Good to Great: Application Design Tips You Can Use

Over the past few years, the use of Web as an application platform has become pervasive. From Sales Force Automation to neat little Consumer Applications and Utilities, there’s a lot you can do on the Web today. Sadly though, not many of these applications really bother about how the users go about accomplishing their tasks and whether they find the experience enjoyable. And the result is a whole lot of applications that simply sit there, frustrate their users and fail to achieve their objective. This article takes a look at some useful tips you can use to ensure you web applications make the grade.

If you happen to be in conceiving (or right there in the middle) a web application, a little emphasis on Usability, or User Experience Design as it is now called, can work wonders for you and your application. And the good thing is it isn’t really rocket science, regardless of what armies of consultants tell you.

If you pay attention to these tips, your web applications will work great and your users will thank you for it.

1. Don’t bother about Buzzwords
   Web 2.0, Ajax, HCI (Human Computer Interaction), Usability, Accessibility, Compliance - buzzwords abound in the tech world. As useful as these are if used in the right manner, you have to focus on your users and what you are trying to accomplish, not about what technology you are going to use to get there. Technologies and techniques are subservient to your business goals.
2. User Experience isn’t just Graphics
   User experience is more than just pretty pictures and icons. How your users perceive the application depends more on aspects like Information Architecture (the model you are using to convey information), content and the degree to which the navigation meets the user’s needs. Focus on the plumbing if you want the water to flow through the taps - the design of the faucets and the sink won’t do much if the water isn’t coming through.
3. Less Is More
   Don’t cram your user interface with so much data that the facts you are trying to present get lost in plain sight. Your users are there to accomplish some tasks - make sure you enable them to do it without seeking support and without having to search for information. Less Really Is More. Segregate your user interface into modules and sections that are logical and relate to the tasks you want your users to accomplish.
4. Focus on your Business First
   Web applications are not about technology or the Web - they are about business. Focus on your business objectives and ensure that you don’t let your business objectives take a second berth to technology and what your consultants tell you. Today’s technology makes just about anything possible (within the limits of rational logic though!) - ensure that your consultants/designers/software engineers pay attention to the business process analysis and task analysis before jumping on to design a web interface.
5. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
   Use charts and smart graphics to enhance the appeal of your content and the web applications - just don’t overdo it. If there’s a lot of data you are presenting in lists in your web applications, explore the option of using charts and graphs to enable users to make sense of what you’re presenting faster and easier.
6. Be Consistent and Reinforce Your Brand Identity
   Web applications are designed by programmers 9 times out of 10 and programmers, really, with all due apologies, are not too fond of colors and presentation. The result is that web applications seldom look like the brand identity you’ve spent so much on (Remember your mobile billing apps?). For the consumer, this creates confusion and dilutes your brand. When designing web applications, ensure that your brand and corporate identity is reflected in the design of your web applications.
   
7. Plan for Growth
   So your user interface looks great with all those neat icons and tables and charts, just as the designer told you it would. But will it look the same, and more importantly, work the same when you actually have your users ‘using’ all the features, creating tons of data. What about performance of the lists?…the time it takes to generate those same charts and graphs? Will your user interface hold on when the amount of data your system is processing increases manifold.
8. Test Your Battle Plans Before Building your Web Application
   So you’ve built the web application and your users don’t like the way it works. What are you going to do? Scrap the application? Develop another one? Spend more on modifying the user interface and/or the functionality? Not quite. It is a good idea to test your user interface through prototypes and wireframes with actual users before you start the programming build out of the website. This will enable you to validate the design and architecture of the web application, as well as give you time to correct any mistakes early on in the lifecycle, reducing costly rebuilds.

Usability and User Experience Design is the ultimate tribute you can pay your consumers because it shows you respect their time and are committed to help them accomplish tasks faster. And it is good business because it wastes less money, ensures your projects are successful and that you can actually realize value from your web application initiatives.

All the best!

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