Have you ever come across a website or app with a bad appearance? How annoying, right? You must be confused and difficult to use it. That is why a website or application needs to pay attention to the user interface (UI).
However, do you know what a user interface is? Take it easy, in this article, you will find the full answer. You can also find out how the characteristics of a good user interface. Immediately, let’s see the following explanation.
Table of contents close
1 What is a User Interface?
2 The Importance of UI for a Product
2.1 1. Facilitate user interaction with the product
2.2 2. Increase Sales and Business Growth
2.3 3. Improving Branding Quality
3 Characteristics of a Good User Interface and Examples
3.1 1. Clear and concise
3.2 2. Responsive Design
3.3 3. Structured Information
3.4 4. Be consistent
3.5 5. Good Color Contrast
3.6 6. Intuitive
4 Conclusion
What is a User Interface?
User Interface is a visual display of a product that bridges the system with the user (user). The UI appearance can be in the form of shapes, colors, and text which are designed to be as attractive as possible. In simple terms, UI is how a product is viewed by users.
The analogy can be explained like this. For example, you visit a house, you will definitely see how the house looks, right? You can see the front yard of the house, the location of the main door and the window.
Well, the house display that you see is the user interface or UI.
This UI interface is applied to operating systems, applications, websites, and blogs. For example, you must have seen the application menus on your smartphone, right? If you open the Google Play Store application, you will see a screen similar to the following image.
So, the UI is designed with several design aspects, starting from the layout, logo images, choosing appropriate colors, easy-to-read typography and other things to enhance your appearance. Well, all the elements that enhance the look are included in UI elements.
Not only the UI in the application, the UI on a website page must be attractive. The following is an example of a UI page on a website page on a desktop and mobile gadget.
Not only does it have to be attractive, the UI appearance must also be adapted to various devices so that users can easily and comfortably use the website. If you want to create a web display design, we provide a complete guide article on how to easily design a web that you can read.
The Importance of UI for a Product
Now that we understand what a user interface or UI is, let’s go back to the analogy of ‘home’ to understand the importance of good UI design.
If a house is designed beautifully, visitors to the house will certainly be impressed by the appearance of your home. Conversely, a house that looks messy can make visitors want to leave the place immediately.
Likewise, applications, websites, or blogs that do not have a good user interface. Users can immediately leave your product before seeing the full contents.
For more details, let’s look at the details below.
- Facilitate user interaction with the product
Basically, UI design is a visual element of the product system. This includes the design of the screen, buttons, icons, images, text, and all other visual elements acting as a bridge between the product and the user.
The UI on a product, both application and website, is very important because with the UI the user can interact with the product. A good UI appearance will certainly facilitate user interaction with the product. If user interaction goes well, the needs and goals of users using the product can be met.
Do not stop there, if users are satisfied, it will increase user loyalty. That is why a product with a good UI will stand out from other products. Therefore, many digital companies have started creating elegant feature solutions that are easy to use.
- Increase Sales and Business Growth
The main goal of every business is to increase sales and business growth. One way to increase this growth is by developing UI / UX. UI design can improve user experience and satisfaction and ultimately increase the number of users.
Because UI focuses on user satisfaction and enjoyment, it plays an important role in the success of your business. A good UI will also build a better product reputation. That is why UI is very important in every product for business success.
- Improve Branding Quality
Apart from being important for business interaction and growth, the UI display can also be a hallmark of a product. Simply put, we can call it branding. For example, websites for fashion, culinary, and technology products. Another example is the display of the iOS and Android operating systems. UI display elements that match the product concept will certainly be more easily recognized by users.
UI design should be more than just pretty and pleasing visuals. The UI design will directly reflect the value and quality of the product. The increasingly tighter trade competition makes every company have to compete to create an attractive and fun appearance when used.
Characteristics of a Good User Interface and Examples
If you want to create applications, websites, blogs, or other digital products, you also have to make sure that the UI is liked by visitors. To ensure this, you must know the characteristics of a good user interface.
In the following, we describe what characteristics are needed to make a good UI design.
- Clear and concise
A good website user interface must be clear. However, you also need to make a design that is concise. If you create too long definitions and explanations, your website will look cluttered.
Visitors will also spend time just reading the descriptions on your website. As much as possible, keep the explanation concise and not too long.
Take a look at the comparison of the appearance of this website below!
From the two views, you can of course immediately guess which one is better. This is because from the first appearance it is made concise, solid, and clear in displaying its products. Meanwhile, on the second look, you see a messy look. This will make users confused about choosing a product.
- Responsive Design
Responsive website design allows visitors to access your website on various devices such as desktop and mobile PCs .
Simply put, if a website visitor opens your website on their cellphone screen, the appearance of your website will adjust the resolution of your cellphone.
This unresponsive design will make it difficult for visitors to see your website content. Moreover, your website is an online store website. Maybe visitors will immediately leave your website.
So, make sure your design is responsive, huh!
- Structured Information
Have you ever seen a design display that is very busy and full of information but not properly organized? Now let’s compare the two images below for an overview with structured information.
It can be seen that the design of the first image displayed unstructured and overlapping information. This can make it difficult for users to capture information.
Creating a UI display with structured information can be done by choosing a matching font type and color. For some information that is highlighted, you can increase the font size. In order not to overlap, you should not include a lot of unimportant elements that make the look cluttered.
- Be consistent
Consistency in interface design will make it easier for users to understand the appearance of your website. Users can learn about the functions of buttons, icons, and tabs on your website.
If the appearance of your website design is inconsistent, users should learn these functions from the start. Some of the pages on the website as much as possible have a design that is not too different.
For example, the Microsoft Office program display. Although it has been updated several times, the functions or buttons in Microsoft Office have not changed much. Users can still locate the print and save buttons by looking at the icon.
Let’s take a look at a design with good consistency like the example image below.
The image has design consistency in the form of layout, colors, and fonts used. The design of each page that is not too different will make it easier for users to digest the information conveyed.
- Good Color Contrast
Color is a very important component in user interface design. Color selection in user interface design is very important. Websites with almost similar colors will certainly make it difficult for users to grasp the information they want to convey.
For example, if you choose white as the background, make sure you use a color font that contrasts with white. Otherwise, the information on your display is difficult for users to read.
Instead, use appropriate color combinations to make it clear the information you want to convey. Here is an example of a website design with a good contrast color. To determine the right color combination, you can read the article on how to determine an effective color combination for your website.
- Intuitive
UI design appearance is said to be good if the design is intuitive. That is, when they use your digital product, they don’t have to think about what they are doing.
That’s why a designer should think about how users interact with your product and minimize the time it takes to use the product. That way users can use your product without having to ask about how to use it.
Conclusion
The user interface is very important for your digital product, be it an application, website or blog. You need to pay attention to the appearance of the product UI to succeed your product goals. If you have a website, you need to pay attention to the appearance of your website. especially if you have an online shop website.
A good UI appearance is predicted as one of the steps to increase sales and growth of your business. In addition, a good UI display can be the branding of your online store. By considering the characteristics of a good user interface, your dream attractive website will come true.
