In today’s digital age, a compelling online presence is vital for businesses to thrive. Your website is often the first interaction potential customers have with your brand, and first impressions matter. When it comes to web design, choosing the right partner can make all the difference. eckhoMedia stands out as a premier choice for several reasons.
Choosing the right web design partner is crucial for your business’s online success. With our extensive expertise, commitment to customized solutions, and focus on user experience, eckhoMedia is the ideal choice for businesses looking to elevate their digital presence. From comprehensive services to competitive pricing and ongoing support, eckhoMedia is dedicated to helping you achieve your web design goals. Don’t settle for ordinary, choose eckhoMedia and transform your digital presence today. Get in contact with us today to start the discussion.
I have now completed my studies at Cardiff Metropolitan University! My final project involved creating a mixed media animation, laser cutting to create 3D models, and projection mapping.
All of this came together to create an immersive installation which will be open to the public at the Graduate Degree Show on the 7th of June, at Cardiff School of Art and Design. I warmly invite you to come along and see it for yourself – me and my course mates have been working very hard to produce our final outcomes and there’s a lot of amazing art and design to see! I am planning on moving to Bristol within the next month so I would love to meet and talk to other creatives in the area. I’ve included a link to my project trailer so you can get a glimpse of what is to come…
Find out more about the exhibition here: https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/artanddesign/Pages/CSAD-Summer-Show.aspx
In the dynamic world of experiential design, the integration of neuroscience represents a unique opportunity where science and creativity can combine to help elevate immersive experiences.
To dive deeper into this fascinating subject, we sat down with Katherine Templar Lewis from Kinda Studios, a women-led neuroaesthetic studio and lab using neuroscience to prove the power of art on human connection and wellbeing. Working with brands, experience designers, platforms and institutions, Kinda turns neuroscience into felt experiences to deepen their impact on a range of interconnected health measures.
With a wealth of expertise in crafting immersive environments that resonate with audiences, Katherine offers her insights into how experiential designers can harness the power of neuroscience to enhance their design practices.
Katherine, can you give us a quick overview of what exactly Neuroaesthetics is?
Sure, so neuroscience is the study of the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, and how they influence behaviour and cognitive processes. It explores the intricate workings of the brain’s neurons and neural circuits to understand how information is processed, emotions are generated, and actions are coordinated.
Neuroaesthetics, is a new branch of neuroscience that our work centres in, which studies how different elements affect our environment, be it light, sound, art, nature itself, impacts our brain and body.
It delves into the aesthetic underpinnings of emotion, thought and behaviour, providing insights that can inform various fields, including design. At Kinda Studios, we see neuroscience as a valuable tool for understanding human perception and emotion, allowing us to create immersive experiences that resonate deeply with our audience.
Can you give examples of how Neuroaesthetics influences your design decisions?
Neuroaesthetics serves as a toolbox for us at Kinda Studios, providing valuable mechanisms that we can leverage to enhance our design decisions. While neuroscience doesn’t hold all the answers, it offers insights that allow us to tap into the power of creative difference. For instance, we utilise colours and sounds in design that have an affect on our nervous systems, either positive or negative. Understanding how they can evoke specific emotions and drive behavioural responses allows us greater intention in our designs
By harnessing the power of art and sensory experiences, we create immersive environments that stir emotions and engage visitors on a deeper level. This approach not only elevates the overall design but also enables us to create social impact through values like environmental stewardship through experiential storytelling. Neuroscience empowers us to create meaningful experiences that resonate with people’s feelings and drive positive behaviour change.
How can neuroscience improve the overall quality of immersive experiences?
Its influence extends beyond sensory stimulation; it facilitates a deeper connection and understanding of our own selves within immersive experiences. By delving into our innate desire for coherence and connection, neuroscience enables us to craft experiences that resonate deeply with visitors. We recognise that while we experience spaces every day, often without conscious control, immersive experiences offer a unique opportunity to intentionally shape those encounters. We see ourselves as privileged to create spaces where visitors can transcend their everyday reality and be transported to other worlds, fostering a profound sense of connection and engagement with impacts that lingers long after the experience ends.
What advice would you give experiential designers wanting to incorporate neuroscience into their projects?
My advice would be to seize the opportunity to deepen your understanding and leverage this knowledge to elevate your creations. Fortunately, neuroaesthetics is now offering a wealth of resources to learn from and explore. In parallel, technological advancements are ushering in a new era where we can really harness and utilise scientific insights into experiences to deepen their impact. By leveraging this technology with neuroaesthetic knowledge and insights, you’ll be better equipped to deliver immersive experiences that resonate on a profound level.
Now more than ever is an appetite for transdisciplinary collaboration. The work we do is not just to translate but also to connect. Collaborating and exchanging ideas with both fellow designers and scientists can provide valuable perspectives and inspiration for your projects.
One resource that we often recommend is the book “Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us” by Ivy Ross and Susan Magsamen. In this book, Susan Magsamen delves into the fascinating intersection of neuroscience and art, exploring how artistic experiences can profoundly impact our brains and lives. It’s a captivating read that offers valuable insights into the power of creativity and its effects on the brain.
By immersing yourself in resources like this and actively engaging with the neuroaesthetics and studios like ours, you’ll be well-equipped to infuse your experiential designs with a deeper understanding of the human mind and emotion, ultimately creating more impactful and meaningful experiences for your audience.
What challenges have you faced using neuroscience within design? And how did you address these?
Incorporating neuroscience into design presents exciting opportunities for world-building and creating immersive experiences. However, we’ve encountered challenges when certain environments don’t align with neuroscience principles. For instance, hospitals and schools often prioritise functionality over emotional well-being, hindering our ability to create truly immersive experiences.
In hospitals, the focus on efficiency and sterile environments can be at odds with the nurturing and healing aspects that neuroscience suggests are beneficial. Similarly, schools face constraints due to limited space and the need to accommodate large numbers of people, making it difficult to implement neuroscience principles effectively.
External factors like noise pollution from motorways and heavy traffic pose challenges beyond our control. Despite these obstacles, we address them by adapting our designs to work within the constraints of the space. Neuroaesthetics research and studios like Kinda Studios are helping in transforming these spaces for greater positive impact.
We also have an in situ lab that uses neurophysiological equipment to test and explore the impact of different environments on our brain and body. The more that this work becomes a two way dialogue between science and art the further both fields can grow and the greater the positive impact we can create.
While challenges exist, they can help to fuel creativity and drive to find innovative ways to integrate neuroscience into design, even in less-than-ideal circumstances. By embracing these challenges, designers can continue to push the boundaries of immersive experiences and create meaningful connections with audiences.
What methods do you use to measure the impact of neuroscience within designs?
Yes, we use a variety of methods to measure the impact of neuroscience within our designs. This includes utilising advanced technologies such as brainwave monitoring (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), and gamma wave analysis to gather quantitative data on neural and physiological responses to our experiences. Additionally, we rely on self-report measures to capture subjective feedback from participants, allowing us to understand their emotional and cognitive reactions.
What do you see as the future of neuroscience driven-design and how do you think it will affect the design/event industry?
The future of neuroscience and neuroaesthetic-driven design holds immense potential to revolutionise the design and event industry. As we continue to embrace science-informed design practices, we’ll see a shift towards creating experiences that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also deeply resonant on a cognitive and emotional level. Neuroscience insights will guide us in crafting environments that prioritise human well-being and connection, with an emphasis on integrating elements of nature to enhance mental and emotional health.
UWE Bristol will host Showcase, its annual degree show, next month, offering visitors the opportunity to discover a new generation of talent from the College of Arts, Technology and Environment.
More than 1200 students from over 40 courses will exhibit their work at Bower Ashton, Arnolfini, Spike Island and the university’s Frenchay Campus from Thursday 6 until Wednesday 12 June.
An annual highlight for the university and the city of Bristol, members of the public are invited to attend the free in-person exhibitions which will include a selection of undergraduate and postgraduate work from animation, architecture, art, creative technologies, design, engineering, fashion, filmmaking, media, performance, photography, product design and writing.
Elena Marco, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Head of College of Arts, Technology and Environment said: “We are thrilled to share our students’ work publicly and give them the chance to demonstrate their ingenuity and creativity to a wider audience. This is a critical point in their careers, and they should be proud of everything they have achieved so far.”
Further information on the Showcase is listed below:
UWE Bristol Frenchay Campus:
A public opening night takes place on Thursday 6 June, with student work from architecture, product design, creative technologies and engineering on display at R Block, The Foundry and Z Block between 18:00 and 21:00. Registration is required – to book visit Eventbrite.
The Frenchay Campus Degree Show continues, featuring work from architecture, product design and engineering on:
Friday 7 to Sunday 9 June from 10:00 – 18:00
Monday 10 June – closed
Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 June from 10:00 – 20:00
UWE Bristol City Campus:
On Friday 7 June an exclusive private preview evening (by invitation only) will take place across the University’s City Campus – at Bower Ashton, Arnolfini and Spike Island – featuring the work of graduating students from art, design, animation, fashion, media, writing, performance, photography, and filmmaking.
The City Campus exhibitions open fully to the public on Saturday 8 June (no need to book). Opening times are:
Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 June from 10:00 – 18:00
Monday 12 June – closed
Tuesday 13 June to Thursday 15 June from 10:00 – 20:00
For those who can’t make it in person, a digital showcase launches on 3 June and features exciting work from hundreds of graduating students from 40 programmes. Designed to celebrate new talent and support professional practice, enterprise and employability, each graduate has curated their own portfolio with links to their own sites and social channels.
More information on the Showcase is available on the UWE Bristol website.
For Earth Day, the team at Something Familiar have taken a deep dive into sustainable website design. Looking at what it truly means, common pitfalls and how to start making more eco conscious moves – without losing sight of your brand identity.
How can digital designers make choices to minimise their environmental impact? In this blog, we explore what actions we can take to create websites that are both engaging and better for the planet.
What is sustainable or low carbon website design?
Sustainable website design is all the noise these days, and for good reason. Historically, web design practices have failed to consider the environmental consequences of maintaining a website. With an average of 1.76g of CO2 emitted per page view, the cumulative impact becomes significant. For instance, a site with 100k page views per month emits approximately 2,112kg of CO2 annually! A car travelling 8,000 miles emits roughly the same amount of CO2, which is mad. *Source
So what exactly is Sustainable web design?
It refers to the practice of creating websites with minimal negative impact on the environment, both in terms of resource consumption and emissions. This approach considers the entire lifecycle of a website, from design through to development, hosting, maintenance and user interaction.
On top of environmental impact, sustainable design also involves two other important aspects:
Social Responsibility
Practising user-friendly accessible design, paired with respectful, inclusive content ensures it’s suitable for a wide range of audiences.
Economic Sustainability
Taking this considered approach during the design phases could also streamline the development process, and minimise the page processing power. Ensuring the site is lightweight, future proof and built to last.
As cliche as it sounds we need to make a change. But how do we meet our green goals – without compromising our brand impact and website design?
It’s all about Sustainable Design Considerations
In this article we are focussing on the first phase of a website lifecycle – the initial design decisions you can implement to minimise your site’s environmental impact. This phase seems to be an area where little discussion is currently focused, but it comes hand in hand with development, so decisions made here are crucial.
We’re here to put you onto a few tips and tricks so you can get practising sustainable web design in no time. You’d be surprised what can be achieved through strategic design decisions.
Here’s are some things to consider when approaching your new sustainable website design:
Over-application of ‘best’ practice.
Yes you can remove video, and yes you can use system fonts… but should you? We don’t want to lose the soul of your brand as a result of this practice, so remain conscious about your objectives. Keep it chill.
Set your objectives Addressing what needs to be done to improve your impact at the end of a project can lead to non-optimal solutions – think first.
Do your research Design-focused resources for sustainable impact are few and far between, so when you come across design inspiration that’s also incredibly sustainable – save it and share it.
Carbon calculator hype
Yes, these are helpful and insightful, but it’s important to not prioritise your score over experience or business objectives. Also at the time of writing, these calculators seem to only measure initial page-load, which is not always an accurate reflection of page size.
To summarise, and maybe over simplify this topic, having a low-impact website typically means stripping things back. So using smaller images, removing video, less content on a page, avoiding multiple fonts etc.
But how can you do this without diluting your brand? It’s a challenge that we have been facing so we created a methodology that aligns impact and expectations.
Determine how far you want to give your website a green glow-up.
At Something Familiar, we’ve adapted a tiered approach to sustainable web development – The Gold, Silver Bronze approach. By understanding your business positioning and communication priorities we can build a sustainable website, without impacting your brand presence.
We’ve sourced some excellent example websites to see where they fall on our scale. All of these websites demonstrate excellent design and brand impact, but offer varying levels of sustainable web design.
GOLD: Lean and Green
Those who have achieved sustainable website zen! Exemplary brand communication and aesthetic, whilst upholding impressively low page weight. Sacrifices are evident in the absence of motion and video, with minimal utilisation of photography, opting primarily for a typography or vector-based design approach. However, these sacrifices are executed with meticulous consideration and attention to detail.
We made it our challenge to get to A+. 94% cleaner of all web pages globally on the website carbon calculator (a real challenge when you want to show off everything achieved in the last 12 months)
Our stickers go a long way to inject personality. Light little Lottie Files to compliment each chapter, SF style.
We used a low code page builder, Bricks Builder, built with clean bloat free code.
Our use of video was minimised by looping short autoplay clips rather than playing entire video content.
First visit from Beacon – CO2: 0.131g / SIZE: 420.56 KB
SILVER: Sustainable standard
Could this be the ideal equilibrium? Introducing distinctive and captivating features that depart from typographic and flat styling, incorporating depth and distinctive Javascript interactions and animations. Meticulous attention is given to the utilisation of video and highly optimised images.
Flayks
https://flayks.com/
Portfolio site of designer/art director Félix Péault
Design notes:
The layout is incredible and highly engaging. This is partially due to super confident use of typography – it does a lot of the work in place of heavy media.
Video is used strategically, and only plays when within your viewport.
Basic in terms of sustainability, but bespoke in terms of design impact. These sites offer incredible experiences to their users and have won Awwwards for their work, but this comes at the sacrifice of page weight. Keep in mind though that these sites have different objectives and are aimed at a smaller audience.
The dynamic apple-esque landing page serves up a really enjoyable experience to scroll through.
It’s media rich and interactive in order to convert – but also helps to sell the storytelling piece about Bearbrick ‘finding its voice’.
The on scroll animations and high quality assets are necessary to reflect the price point associated with collectable culture. Also helps to reinforce the value of the Medicom/Bearbrick brands.
First visit from Beacon – CO2: 7.307g / SIZE: 19.45 MB
So what action can you take?
Here’s some simple design-focused moves you can make now to start reaching green glowup. Ideally, these should all be actioned or considered at the beginning of a project.
Variable fonts
Reduce the amount of fonts being loaded on your site. A variable font ecompasses a slew of weights within one file, vs. the old days of loading 5-6 heavy separate files.
Be strategic with media
Beyond compressing/optimising your media, think about its value and positioning. Immersive images and video assets should be saved for key parts of communication.
Make things move
Elevate your website’s storytelling with scroll stopping motion. If you haven’t already, check out our Motion Manifesto, trust.
To further this point, ramp up typography to really push how tone and messaging can be delivered without relying on heavy media.
Main character: mobile
Designing mobile first might not be your thing, but regardless of order – get your mobile design optimised. Cater to accessibility on small devices to make the experience just as beaut.
Make accessibility breezy
Get Stark (plugin) involved in your design process to eliminate any accessibility risks. It’s a lovely little plugin in Figma you can use to review typography, palettes and contrast. It’s all aligned with the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) too.
With all this in mind, think about where your website to sit on the sustainable spectrum. Ultimately, the outcome is reaching a happy medium that meets objectives, delivers a killer experience and practises sustainability.
Why you need a brand review before you even start thinking about rebranding (and how to do one)
I often find myself being invited to assess a brand identity; the meeting we have might go something like this: The client knows they have a problem and sometimes they’re able to articulate, at least in part, why that is. But, having already gone through an extensive branding process, maybe as recently as within the previous three years, they’re cautious about what should happen next.
There’s understandable anxiety around throwing good money after supposedly bad. After all, something hasn’t worked out with the not-so-long-ago completed branding. There’s also an awareness that they might not want to scrap everything and start again – throwing away what’s valuable (their brand baby) out with the bath water.
Under scrutiny
And it’s not as if I haven’t been at the sharp end of this myself…
As well as being the brand consultant brought in to assess a supposedly faltering brand identity, I’ve also found myself on the receiving end. I was recently told that a rebrand we’d completed no more than six months earlier, following months of research and discovery, and an extensive design process, was being scrutinised by an agency owner invited in by the company group.
Confident that this was a definite case where the client would have done better to steady their nerves and give the rebrand more time and support, I thought the experience presented an opportunity to write about the subject of how you can achieve a level of certainty about determining what the problem actually is, and the solution that’s called for.
The question is, do you actually need that full-scale rebrand or something altogether more nuanced?
Give it time
First of all, it’s important to remember that the sort of changes a successful rebrand can yield don’t happen overnight. Chopping and changing things only causes confusion and damages your brand equity. Branding is never a case of ‘done and forgotten’ because you shouldn’t leave your brand to fend for itself out in the wild.
A brand not only takes time to bed in, it also requires you to actively check in on it. Checking-in might include a number of elements such as examining whether the intentions set at the outset are being realised and assessing how the rebrand is landing with audiences. It’s an important exercise because all sorts of outside influences, from the wider economic and cultural, to the sector-specific, will be having an impact on the fortunes of your brand.
But of course, when doubts remain and the checking-in exercise yields more questions than answers, it’s probably time for a brand review.
What is a brand review?
A brand review is a comprehensive, 360° audit of the state of your brand. It asks a whole range of questions, from those that are external-facing (Has the world shifted? Do you need to evolve with the changing cultural landscape?), to those that concentrate on looking at what’s going on inside your organisation (Have you developed a new service? Has your business strategy or positioning, i.e. where you stand in the market, changed?).
A brand review will help you find out if there really is a problem and will articulate any issues precisely. This means that you’ll discover if a full rebrand is on the cards or whether something more nuanced is called for – a minor adaptation perhaps, or maybe just more time for your brand to become known in its new guise. And, if there is a fundamental problem, it’ll help you determine the direction your rebrand should take you in.
So, if you’re being plagued by doubts about how your brand is doing, particularly if it’s not that long since you last rebranded, or if you’re worried that you seem to head for the drawing board at the first sign of trouble, read on to find out how taking stock and conducting a brand review worked out for one of our clients.
Getting to the heart of the matter
Recent months saw us working with a charity client that had fundamentally changed their way of working, from focusing solely on end-user beneficiaries, to expanding their focus to take in both end-users and service commissioners and partners. Their existing brand identity wasn’t able to accommodate or resonate with these two distinct audience groups.
In addition, the client was experiencing issues with brand application – brand rules were being broken and they didn’t know why. We were tasked with finding out how the changes that were necessary (i.e. evolving existing branding so it was meaningful to both its distinct audiences) could be introduced as smoothly as possible, ensuring the sort of consistency that would build the brand awareness they were after.
This article was written by Kenz Meadows, Lead Editor of Squarely Magazine. Squarely is The Square Club’s lifestyle magazine; as a member of Bristol’s Best Co-working space, you are able to pick up a complimentary copy! Find out more here.
Best known for the annual Oktoberfest bacchanal, Munich is a patchwork of old and new. The neon signs for gambling halls above an independent Birkenstock shop, monastic breweries and a world famous Glockenspiel just round the corner from the H&M make knowing where to look a bit of a headspin. But knowing where to go is a much easier task to manage. The rich tradition of monastic brewing and the beerhalls Oktoberfest celebrates are just as delightful an experience without the nearly six million international tourists the festival reliably draws each year.
Of course, the guidebooks will tout the most renowned beer halls like the Hofbrauhaus, that are sure to be on everyone’s list. While the beer halls still largely employ table sharing, seating multiple parties at the same table, walk-ins are not typically something this particular hall accommodates–not even in the off season. So, reserve your steins well in advance.
I spoke with Membership Manager, Pelin Yüksel, at our reciprocal Famtain Club, in the heart of the Altstadt–or Old City. A native to Turkey, she had an outsider’s perspective on Munich and how the club fits in to the city’s social scene. “Munich is very business-oriented — I think people have a hard time turning off and having fun. In response, Famtain focuses on being a social club–presenting opportunities for our members to relax, enjoy themselves, and socialize outside of an office environment.” And if you’re foregoing your office watercooler for social engagement, you could do worse than the Famtain. It drips with lush colours, delicate hand-painted wallpaper and extremely inviting furnishings. I could have easily overstayed my welcome. The restaurant has a revolving menu of seasonally appropriate dishes, offering fusion cuisine with effortless expertise.
As regards to Oktoberfest, Yüksel is pleased to offer our members all the same access to amenities their own members receive. However, if the beer halls are hard to get into during the off-season, they’re impossible to reserve for the festival. Book now. Better yet, book yesterday. And be sure to reach out to the Famtain Club when you do, it doesn’t hurt to have an in when arranging your own autumnal jaunt.
If, like I did, you feel compelled to brush up on your high school German speaking skills, I would recommend really committing to it. Nearly everyone in the city spoke enough English to reveal my German for the exercise in futility that it is. While plenty of nations embrace and admire tourists making the effort to speak the local language, I did not get the impression this was one. I would absolutely recommend getting out of the city for an afternoon. I took the train out to Hoehenschwangau, grabbing fresh pretzels and bottles of beer at a stop along the way. Watching the countryside roll by you, warm salty baked good in-hand, is enough to make anyone seriously consider a rural Bavarian lifestyle change.
While the castle was impressive, I was disappointed by the tour at Neuschwanstein Schloss. The quark donuts from a stand down the hill from the castle were ample consolation after the expensive English audio tour though. Back in Munich, the museum I enjoyed most was the Alte Pinakothek. The expansive collection was home to more than a few masters even I, a novice in fine art, was surprised to see in person. My highlight from the trip was absolutely the food, but specifically the food purchased off the cornucopia of vendors in the Viktualienmarkt. Don’t miss the pickles. Seriously.
We’re excited to announce that Square Works is now home to a stunning new mural, painted by none other than local muralist and illustrator Dave Bain.
Last week we had the pleasure of hosting local creatives Dave Bain and Jess Knights to paint a mural in the outside area of Square Works. We wanted a bright and fun mural that tied the collaborative and creative community of Square Works with our love for nature and wildlife. Dave certainly delivered, producing a fantastic design and executing it to perfection.
If you haven’t seen the mural yet, what are you waiting for?! We’ve shared some snaps on our social media (click here), but you can’t beat seeing it in person!
We want to extend a huge thank you to both Dave Bain and Jess Knights for their amazing work on this piece!
Take a look at more work from both Dave Bain and Jess Knights:
We’re excited to announce the launch of our new website for Nebula Design (www.nebula.design)! This brand refresh serves as a comprehensive resource for businesses and other agencies. Whether you’re looking to fortify your online presence or exploring service packages for your clients, we’ve got you and/or your clients covered.
Compared to the old website, the newly launched website focuses more on content delivery that reflects our new services and enables us to showcase our expertise in various services, including:
“We are thrilled to launch our new website, which reflects our commitment to providing our clients with the best possible digital solutions,” David Pottrell, Head of Digital. “The new website is designed to be informative and user-friendly, allowing potential clients to learn more about our services and how we can help them achieve their online goals.”
Over the years, we’ve also seen an increase in other agencies requesting support around website security and maintenance for their clients. This is one of the reasons we’ve began marketing our WordPress maintenance packages towards other agencies as well as clients.
We invite businesses and fellow agencies in Bristol to explore our new website. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss any digital or website needs you may have.
User experience (UX) comprises a vast array of principles and practices that help visitors navigate your website effectively, engage with your content, and progress to a desired outcome or transaction.
Businesses are becoming more and more savvy to the benefits of user-centric design and embracing the customer experience. But some are still overlooking certain elements of the user journey (thereby deprioritising the customer) – and to their detriment.
The perils of poor UX
If an overly complex checkout process can deter 27% of potential customers, consider how many are likely to drop off before they even reach a buying decision. So, while it may seem fussy to agonise over clicks or the wording of your calls to action (CTAs), these seemingly small moments along the user journey can make a huge difference.
So, now that we understand the scale of the problem, how can we go about creating a streamlined user experience based on best practice and customer-centric design principles?
First, let’s define some key terms:
Website navigation – the structural elements that allow movement through and action within your site.
User journey – the course a user takes, from initial engagement to final decision or transaction.
Customer experience (CX) – the way a customer engages with your business across multiple touch points, including your website (impacting their journey, satisfaction, and ultimately, their decision.)
Customer-centric design – a design philosophy that hinges on how well you optimise your UX for a commercial audience and the best possible customer experience.
Sitemap – a blueprint of your site’s architecture, helping search engines to index your content effectively.
Optimising website navigation
Website navigation is the backbone of your user journey. Without effective menus, buttons, and links, your site would have no direction. These elements should guide users to the information they need, and onto the next logical step.
Effective navigation can significantly enhance the usability and accessibility of a website.It also enhances customer satisfaction, improves engagement, and can lead to better conversion rates.
So how can you ensure your website navigation meets UX best practices? Here’s a simple framework (and mnemonic) you can use: SASS ME
Simplicity
An uncomplicated menu structure facilitates quick information retrieval and task completion.
Accessibility
Employ readable fonts, contrasting colours, and strategic placement to enhance visibility.
Signposting
Clear, easy-to-read labels and buttons (with calls to action (CTAs) like ‘Contact us’ or ‘Request a quote’) provide users with direction and an understanding of what to expect.
Sitemap
Website navigation isn’t solely about your users. A sitemap needs to be readily available so that search engine crawlers can navigate it effectively too. It can also be a great place to start when planning your information architecture.
Mobile optimisation
With over half of internet traffic coming from mobile devices, navigation should be touch-screen friendly for effortless tapping and responsive browsing across every device size.
Engagement
Your navigation menu isn’t the only way your users jump from page to page, so use your content blocks and CTAs wisely. A more engaging user journey encourages longer sessions, improves conversion rate, and makes navigation intuitive and enjoyable.
Understanding the user journey
Setting out the perfect user journey involves understanding and mapping out how users interact with your site from their first visit to the final action you want them to take. This could be making a purchase, requesting a quote, registering interest, or getting in touch.
The goal is to create a seamless, intuitive, and satisfying experience that guides users towards each of your desired outcomes.
Best practice for setting up an effective user journey:
By following just a few simple steps, you can create a watertight user journey that minimises bounce rate and maximises conversions.
1.Understand your audience and create personas
Start by understanding your target audience. Research their needs, preferences, pain points, and behaviours. Then, create user personas to represent different segments of your audience. This helps in tailoring the journey to different user needs.
2.Define user goals and business objectives
Identify what users want to achieve on your website (e.g. find information about your services, buy a product, read industry news) and align these goals with your business objectives (e.g., increase sales, generate leads).
3. Map the current user journey
Analyse the existing path users take on your website using tools like Google Analytics, heatmaps, and user feedback. Identify any pain points, bottlenecks, or areas where users drop off. You’ll also want to consider how users will enter your site (homepage, landing pages, blog articles) and optimise these entry points.
4. Tailor content and simplify conversion
Ensure your content addresses the needs, desires, and questions of your users at each stage of their journey. Crucially, minimise the number of steps needed to complete a conversion (e.g. making a purchase, signing up for your newsletter, or getting in touch) and ensure forms are simple and easy to fill out.
5. Optimise for different devices and channels
Ensure your website is responsive and provides a seamless experience on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Consider how different channels (social media, email, ads) impact the user journey and optimise accordingly.
6. Incorporate feedback loops
Use surveys, user testing, and analytics to gather feedback on the user experience. Regularly review this feedback to identify areas for improvement. And finally: test, test, test! Constant testing and optimisation will ensure your site stays up to date, your users enjoy the best possible experience and you’re ahead of any issues or bugs that may arise.
By prioritising UX, businesses can ensure higher levels of customer satisfaction, but also engagement, trust and loyalty, leading to increased conversions and retention. So, investing in a meticulous, user-centric design approach is not just a best practice, it’s a strategic must.
If you would like a free consultation to discuss your website’s UX contact us at [email protected].
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This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
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