Go through this complete guide diligently and by the end of it you’ll get a clear and comprehensive understanding of the following:

• What exactly are UI Design and UX Design?
• Differences between UI and UX.
• How to design a stunning UI & UX.
• 5 Common Mistakes that kill your conversion rate.

UI or User Interface

The UI design is all about the look and feel, the presentation and interactivity. It deals more with the aesthetics and less with the functionality part of a product.
It includes:
1. Typography:
Robert Bringhurst defines typography as the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form. It has the power to convey emotions, transfer a message and most importantly define content hierarchy. The font family, size, weight, color, the text structure, everything matters. The readability of the text can have a massive impact on how users experience the product.
2. Color:
If we talk about visual arts, color is the soul of an artistic piece. It can say a thousand words without even presenting a single letter. In UI design, it can perform several functions like supporting and carrying the brand recognition, focusing on the critical parts like a call-to-action button, or beautifying the interface, etc.
3. Component style:
A user interface can contain multiple components such as a background, text fields, input fields, buttons, cards, etc. Designing UI requires pre-planning the elements’ style to maintain uniformity throughout the whole product. A designer has to decide the shape, color, size, even the situation where the same component has to change its form.
4. Layout arrangement:
It includes organization, arrangement, and spacing of the things mentioned above. The app screen or web page layout has to be arranged keeping in mind the hierarchy of the content and how to control the eye movement of the end user. Visual weight has to be balanced, and proper spacing should be provided so as not to make the content look cluttered. A designer has to arrange components according to their importance.

UX or User Experience

As humans, we are obsessed with things that look good.

A functional and aesthetically pleasing user interface may turn many heads, but it is not the only thing that is needed to retain users. When a design decision is made based only on how good it should appear, the product is no longer being designed for the users.  That is where UX comes in the spotlight, and to the designers’ rescue.

User experience design is a human-first way of designing a digitally interactive product. This term was first introduced to the Tech industry in the 1990s by Don Norman who was a cognitive scientist and co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group Design Consultancy and according to whom, “User experience encompasses all aspects of the end user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.”

This process is scientific and can be applied to any real-life situations and places such as our room shelves, vehicle experience, movie theaters, etc.
If you want to provide a good user experience, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the product user flow designed so that the user can achieve their objective quickly?
• Is the usability good enough that the user can use the product easily?
• Are design decisions being driven by reliable data and user research?
• Is the product intuitive enough to guess and present what the user wants?

UX design provides solutions to real-life user problems. By thinking through questions like the ones mentioned above, and finding an acceptable answer to each one of them, a product designer can achieve this goal. It is a relatively new field because companies worldwide are slowly realizing that it is equally important to attract, as well as retain users through their product.

A UX designer’s role includes a myriad of responsibilities, namely:

• Analyzing competitors and customers
  A competitive analysis helps a UX designer to gather useful information about the product landscape, its details, the market share, etc. It is also done to research the user demographics, visual design language, content, and language. This data is then compared to have an understanding of the product’s general competition.
• Deciding product structure and strategy
  While vision gives clarity for the desired goal, strategy defines the journey to achieve it. Even before the design and development begin, a strategy is made to create milestones of what should be done step by step.

  

   

• Wireframing
  Wireframes are like the backbone of designing a product, also called a low fidelity prototype/representation. It contains the elements needed on a screen and the order in which it should come. It is created quicker than the actual design because everything is represented in its purest form (e.g., crossed rectangles for image placeholders). In the wireframing stage, it is easier to do changes after gathering feedbacks.
• Prototyping
  While wireframing provides the visual idea of the planned layout, prototyping gets more close to the actual product. It consists of middle to high fidelity representation. It gives the look and feel of the final product as well as the interactions, which further proves itself helpful in user-testing.
  

So, to sum it up, UI design is how products appear, and UX design is how it functions.

Points to Ponder On

1. Don’t just design transitions, but the whole interaction

Designers go head over heels seeing those fabulous Dribbble designs and fancy transitions. The innovations that have occurred in modern interactive devices such as smartphones, smart-watch, etc. have made it possible to bring in a plethora of effects and inspirations too such as scrolling animations, button transitions and all sort of flashy things. While it is tempting to use these from a predefined library, the goal should not go out of focus. Use whatever is necessary and feasible for development.

2. Think Quality over quantity

Following types of data could emerge from user research:

• Quantitative:
  Survey results, A/B test data and conversion rates – measurable data that indicates numbers – where, when or how much.
• Qualitative:
  Observations of user test participants quote from contextual interviews – data that helps the product designer understand the why.

If being in a dilemma, or being in a situation where only one of them can be chosen, having an understanding of why users do something is more valuable than having numerical measurements that may not even be helpful in the issue involved.
Recommended Read: Top Trends In Design and Web Development

3. Use more research methods

Every research method has its perks as well as drawbacks. That is why using a mix of them can provide more dimensions to the data acquired. Triangulating research can enable UX designers to confirm data accuracy and relevance, helping them to have a more precise view.

4. Use more participation

It is required to have a common showcase arena where the project progress, findings, and planned steps can be exhibited to promote more transparency and participation. Choose the participants strategically and make it easy to access whatever is relevant to them. Users, stakeholders and colleagues, everyone collectively has more ideas, insights, and perspectives than a single UX designer, so take advantage of this great asset. Everyone may not be from the same demographic, but they drive the design to a more user-centric approach, which further promotes relationship building and helps build something astounding by collaboration.

5. Be visual in the first steps

While design documents provide insight into client requirements and user needs, it is preferable to be more visual. You don’t need to worry even if sketching is not one of your skillsets; nobody needs to be an artist while delivering ideas about the user flow and design. One of the most significant benefits is that it provides a broader understanding of the problems a UX designer is trying to solve.

Common Mistakes that are Killing Your Conversion Rate

The facts below provide an overview of the current situation:

• 38% of users leave a website if the content or layout is unattractive.
• 47% users expect a web page to load in two seconds or less.
• 95% of visitors agree that good user experience is the most crucial element of a website.
• 94% of people will close and stop trusting a site if the website design is not engaging.

  

The attention span of users is getting smaller day-by-day. They want results with less effort, less time and patience is barely existent. Getting through many screens to get what they want is a huge turnoff which drives them away, especially in a market where there are many more competitive products and content out there.
Mentioned below are some aspects that might be killing your conversion rate:

• • Confusing and Cluttered Layout
    Putting more and more content in one visible part of the screen order to put it in the users’ glance at first, is a terrible idea.

    If everything is made to draw attention, none of them gets it
    

    A designer should think more precisely and put themselves in users’ shoe to understand – What is the most important thing they may want to know or do. Information should be presented step-by-step according to that importance. There should only one goal that is to be focused – Conversion.

• • Device Unresponsive Design
    More and more users are using digital services on their mobile or tablets, which are easy to carry on-the-go. When they are not able to enjoy the best features on small screens, they leave. Responsive design of a digitally interactive product makes it flexible across all screen resolutions.

• • Unintuitive Navigation
    After de-cluttering the content, the next task at hand is deciding the hierarchy and navigation. What a website or application has to offer should be evident in the heading, and how they can gain from it should be described shortly in subheadings. Do not re-invent the wheel. Put things where users’ expect to find it. Do not make many positions, look or form changes from what they are used to. This might confuse and frustrate them. User-friendly navigation keys are critical, as there is only a second or two to convince a user to stay.

• • Text-Text Everywhere
    Nobody has the time to go through blocks of text. What an end user does is comb through it to get an overview of the subject. Therefore using related, informational, and soothing imagery may take the users out of the monotonous boredom of reading and at the same time feed the knowledge about the text they might not be reading. So try to use less but precise wording wherever applicable.

• • The 404 Dead-End
    There are situations where a user might not be able to find what they need and land on a 404. Consider a use case of an e-commerce application, where the user cannot find the product he/she was looking for. Such situations can be creatively utilized to drive the user to someplace where they could have a new start. The home page or the seasons’ new outfit collection might be a good place to start with. Presenting the users with aesthetically pleasing illustration, or animation of an empty crate is also an excellent way to hold on to them.

Concluding View:

“People ignore designs that ignores people.”

— Frank Chimero, Designer

Over the last decade, hardware has witnessed tremendous transformation. Now products have become much cheaper, efficient and smaller. Therefore making similar softwares proficient of beautiful animations, graphics, and interactions is extremely critical.
Now it is just not enough for designers to create an efficient application. Users are expecting more and more out of their devices; they want impeccable efficiency along with beautiful graphics and tasteful interactions.
This transition is pushing designers to get more creative with their design strategy.
The responsibilities of a designer have unbundled to much more than they used to be. With the influx of so many domains, designers now need to be appropriate ‘specialists’.
That is why designers at EngineerBabu are handpicked from the crowd to create the best possible user experience possible for our customers. We have solid expertise in creating world-class design solutions. With a portfolio of more than 100 exquisitely designed products under our wings, the tremendous hard work our dedicated team puts-in is quite evident from the smile of our satisfied customers.
Check out our creatively designed products, right here.

Recommended Read:

• The Ideal Custom Logo Design Company
• Top Trends in Design and Web Development
• Features of a Successful Mobile Application
• How Much Does Mobile App Development Cost?
• How Much Does Website Development Cost?

The post What is UI and UX? A Designer’s Guide to the Tech Industry appeared first on EngineerBabu Blog.

GetPurohit is an online application to book a purohit/pandit for any needs related to religious and spiritual domains.

GetPurohit is a service which was put into execution considering the current demands of getting anything and everything online may it be services related to hospitality or any religious needs of people.
GetPurohit caters services where one can book pundits or purohits for any religious activities one wants to carry out for any occasion, in any part of the country.

GetPurohit is a platform where they have a crew of the best of pundits/purohits who are well versed and well trained in terms of understanding the roots of our Indian Vedas, scriptures, and ethics of our dharmas.

Not only is this app capable of getting you the “perfect purohit” but also it will work as a mini encyclopaedia where the information varying from Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, Upanishads, the immortal tales of Mahabharata and Ramayana, the legendary stories and morals lying beneath every spiritual and religious story of our Gods and Goddesses’, finding the best mahurat for the most important occasions of life and many more will be just a few clicks away.

2) EB Process of tackling (The Process)

a) Documentation:


b) Challenge:
The challenge here while designing the UI/UX was, it was an app which needed both ethnic or says Indian touch and simultaneously needed to look like a professional online portal.
The most challenging part was designing the vector of the main character i.e. A pundit/purohit who needs to look both modern and authentic.
This app’s must thing was about maintaining the Indian touch while modernizing the concept of online pundits. The saffron needed to play the key role in giving the rich feels of our Indian cultures and traditions.

c) Wireframe

1. Web:

• User:

1. Sign up: Any user can sign up via many options i.e. with Google+, Facebook, Mobile number or email Id.
2. OTP verification: Once the user signs up, there will be a One-Time-Password verification for authenticity.
3. Edit profile: Once a user’s profile is created, he/she can edit his/her profile accordingly.
4. Search pundit: The user can start searching for any pandits/purohits based on location, type of pooja and also by any other option.
5. Share Pundit’s profile: The user can share the pundit’s profile with others.
6. Bookings: The user can book a pundit via calendar availability.
7. Payment: The user can make payments via payment gateway with 2 available options i.e. option to pay 100% amount or 30% of the total amount.
8. Confirmation Process: Once the booking is done by the user, the confirmation and any other notifications will be sent to both user and Pundit via SMS and email.
9. Booking Cancelation: The user can cancel the booking before the deadline and refund shall be awarded.
10. Tracking: Once a user books a pundit, live tracking is enabled.
11. History: Ever user’s profile has an order history detail maintained.
12. Ratings: The user can rate/review a pundit.
    Recommended Reading: How Much Does it Cost to Build a Website?
13. 1. Purohit:
       
       1. Profile Creation: Purohits will be creating their both online and offline profiles.
       2. Edit Profile: The purohit can edit only the services which they offer and nothing else.
       3. Schedule management: The purohit can update their schedule through the calendar.
       4. Notifications: The purohits will be notified regularly about their past bookings and upcoming bookings along with stats like to total amount earned till current date.
       5. Bookings: Notification for new bookings will also be sent to purohits.
    2. Admin:
       1. Panel for Purohits: This panel is built in a hierarchical manner i.e. based on the reference code. Say, remove/add/hide from search results i.e. active/inactive options.
       2. User panel: It has 2 options i.e. add/remove.
       3. Payment Reports: The reports are generated in this section where one can know about the orders with information as to how much amount for a particular purohit is paid and how much is remaining. Say, a purohit is paid 30% advance and rest of the 70% need to be collected by offline mode, this report is maintained in this section and updated.
       4. Promo codes: This option is available where a user can redeem various offers.
       5. Services panel: This panel is where the pre-defined services for purohits are managed.
       6. Order management: This is for cancelation or reassignments to a different pundit.
       7. Notifications: The notifications when a purohit raises a token are managed here.
       8. Email templates: This is for managing the emailers sent to the users and purohits.
14. App:
    

• In the Release II there were few improvements which took place as follows:
  1. User:
     1. The way in which any user would rate or give reviews for the pundits were changed.
  2. Pundit:
     1. Even pundits get the benefits for the references he has made to any other pundit for any other predefined services.
  3. Admin:
     1. Manage cities: The cities in which there is the availability of the pundits are managed.
     2. Area Management: The area allotment is also managed in the admin section.

• New services: In case of any new services that need to be added is done here.

i) Master group:
ii) Category Management: There are different categories of the services that are provided and are managed here.
iii )Banners: Any graphics or updates related to the application for both users and pundits are being managed here.

• CMS pages and menu integration process is done here.
• Site meta tags: The tags which will help this app rank on particular keywords and searches are done here.

i) Roles: The different roles i.e. user, admin, editor and many others are a part of this section.
ii) Service Management: The services which need to be added/removed are under this module.
iii) User credits:

• Newsletters: The regular newsletters are sent to both Pundits and users via this section.
• Promotional Messages: Any promotional messages for any new offers or codes are executed and managed via this module.
• Contact Us: The queries which come via the contact us are managed in this module where they are replied to on regular basis.
• Panchang Integration: The mahurat and panchang which needs to be referred by both user and pundit are managed here.
• Social media: The users sharing any kind of stories/reviews/promotions for this application over any social media channels like Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Google+ any many more are integrated here and even managed from this end.
• Web services management: The services carrying out the request – response from the server to client and vice versa are managed here.

c) User story:
The user story for this application revolved around a singular but significant motive which was; what if there are users who live outside India and are in search of authentic Indian pundits/purohits who can come to their place to perform the rituals for their most important occasions of life? This was the key problem

3) The Result:
The end result of this whole process was more than wonderful. In the end, we successfully executed designing the Android application within a time duration of 50 days.
Also, we successfully designed the website along with the admin panel and web-services within the time duration of 90 days. Trust me, it was a wonderful experience because we had never built such an application focusing on Indian traditions and customs.
4) Reviews:

The post Get Purohit : App to Connect Pundit Online appeared first on EngineerBabu Blog.