We’ve talked a lot about the UX strategy behind digital products, but let’s go back to basics and touch on the steps to creating a digital product.
It’s no secret…digital products are SUPER lucrative. If you manage to create a good one, you can solve a lot of problems, go on to innovate new technologies, and take over the world (metaphorically speaking, of course).
But, as you should know by now (especially if you’re a regular in our jungle), a product is only as good as its intentions. And if you want to rush out a digital product to meet the moment and make some money, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
There are endless possibilities with what you can create and sell online. If you have an idea for a game-changing digital product in mind, then follow these steps to help you create the right product for the right people.
7 Steps to Creating a Digital Product:
- Consider the “Why?”
- Feasibility Testing
- Conceptualization
- Digital Product Design
- User Testing
- Iteration
- Launch
So, What Exactly IS a Digital Product?
You probably think that “digital product” is just a fancy, industry term we use interchangeably to describe websites and mobile apps, right? WRONG!
Websites and apps are digital products, and so are: ebooks, podcasts, videos, photos, games, and software systems. A digital product is an intangible thing that can be bought, sold, or downloaded online without having to physically restock.
Everything from a royalty-free photo you downloaded from Shutterstock to your favorite podcast falls under the digital product umbrella. So, you can see why both businesses and independent content creators are jumping over each other to get a piece of that pie.
Let's Take a Look at Some Popular Digital Products:
- Nelio Software: Nelio Software, a SaaS company, developed exclusive WordPress plugins that are currently used in over 80 countries.
- “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens: This novel became one of the top-selling ebooks of all time with 1.42 million units sold in 2019.
- Baby Shark (We wish we were kidding…): Pinkfong, a South Korean educational entertainment company, released the music video for Baby Shark in 2016 and hit 10 billion views in January of 2022.
- The Joe Rogan Experience: Joe Rogan was already well-known among UFC fans, but his Spotify deal earned him $30 million for exclusive rights to his podcast.
- TikTok: TikTok became so much more than Gen Z viral dance videos after it gained an influx of new users in 2021 — 656 million downloads globally, to be exact!
- Minecraft: Yep, Minecraft began as an indie game in 2009. But, after being bought by Microsoft, it has sold over 200 million copies as of 2021.
What do all of these have in common? They are digital creations with humble beginnings that became huge sensations through product quality and word of mouth.
Whether the user wanted to A/B test their website, socialize with other content creators, or just be entertained, these products met their needs through the convenience of digital spaces.
Why are Digital Products a Good Investment?
You saw those numbers above, right? A good digital product is a surefire way for businesses and content creators, big or small, to gain notoriety in their competitive market.
Plus, success with a digital product doesn’t always require the backing of a megacorporation. If your product successfully helps users fulfill a need, they won't care if you’re backed by a big-time investor or a small-but-scrappy start-up team. The quality of your product tells the user everything they need to know.
We weren’t exaggerating earlier when we said the possibilities are endless with digital products. Tech is ever-evolving, and in CreateApe’s 20 years of digital product design experience, we’ve helped businesses and independent creators build all kinds of products and reach a bigger audience than they ever thought possible.
4 Benefits of Digital Products:
- Low Start-Up Costs: In many ways, a digital product is a much smarter investment for a company than mass-producing tangible products. All you need is a good designer, developer, some software systems, and maybe a good UX consultant (hint hint).
- High Earning Potential: You can turn a higher profit with certain digital products since you don’t have to worry about replenishing your inventory. The right products can also help you build passive income (translation: more “treat yo’self” money).
- Scalability: With the right product and the right marketing strategy, there’s no telling how many people you could reach. After all, how many nobodies became somebodies through a few YouTube videos or a podcast?
- Creative Problem Solving: The best thing about digital products is how creative you can get with them. We encounter new problems to solve every day, so you’re constantly presented with new opportunities to think outside the box and help people make their everyday tasks a little more enjoyable.
At the end of the day, it should all come down to that last point. The money and notoriety that comes from a good digital product are always nice, but never lose sight of the end-user.
The user’s experience with a digital product drives everything we do here at CreateApe. It helps us achieve the results our clients are looking for while using our creativity to build solutions that make people’s lives a little easier.
Let’s put it like this: Say you’re a server at a restaurant. The money you make in tips depends on how good your service is (and how much your guests enjoy their time in the restaurant).
It’s the same concept with digital products and user experience. If you’re just there to make money and leave, your tips and reviews will probably reflect that. But, if you’re there because you like helping people and fostering memorable experiences, your regulars will keep coming back for more!
7 Steps to Creating a Digital Product
Let’s say you notice a common, everyday problem that can be solved with a digital product. Let’s take it a step further and say you already have a great idea, and maybe a little start-up money. All that’s left to figure out is: What are the steps to creating a digital product?
There’s plenty of overlap between user experience strategy and the steps to creating a digital product, and it’s easy to see why. Nobody wants to invest the time and funds into creating a product that nobody wanted in the first place. Or worse, a great product that’s poorly executed.
The process isn’t always linear, and not everyone starts at the same point (the guys who created Uber probably have a lot more resources than an independent creator). But these are the most common steps to creating a digital product.
- Consider the “Why?”
The “Why?” behind the digital product should be the thing that carries you throughout the project. For example, why do you want to publish this ebook? Why are you creating this app? Why are you composing this particular piece of audio?
Let’s say you’re publishing a recipe book. Maybe you want to create a cookbook for college kids working with four ingredients or less. Maybe you noticed a lack of authentic cuisine from your culture and you want to share the real deal with everyone. Or maybe you have some ideas for healthy recipes that ACTUALLY taste good.
The same thing goes for websites, apps, or anything else in the digital space. The purpose behind the product matters as much as the actual product. If you can’t find a purpose, other than making some quick cash, then your users won’t see the point either.
- Feasibility Testing
Once you have the idea, it’s time to test it! User testing is important both before and after the product is created. But while testing your MVP with users helps you iron out any kinks before the project launches, feasibility testing shows you if your product stands a chance in your competitive market.
Start by narrowing down your target audience. Let’s use the ebook of recipes for college students as an example. We know the majority of our audience is in their late teens or early twenties (with a few outliers here and there) and probably evenly split in gender.
Put together a list of questions to discover their wants and needs — and maybe some frustrations they have with your competition. Your product should not only be usable, but better than your competitors' products if you really want to make an impression.
Some questions to ask in this ebook scenario would be: How much do you usually spend on groceries? What kind of kitchen equipment do you have? What kind of cuisine do you like? Have you tried any meal prep kits? What did you like/not like about them?
- Conceptualization
So, you surveyed your future users and they think your product sounds like a great idea…Awesome! Now it’s time to start thinking about the real thing.
The feedback you got from your audience is super helpful while putting together the digital product design and narrowing down features. It will help you figure out what makes the easiest, most accessible experience for them and get rid of the things they won’t find useful.
This is also a good time to start thinking about your brand. What will the finished product look and feel like? What is the overall vibe you’re going for? How are you incorporating your brand colors and messaging into the final product?
Having a clear picture in your head of the finished product will make the design process run smoothly. It may not look 100% accurate to your vision, but some ideas and stylescapes will get your design team creatively aligned.
- Digital Product Design
Now, for the fun part 😉
First, start by mapping out everything. This helps keep you organized and makes it easier to shift content placement than the high-fidelity design.
Keep the audience feedback in the back of your mind every step of the way. Going back to the example of the ebook, if most of the people you surveyed only had an air fryer in their dorm, you probably wouldn’t put recipes that require an oven or a stovetop front and center, right?
Or, what if they said they don’t have a huge budget for groceries? You’d probably have to cut out recipes that need fancy ingredients from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.
Once all your content is organized and looking good, bring in those branding elements and stylescapes we talked about earlier. Plug logos, color palettes, photos, videos, and typography into the digital product design until the look is as unique as the content inside.
- User Testing
Now that you have a prototype ready, the next steps to creating a digital product are to test it with your users and iterate until you reach your MVP (minimum viable product).
Try to get the most open and honest feedback you can. It’s better to hear negative feedback and criticism during this stage than to lose your user’s interest because the product was confusing or frustrating to use.
The key is to take criticism constructively. Any feedback you get, good or bad, will help you improve the product in the long run and get a deeper understanding of user psychology. After all, only 55% of companies test their products with their users. This is your opportunity to make a good first impression and get a leg up on your competition.
The testing stage is extremely valuable if you want to turn out a quality product, so test with as many people as possible. Have them search every nook and cranny for flaws and nip them in the bud before they cause any real problems.
- Iteration
There’s a 99.99% chance that your product will need some changes, but that’s the beauty of user experience design. Your users will help you discover any kinks affecting the product so you can fix them before putting the real thing on the market.
Maybe your users couldn’t find what they were looking for easily enough. Or maybe you wanted to try something conceptual with your design that distracts the user. That doesn’t always mean it was a bad idea, it just doesn’t work for this product or these kinds of users.
No harm, no foul. Take any negative feedback and use it to improve the overall experience. You can also test and iterate as many times as you need to until you are confident the product has reached its full potential.
Digital product design has several moving parts, so it’s only natural that some things get lost in the shuffle. Don’t be afraid to double, triple, or quadruple-check your work. Then have the rest of your team and your users do it again for good measure.
- Launch!
Launch time! Are you ready to see all your creativity and hard work pay off? Of course, you are. However, the project isn’t always over after launch.
Depending on the product you release, you might need to go back to the drawing board once or twice. A website or mobile application, for example, usually goes through several rounds of quality control before launch. Sometimes links break, the code needs cleanup, or the software needs updating.
Have a maintenance plan in place to detect and fix problems before they negatively affect the user experience. You should also make sure everything is optimized for speed and efficiency because slow speeds turn users away.
Once your product is out there, it’s also time to think about next steps. Say your ebook was a huge hit and those college kids are clamoring for more recipes — where else will you take this idea? Will you release a series of ebooks focusing on different types of cuisine? Will you create a video series to share more recipes? Maybe start a cooking podcast?
Again…your options are limitless with digital products.
Who Can Help Me Create My Digital Product?
*Sigh* If only there were a multi-skilled, super-talented full-service UX/UI design agency that could help you with that…Wouldn’t that be amazing?
If you have the tech know-how or even an in-house design team, you’re off to a good start. There are also plenty of free resources to help you plan and put a prototype together. The CreateApe team is pretty partial towards Figma, but you can read more about our other favorites in our How to Become a UX Designer blog.
But, why venture into the jungle alone when you don’t have to? Especially if you have an idea for a digital product but don’t know where to start.
A UX consultant can lay the groundwork for your product by helping you with market and user research. They can also help you conceptualize the look and feel and strategize to create the best possible experience for the user. However, that only covers a few steps to creating a digital product.
A full-service UX/UI design team (*cough* like us *cough*) can take you from beginning to end, and then some! Our team has over 20 years of experience in digital product design, and we’ve seen a thing or two along the way.
We base our digital product design choices on industry experience and data-driven solutions to create AMAZING products. We know exactly what questions to ask your users so you can get the usable feedback you need.
We’re not only here to be your creative UX consultant. We want to be true partners every step of the way. Each member of our full-service team brings something special to the table so you get a fully-realized digital product. Let us take you from ideas to reality!
CreateApe's Services at Your Fingertips:
- UX/UI Design
- Web Development
- Branding
- Marketing
- Copywriting
- Video
- Research and Discovery
Some Things to Remember...
We know this makes it soooo tempting to create a digital product yourself. Who could resist the idea of passive income and millions of adoring users?
But creating a worthwhile product is no piece of cake. It’s hours upon hours of brainstorming, conceptualizing, and testing until you reach the MVP. And the hard work doesn’t end after launch, especially if users gravitate to your product and want more.
If you want to create a digital product, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Make sure there’s an actual problem to be solved and a solution before contributing to the clutter of unusable or poorly thought out products on the market.
Key Takeaways:
- The user’s opinion will make or break the product.
- Your market is COMPETITIVE. Your users WILL go elsewhere if they find a better product.
- The steps to creating a digital product aren’t always linear, but completing the process in full is imperative to the overall quality of your product.
- Digital product design is ongoing. Iterations, improvements, and new products/features follow a successful launch.
- Earning passive income from your product is never a bad thing! But that money will disappear if you aren’t continuously making improvements or new products.
- Your audience will notice if you care about the user experience or not. Listen to their feedback and show them you care.
Need someone to walk you through the steps to creating a digital product? Start a project with CreateApe today!
Read more about how CreateApe handles UX strategy for digital products.
“Don’t make me think.” You’ve undoubtedly heard this phrase before. It’s practically the basis for all things UX — specifically behavioral design.
Everyone has different thinking patterns and problem-solving skills, but we can spot some common behaviors across demographics and tailor products around them. This helps us include design elements or trim the fat in the product’s flow.
UX design is all about catering to a unique audience’s capabilities. But every human has instinctive actions that our brains trigger when presented with options. Behavioral design taps into those basic instincts to create digital products that are intuitive and practical in everyday situations.
So, what is behavioral design? And how does it influence users while they interact with your product? We’ll touch on all that, plus our favorite design elements that inspire action every time!
What Is Behavioral Design?
Behavioral design is a combination of user psychology and product strategy. When assembling the product, its designer seeks to understand why users do certain things and determine how to activate those behaviors throughout flows.
We’ve touched on behavioral design briefly in our “Designing Addictive Apps” blog, but it’s based on Fogg’s Behavior Model (which was heavily influenced by Aristotle’s philosophy of pattern-seeking.
BJ Fogg, a psychologist, designed his model to motivate users through wants and (by extension) needs. In short, his methods revolved around “putting hot triggers in the paths of motivated people.”
To put it in a simple formula: Motivations + Abilities + Triggers = User Behavior
We can see several examples of behavioral design supporting user experience in real life, from power buttons to door handles (although someone might still “push” a “pull” door even with signs. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there.)
Pretend you’re about to make yourself some delicious frozen taquitos for lunch. You take the bag out of the box and see an easy peel tab to open the bag and toss it in the air fryer. The peel tab saves you from ripping the bag open and making a mess or finding the nearest scissors.
You are motivated by your need to eat and your craving for taquitos, you can open the plastic bag, and the easy peel tab (AKA the trigger) gets you to your goal quickly. All that’s left to do is cook them and pour the hot sauce!
The same idea applies to digital products. Users come to your product motivated by a goal, your navigation shows them everything they can accomplish, and it’s on the designer to define the right triggers that drive the behaviors.
Behavioral Design Examples
As you can see, behavioral design influences usability in real-life and digital products. With this approach, companies can dive deeper than the basic principles of UX by designing for user psychology (along with preferences).
Think about how satisfied or relieved you feel when you accomplish a goal. We can deliver that feeling instantly by building a product design around instinctive behaviors. It’s a shortcut to positive reinforcement, rewarding the user through quick actions.
With all this in mind, let’s look at some design patterns that give users that feeling of satisfaction in just a few clicks!
Safe Searching
Safety is a huge deal when it comes to digital experiences. Not just in the sense of security and privacy, but navigating the product as a whole. Users need reassurance that they won’t be led to actions without their command. They also don’t want to lose their progress if they make a mistake or navigate away for a moment.
The trick to safe searching is presenting multiple options in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the user. This gives the user more control over their input and editing. Back buttons (or an “undo” feature) are an easy way to fix mistakes, but you should also make sure they can find editing options and save their work for later.
Instant Gratification
We want everything and we want it now — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Digital products exploded in popularity because they helped us accomplish everyday tasks in a few simple steps. Nowadays, we’re conditioned to want instant gratification and the most popular products are built around it.
Think about ways to make users feel rewarded when they use your product. This can happen through interactions with other users (likes, comments, badges, etc.) or with simple gamification. Anything that releases that feeling of contentment when we finally finish our daily to-dos.
Social Proof
Have you ever bought something or used a product because of a good endorsement (from a friend, family member, celebrity, etc)? None of us are immune to influence and many users require some validation instead of taking marketing claims at face value.
Actual, qualified social proof is essential to show new customers that your product has the seal of approval from its target audience. It gives the user extra reassurance that your product is the right fit for them by showing success stories from people with similar backgrounds and interests. So, give them that extra push to make a purchase or profile!
Habituation
If it aint broke, don’t fix it. We accept certain practices and methods because they’re so deeply ingrained in us from the beginning (brushing our teeth back and forth, reading left to right, scrolling up and down, and so on). When presented with another way to do something, we sometimes reject it because of the habits we’ve built.
Focus your product interactions around standard digital product practices to ensure frictionless adoptions. Swipe left to right, CTAs in contrasting colors, underlined embedded links, and red error messages automatically clue the user into the purpose of the design element. As we said earlier, don’t make them think.
Down-Time Design
Users don’t have to sit down in front of their computers to experience everything your product offers. In fact, many digital products are designed for quick two-minute interactions. Scrolling through Instagram, swiping through a dating app, making a one-touch payment, ordering a rideshare, you name it.
These streamlined designs answer a need in a few seconds or less. This ensures maximum usability on the go. If the user can navigate the app while they’re resting, on the bus, waiting in line, or even walking down the street. Make any time their downtime!
The Ostrich Effect
In psychology, the ostrich effect is our tendency to ignore information with negative implications. Hence sticking our heads in a hole in the ground and not resurfacing until the bad news disappears.
Users abandoning an app isn’t the worst thing for them, but it’s a major blow for the company behind it. Through push notifications, we can hopefully entice the user back with a gentle (keyword: GENTLE) reminder about their progress and tasks that still need to be completed.
Satisficing
We get it, your content creator probably wrote some killer copy for your website. But as great as it may be, your users probably won’t read past the headline. It’s up to you to grab their attention quickly and hold it long enough to get them where they need to go.
User interfaces should always be attractive and scannable. Present each option obviously with headings, subheadings, CTAs, and bulleted lists to visually break up the possible actions. Your content hierarchy should also be structured to present the users’ primary goals the second they land on the page.
Design For People, Not For Bots
While we all enjoy looking at an entertaining or visually appealing design, we tend to gravitate to digital products that are adaptable and easy to use. When you can balance graphic design with human-focused interactions, your product will inspire quick adoption and loyal, repeat usage.
It’s easier said than done — especially when considering the branding, UX best practices, and stakeholder and user feedback. However, these behavioral design elements will help you adjust your design to your audience’s mindset and instincts, creating a much smoother experience.
Want to know more about your audience's behaviors to simplify your product? We know a thing or two about that. Start your project with us today!
UX design newbies and business owners alike may be wondering: “What is lean UX? How is it different from regular UX?”
If you’re itching for answers about lean UX, we’ve got ‘em 😎
In a UX/UI designer’s perfect world, they would have full creative control of a digital product design. No outside influence from users and stakeholders, just their vision, their way.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. Dogs don’t live forever, salads never taste as good as McDonald's, and we need to consider the user and stakeholder goals to create a successful digital product (or it wouldn’t be UX design).
But, what if we told you there was a way to make user-friendly products without sacrificing your creative vision?
Allow us to introduce you to lean UX!
What is Lean UX?
Lean UX is an agile approach that gives designers more freedom when creating digital products without completely disregarding what the users and stakeholders want.
Let’s take it back to grade school for a minute. When you did a science fair project, you had to follow the Scientific Method: Define, hypothesize, test, analyze, and draw a conclusion.
The lean UX process is pretty similar to the scientific method. It lets the designer do their research and form a hypothesis that guides their design choices. Then, they gather user feedback after the MVP is finished to prove or disprove their hypothesis.
UX design team leader Jeff Gothelf (which is an awesome last name) literally wrote the book on lean UX after listening to designers voice their frustrations with traditional processes. He developed the lean UX approach as a way to help designers realize their vision and iterate quickly by:
- Eliminating time-consuming stages like frequent documentation and lengthy user interviews.
- Ensuring constant, collaborative communication between design teams and stakeholders.
- Promoting experimentation and creative problem-solving instead of solely relying on user feedback.
Through this agile, adaptable design process, Gothelf found a way for designers to think critically about user behavior, brainstorm solutions, and create better-looking products.
How is Lean UX Different From Traditional UX?
Lean UX is essentially a scaled-down and rearranged version of the UX design process. Let’s take a look at both side by side:
As you can see, lean UX cuts out a few steps. Instead of prioritizing the user and the business at the beginning, the designer can lean on UX best practices and their experience from previous projects to offer potential solutions to a problem.
That’s not to say there’s no input from the user or stakeholders, it just happens at different stages. Lean UX design requires frequent and open collaboration to ensure the client’s goals and brand identity are supported.
User testing is one of the most crucial stages in lean and traditional UX. Except in lean UX, you’re experimenting to see if your proposed solution works. It kicks off several iteration stages, requiring further collaboration with design teams and stakeholders to guarantee the product ticks all the boxes.
Traditional UX also focuses more on deliverables than lean UX does. This makes traditional UX a better fit for new products, letting you define values and craft brand identities in tandem with the design. Lean UX is much better suited for improving a product long-term.
Breaking Down the Lean UX Process
Now that we answered the great “What is lean UX?” question, let’s talk about what the process looks like (with examples, of course).
Pretend you’re on a design team for a scheduling app and they want to add a feature that increases meeting attendance. Spend time thinking about why users miss meetings and how you can increase their awareness.
Outcomes, Assumptions, and Hypotheses
Lean UX still requires research, but you don’t have to validate your decisions right away. Instead, you can use your findings to make assumptions about user behavior.
So, why are users missing meetings? Your research shows that most people miss meetings because email invites get buried under other messages. You also noticed that users preferred using the calendar feature on their phones instead of the app.
How do you remedy this problem and get the user to attend more meetings?
You’ve heard this phrase: “Never assume...it makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.” Well, that doesn’t apply here. In lean UX, we have room to make assumptions, test theories, and adjust as needed (or scrap things altogether).
From your findings, you can assume that users are missing their meetings because they rely on their phone calendars to coordinate their schedules instead of email invites. Once you make that assumption, it’s time to form a hypothesis and state the desired outcome.
Design
We know what you’re thinking…“Whaaaat? We’re skipping straight to design?”
Heck yes, we are!
Lean UX is about drawing conclusions around basic data and testing a proposed solution. We’ll worry about user interviews and testing a little later.
This is where everyone needs to be on the same page. Your team members will help you consider possible outcomes and stakeholder requirements that might make your plan a no-go. It’s up to you to convince your stakeholders that you’re making the right choices to help them and the user reach their end goal.
For this scheduling app example, the stakeholder might be concerned about users abandoning the app if everything automatically syncs to their iPhone calendar. How do we get around that?
As we said earlier, frequent communication is a must in lean UX. Work with your stakeholders and team members to address their concerns and brainstorm solutions that meet in the middle.
MVP
Just like the Scientific Method, what is lean UX if not a basis for learning?
The MVP in lean UX does NOT have to be a fully realized design. Instead, it’s a tool that helps you gauge the user’s reaction to your product and features.
Your MVP can come in a few forms: wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and a working prototype. They don’t have to be 100% perfect, but they should be close enough to the finished product so the user can see how it’s supposed to function.
What’s the best way to encourage the scheduling app’s users to sync their meeting invites with their phone calendars? It could be as simple as a toggle feature in their settings, or they may need a full onboarding process to update their permissions. Either way, your MVP must demonstrate its value and entice the user.
This primitive version of your product or feature will help you see your assumptions in action. Then, once your hypothesis is proven or disproven, you can start working your magic on the design.
Research & Learning
Ready to see if your hypothesis was correct? Exciting, isn’t it?
Test your MVP and get the sign-off from your future users. They will validate your assumptions, showing you what works and what doesn’t.
User testing and feedback are a pivotal part of traditional and lean UX. Successful products are designed around the user’s behavior — and this is your opportunity to see if your design supports or goes against it.
The goal isn’t to get glowing reviews or build up excitement. It’s all about validating your choices. Some users may be completely elated to have their meetings automatically dropped into their phone calendar, while others might not see much use for it or be turned off by the lengthy onboarding process.
Criticism, while sometimes hard to swallow, doesn’t negate all the hard work you’ve put in so far. It shows you where you need to make adjustments so the product or feature can live up to its full potential.
The user’s feedback is invaluable in any UX process, but the good thing about lean UX is that you can adjust and iterate much faster. Think, make, check, and repeat until the product is the best it can be.
When Is It Best To Use a Lean Approach?
You may be thinking: “Why do designers follow a more lengthy UX process when this scaled-down version exists?”
Lean UX is a great process that helps us churn out user-friendly designs fast! But the truth is, it’s not suited for all projects.
Some projects, especially the new products we mentioned earlier, need that deep level of exploration to understand what users and stakeholders respond to. Or else you’re just designing for the sake of design.
Let’s pretend that instead of creating a new feature for a scheduling app, we’re creating that scheduling app from the ground up. When we’re starting from scratch like this, we don’t know much besides the stakeholder’s goal of creating a new, innovative product.
The question is: “What makes a product (like a scheduling app) innovative?
A long discovery phase is almost mandatory here. We need to understand why users gravitate to scheduling apps and the structures and flows that make them so easy to use (all while developing a unique brand, style, and messaging to make it stand out in a sea of competitors).
But, if the product already exists, lean UX is a safe bet. When you already have a solid product, user base, and brand identity to work with, a lot of that exploration has already happened. You can skip straight to applying your knowledge from past projects and adapting your design choices to fit the brand.
Notes From Our Designers About Lean UX:
“It’s a good approach - to use carefully. Not all projects and clients can be done Lean. It doesn’t mean that we can run a project while walking in the dark. Basic data about the target audience and a solid set of requirements are always needed. The most frequent downside of Lean UX is that clients get hyper-excited about the fast results that they forget about testing. Also, if the client comes with a medium/long-term vision of the product, it helps designers collect ideas and start prioritizing them.” -Virginia, UX Designer at CreateApe
“If there’s enough trust and user data, then lean UX is great. On the other hand, it might not survive a close encounter with a client. A product can’t be fully stakeholder-oriented with no room for user input.” Serj, UX Designer at CreateApe
“If it’s done correctly, we should have the right approach from the start of the project. That includes not skipping research, applying workshops between the team and client, testing, and validating. Throughout the process, it should gain the trust of the client, especially when we have a decent amount of research to provide validated solutions.” -Sheryl, UX Designer at CreateApe
Key Takeaways
- Lean UX isn’t suited for every project
- Always base your assumptions on data and research
- Define goals and requirements early on
- MVPs can be basic, but they must be functional
- Communication is KING
- Never, ever, EVER skip user testing
Think, Make, Check!
So, what is lean UX for designers?
For us, it's a simple, scaled-down method giving us more creative control over the project. But it's also a way for both designers and stakeholders to experiment, learn, and iterate to create more innovative products.
Stop and review your data at the beginning if you're thinking about taking a lean approach with your next project. What can you infer about your audience based on it?
If you can make a logical assumption based on your data, form a hypothesis, consider multiple scenarios with your team, and design a bare-bones version to improve piece-by-piece, lean UX is right up your alley!
Need a team to turn your digital product into a lean, mean UX machine? Start a project with us today!
When a phrase like “WCAG 2.0 Compliance” is mentioned, you probably feel your eyelids beginning to droop. But compliance is a serious matter that has serious legal consequences if not taken in a serious manner – and nobody is above the law.
Throughout the existence of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), lawsuits have been brought forth that have cost companies millions of dollars. Even the United States government is susceptible, with three administrative complaints being filed under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in 2009 alone.
Almost 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability, and their user experience is just as important as everyone else’s. Compliance with the standards set by ADA and Section 508 ensures that they can patronize your website without difficulty.
Here at CreateApe, we take compliance very seriously. Creating an atmosphere of inclusion and accessibility for all isn’t just something we’re bound to do — it’s something we’re compelled to do because it’s simply right. That’s why we always think compliance-first at every stage of design and development.
So…What is It?
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed guidelines for accessibility on the internet called “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” (WCAG) 2.0. These guidelines give recommendations for making web content more accessible and usable for people with various disabilities, including blindness, deafness, learning disabilities, limited movement, and more.
Both Title III of the ADA and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act use the WCAG 2.0 guidelines as a standard. Section 508 governs federal websites and anyone doing business with the government while the ADA applies to all websites as they are considered places of public accommodation.
In a nutshell, the WCAG 2.0 sets standards to make the web more accessible to people of all abilities. There are 38 different success criteria, regulating things like proper color contrast, usage of alt tags for pictures, keyboard navigation, and limitations on flashing images. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The gist of things is if you don’t make things accessible, then you’re discriminating against those with disabilities, and it could cost you.
It’s a Jungle Out There
The last couple of decades is littered with lawsuits over ADA and Section 508 violations. According to a UsabelNet study, 2235 ADA website lawsuits were filed against companies in 2019. 21% of these companies were sued more than once.
Even celebrities aren’t immune to ADA lawsuits. Queen Bey herself stood accused of noncompliance. Some elements of the lawsuit included:
- No alt-text on images. Every image on your website must include an element called an “alt-tag” which helps screen readers describe what the image is displaying. Those bongo drums you’re selling need alt text or else there would be no way to determine what is on the website or make purchases.
- No accessible drop-down menus. Without drop-down menus, people with visual impairments are unable to select the size or quantity of products they’re looking to buy.
- No keyboard access. Screen reading software relies on keyboard movement to aid website navigation.
In 2009, Target Corporation had to pay out $6 million in damages and more than $3 million in legal fees to settle a lawsuit brought forth by the National Federation of the Blind. Among the complaints were that an image of a Dyson vacuum cleaner had alt-text that was read by a screen reader as:
Link GP browse dot HTML reference zero six zero six one eight nine six three eight one eight zero seven two nine seven three five 12 million 957 thousand 121
Say that out loud to yourself and listen to how ridiculous it sounds.
Winn-Dixie, Domino’s, Fox News, Burger King, Nike, Blue Apron, CVS, Hobby Lobby, and Harvard are just a small fraction of companies and organizations that have faced legal challenges for violating the ADA. The list goes on.
Government departments and agencies have also been sued. The Department of Education, the Small Business Administration, and the Social Security Administration have all received accessibility complaints under Section 508. Ironically, the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington D.C. also had to fix some of their website features.
How to Avoid the Banana Peels
That was a lot to take in. Deep breaths. In and out, in and out…
It’s important to know the gravity of what non-compliance means, but there are some simple steps you can take to ensure that your website is accessible and you don’t step in any mud. Here’s a checklist for you to follow to help you meet the WCAG 2.0 guidelines at the AA level:
Alternatives
- All images and non-text content need alt text.
- All video and audio-only content needs a transcript and closed captioning.
Presentation
- Use proper markup techniques to structure your website’s content.
- Present content in a meaningful order so that it reads properly.
- Make sure that all detailed instructions aren’t reliant on a single sensory ability.
- Do not rely on color alone to convey information.
- Audio must be able to be paused, stopped, or muted.
- There must be a color contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 between all alt text and background.
- Do not use images of text unless necessary.
User Control
- All functions and website content must be accessible by a keyboard without the use of a mouse.
- Blinking, scrolling, and moving content must be able to be paused, stopped, or hidden by a user.
- Any content or imagery cannot flash more than three times per second.
Understandability
- Pages should have a descriptive title.
- Users must be able to navigate in a logical reading order that preserves meaning.
- Each link should have a clear purpose based on anchor text.
- Website language should be able to be changed.
Predictability
- Navigation should remain consistent throughout all pages.
- Form errors should be easy to identify, understand, and correct.
- All forms and input fields should be unambiguously labeled.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a start. We know, it’s a lot to keep track of. Website accessibility is an on-going and long-term project. As your content and designs evolve, you must always make sure that you remain ADA and Section 508 compliant. We promise, it is doable.
Let Us Guide You Through the Forest
If the above steps sound overwhelming to you, don’t fret. We’re here to help by either providing an action plan for you to follow or by taking the lead with a full-fledged compliance analysis. Either way, our goal is to give you peace of mind.
Some of the strategies we use include:
- Brainstorming of clear layouts and distinct calls to action to help users navigate easily
- Ideation of robust designs that can accommodate a wide variety of users
- Embracing a human-centric approach to ensure that the design will be perfectly suitable for everyone
- Evaluation of the current style sheet with small edits, if necessary, to increase accessibility
- Planning of a fluid, accessible, and easy-to-navigate architecture
- Automatic screen-reader adjustments powered by AI
- Automatic keyboard navigation adjustments
- The ability to freeze all animations, GIFS, and flashing images
- An online dictionary that allows for the search of phrases, abbreviations, and concepts
- Quick navigation to let users reach any important page with a single click
- Font replacement & adjustment to ensure easy, effortless reading
- Analysis of existing elements to discover pain points that need improvement
Are you a business owner or entrepreneur that needs help with compliance? Let us assist you in getting #JungleReady. Our CreateApe expert team will be your jungle guide and help you traverse the wilds as we take your project to new heights.
Color is known to be a significant determinant for both website trust and satisfaction. Color has the potential to communicate meaning to the user and influence their perception through the priming effect, how the exposure to one stimulus influences the way we will respond to another stimulus. In that way the exposure to a certain color can influence the visitor’s reaction towards the site in a carryover effect, meaning that the emotional reaction towards a color can be translated into a positive or negative interaction with the website.
Color Psychology
Perhaps you think the color of your website should reflect your personality. But if you don’t take color psychology into account, you’re missing a valuable opportunity to brand your e-commerce store effectively and drive customer engagement. Here’s the (generalized) psychology breakdown of the color spectrum, ROYGBIV, plus a few bonus colors thrown in:
- Red signals: attention, excitement, anger, love, warmth, comfort, life
- Orange signals: enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement
- Yellow signals: adventure, happiness, competence, enthusiasm, wealth, sophistication.
- Green signals: Balance, good taste, health, money, harmony
- Indigo/blue signals: Honesty, corporate, high-quality, masculinity, competence, loyalty, trust, reliability
- Violet and purple signal: Creativity, authority, rower, royalty, respect, mystery
- Pink signals: Love, compassion, sophistication, sincerity, romance, gentleness
- Brown signals: Friendliness, ruggedness, sadness, comfort, organic, natural
- Black signals: Grief, sophistication, expensive, intelligent, slimming
- White signals: Simplicity, order, innocence, purity, cleanliness and neutrality
- Gray and silver signals: Timelessness, practicality, neutrality, refinement and the quality of being contemporary
Now that you’ve got the colors’ message under your belt, next think about your ideal customer and the brand message you want to convey.
For instance, if you have an extreme sports e-commerce, you’ll probably want to stay away from pink…
But I love pink…
All that being said, sometimes the specific color used isn’t as important as the context with which it’s being presented.
One of our retail clients ran an A/B test to learn about the effectiveness of one color compared to the other. The results were conclusive: A blue CTA increased the conversion rate by 20 percent. These results might lead most designers to conclude that a blue CTA leads to higher conversion rate compared with the red one and to implement this knowledge in other websites.
However. a deeper look at “mouse move” heatmaps uncovered that the difference in conversion was due to the buyer state of mind, rather than due to the CTA color. Visitors that did not convert show a different pattern of behavior. They were more details oriented, spending a longer time on every piece of information, and their engagement time was significantly higher.
On the other hand, visitors who converted tended to be more impulse buyers and spent less time on the page and were less focused on the details.
The only thing we can say is that the red CTA button is more appropriate to the “impulsive buyer” than the blue one. Thus, color alone can’t explain the variance in the visitors’ behavior. The attractiveness of a certain color is determined by its context and not by a visitor’s preference to specific color.
Sound confusing? That’s why you hire a skilled UX/UI design team to guide you through the process. We will help you identify your contextual needs and offer you the best color choices for your user goals.
There are many tools in a UX designer’s tool kit, and Crazy Egg is one of our favorites. Crazy Egg is a website that allows designers to track various types of data on their designs. Two of their most prominent features are their heat mapping and A.B. testing tool. Today, we’re discussing why it’s important to use these critical insights in UX design.
Mapping Designs is Essential
There are various types of maps that UX designers use to strengthen their designs. Scroll maps, for example, show where the user is scrolling and where they tend to stop. Confetti maps show which areas of the site are getting the most clicks and which are not. Heat mapping shows where users have clicked the most on a website, what pages they’re visiting, and what designs they’re responding to. This data is also broken down by where the traffic is coming from and browsers used. Whether we’re using heat mapping, confetti mapping, or scroll mapping, these insights help us interpret how users are behaving and allow us to design accordingly.
Data Reveals Crucial Insights
In a world that’s saturated with data, it’s important to understand the crucial insights and how to know which numbers to pay attention to. Understanding data from the mapping is one thing, it doesn’t take an analyst to understand that where the most saturation is on a heat map is where the user is visiting most frequently, but it does take technical and creative skills to implement data into a design that converts.
“Crazy egg provides additional levels of data for the savvy UX designer. Breaking down traffic through heat and confetti maps allow the designer to ascertain real data regarding user activity,” comments our CEO Alessandro Fard.
Increased Certainty
The maps on Crazy Egg give us more certainty. Because we do projects from a variety of different verticals, there’s no certainty that one business user will respond like others. This gives the design a far stronger chance of survival. Think about it like genetics. If we keep tracking the things that are working and making improvements to the designs’ DNA, it’s survival of the fittest. This gives our designs a competitive edge and gains traction with customers. When you stumble upon insights that make a huge difference in how responsive your design is, we clutch them tight and never want to let them go.
The great thing about mapping is that it offers insights that allow designers to make changes that aren’t a shot in the dark. There are no longer ambiguous insights and it doesn’t feel like playing Russian Roulette with your designs.
Gone are the days of trial and error to see what actually works. We no longer need to conduct dozens of tests to see what’s working and what’s the most impactful. Don’t get us wrong, testing designs is essential and one of the most important aspects of UX, but it’s no longer just based on luck. We see this with A.B. testing.
A.B Testing
Crazy Egg is one of our go-to user research tools. We use it with most strategic redesigns and pivots. Not only does if offer heat mapping to see where we need to make changes as designers, but we get to test the capability and impact of our designs with A.B. testing.
A.B. testing is when you test designs to see which one the user responds to the most. This could be small changes like testing the responsiveness of the color of a button, or more complicated designs like an entirely different landing page.
We see this a lot with how personalized websites are becoming. There are now various landing pages that are designed to be used on different types of people or personas. A.B. testing allows the designer to see which landing pages are the most impactful for a certain demographic.
Alessandro comments, “Using the crazy egg A.B. testing feature, you can observe the impacts of testing variations to a page such as button placement, color, wording, etc. The crazy egg tool is also fairly simple and powerful and has been built to not overwhelm users.”
A.B. testing can clue us into small changes that translate into bigger metrics. For example, one thing we constantly see are people clicking on the feature images when they aren’t clickable elements. People were clicking them anyway and it gave us a tip as to what users found valuable on the page. These small insights allow us to change things like copywriting and placement that ultimately results in boosting conversion rates.
The Tool Kit
After all, UX is a blend of art and science. It takes a skilled designer to know how to implement both aspects of UX in a way that is meaningful and responsive. Thanks to Crazy Egg, we can continue to deliver products to our clients that are supported by data and show clear results. The simplicity of their product combined with the immensely impactful insights Crazy Egg offers is essential for any UX designers tool kit.
Let’s Work Together!
It’s a jungle out there — let the Create Ape experts help you traverse the wilds as we take your project to new heights.
