works rather than investing hours in deciding how it looks. Microsoft office suite or a wireframing tool would help you create such wireframes.

3. Intuitive Design

Every industry has a defined design standard. Visit a few websites or applications of a specific industry and you’ll notice that they use very similar layouts and UI elements. For example, food delivery apps would follow a certain standard and hotel booking apps would have their own design standard. Now let’s say you are planning to develop an on-demand food delivery app. Your target users would have a pre-existing idea of what a food delivery app looks like and how it works. So basically the key is to create designs based on familiar and tested patterns.

Look at some popular apps in your business niche and see what patterns do they follow in their design. This way you can design your app in a way that makes users feel familiar and, at the same time, has its own originality. The more familiar users are with your design, the more easily they can grasp your content.

Do make sure to follow the design guidelines of the platform you are building your product for.

4. Focus on accessibility

Accessibility is one of the core principles of UX design. App designers should ensure that the design caters to a maximum number of people and people of different kinds, which means people with disabilities too. Although this is often an afterthought for designers, especially in fast-moving startups, accessibility affects a good enough percentage of the population. This can be backed by a study that says over 7 million Americans rely on screen readers.

Put simply, your design should be accessible to all irrespective of their abilities. This can include deaf users, blind users, or the ones who prefer navigating through their voice or screen readers.

5. Focus on usability

Usability defines how easy users find using your application or how easily they can perform an intended task. The better the convenience, the better the usability. It is therefore crucial that usability is given enough importance when designing your application.

If the usability factor isn’t paid enough attention by the startups, it will not only create a poor user experience but the possibility of the users never returning to your app would also be high.

Create meaningful and purposeful designs and ensure that there is clarity in the functionalities to be used by the user to achieve an outcome.

For this matter, it would be a good idea to perform usability testing. Conducting usability tests would help you find out how users interact with your design and which areas they are less comfortable with or find troublesome.

6. Keep it simple

The best designs aren’t those that look visually appealing or aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes, even a simple design beats the fancy one. Less is more when it comes to UX design. Google’s homepage is the perfect example of how a design can be kept so simple yet persuasive. All it has is the logo with minimum search parameters.

Focus on building minimalistic designs that encompass just the necessary options and functionality to get the job done. Make the user’s journey as less distractive as possible. This is valid not just for the startups but every organization should strive to create the most simple yet amazing application they have ever used.

Also Read: Latest UI Design Trends That You Can Incorporate Into Your Mobile App

7. A clear hierarchy

There needs to be a clear hierarchy in the product to ensure smooth navigation and ease of use. The hierarchy is usually divided into primary and secondary where the former arranges information throughout the design whereas the latter is for the sub-categories.

Keeping important information in visually prominent positions and putting lesser relevant information in deeper layers will improve the overall simplicity, navigability, and user experience flow.

Make sure the information flow is natural and flows effortlessly from one level to the other throughout the app design.

The Bottom Line

UX design is a critical aspect of web or app development. By following these UX design principles for startups, you can optimize the user experience and improve business outcomes. The best design teams are always looking to understand their users better and enhance their experiences.

If you’re struggling with UX design, our expert designers can help you create effective wireframes and workflows, and implement attractive and functional designs. Get in touch with our experts.