Underestimate the User
Just because you know a lot about web design, doesn't mean your user does – here are a few rules to keep in mind when designing for a broad audience.
Having gone through web design online schools and courses, perhaps even obtaining degrees along the way, you’re in a formidable position when it comes to web design. You know how to make almost anything you need, can talk about it intelligently, and can even add to the collective knowledge of the design community.
Believe it or not, this puts you at a huge disadvantage in designing for your average user - the ones who aren’t always sure if a form has submitted, or if there are really singles in their area ready to chat. For your sites to be truly usable, you have to put yourself in the shoes of someone not quite so tech savvy, and recognize that the things that come easy to you may be a complete mystery to them. Here are a few things you can do to help out the novice user on your sites:
1. Everything in its place
While web design is still an ever-changing art, certain conventions have solidified themselves in the minds of users, and are expected when they enter a site. People drift to the left side of the screen for navigation, even though most users are right handed and statistically speaking a right-side menu would make more sense. Through many tests, usability experts have determined that there is simply no going back at this point - right-side menus confuse users and in some cases prevent them from using the site. The artist in you may want to shake things up, but before you go reinventing the wheel, think of who would truly benefit from such a change.
2. Keep content slim
A couple years ago I was asked to consult on a project for an app developer who was having trouble getting people to use their product. People had requested invites to the beta, but after receiving them wouldn’t even go visit the site. The app was solid, and everything seemed functional - until we looked at the invitation email. After almost a page and a half of dense paragraphs, a lonely little “Create Account” link sat in a sea of legal terms and exposition. We replaced this with a simple, graphic-based email with one sentence - “You’ve been invited to (app name) - click here to create an account.” On the second round of invites, the conversion rate rose from 10% to 65%.
3. Condense your pages
A lot of businesses think they have a lot to say, and some of them do – they've put their careers into what they're doing, and want to convey that passion to their users. Be that as it may, if you can’t surmise your purpose in six pages - seriously, six pages - then you better have a solid reason for requiring more. Talk with your client about combining like content into more digestible chunks, or suggest that “miscellaneous” items like promotions and announcements be relegated to blogs or social media outlets, where people are more accustomed to ingesting bite-size bits of info.
The rule of thumb for any of these is to operate within the realms of reason, and always welcome outside perspectives. Not your developer friends either - send a link to your grandma and take her feedback to heart. Users like her may not be sitting next to you in class, critiquing your work, but they're the ones using it at home, relying on web sites and apps to organize and run their lives. Take pity on the user, and always remember to underestimate them.