Tag Archives: UI Design

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User Experience Design for AI-Powered Products: A Beginner’s Guide for Founders, Product Designers, Developers & Managers

AI has become an integral part of our daily life. Almost of the digital touchpoints, devices & apps we use these days, AI is working in the background in more or less manner.
For businesses & customers AI offers endless possibilities. Still for many, the idea of incorporating AI into their product design process can feel overwhelming or unclear. This guide aims to demystify AI and provide a roadmap for integrating it into your product design process, ensuring a seamless user experience (UX) that delights and engages users. This quick beginner guide is for Startup Founders, Product Managers, Product Designers, UX UI Designers and product teams who are just starting with AI integration into their products/platforms.



 
Fundamentals of AI in Product Design & Technology Landscape

Understanding the basics of AI is the first step. AI encompasses various technologies, including machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision. These technologies enable systems to learn from data, recognize patterns, and make decisions with minimal human intervention. Familiarize yourself with these technologies and how they can be applied to your product. This fundamental step is really important to build your AI empathy. 

 

Photo by freepik.com
 

Identifying Real Problems and Real Human Needs

Let’s integrate AI into our product” is not the right approach to start with. Rather starting with users, identify the real problems your users face and the human needs your product aims to fulfill. AI should enhance the user experience by solving genuine problems and adding real value. Conduct a user research, use various research methods to uncover real problems, pain points and opportunities for AI integration.

 

Photo by freepik.com
 

AI Capabilities & Use Cases: Opportunities to Integrate AI

Automation vs. Augmentation

AI can either automate tasks or augment human capabilities. Automation involves AI performing tasks without human intervention, while augmentation enhances human abilities. Google’s Project PAIR (People + AI Research) talks more about how AI can augment human decision-making rather than replace it. Identify opportunities in your product where AI can either automate repetitive tasks or provide valuable insights to users.

 

Photo by freepik.com
 

Avoid AI Anywhere or Everywhere: Where AI Should Not Be Used

AI is powerful, but it’s not a silver bullet. Avoid using AI for tasks that don’t require it or where it could complicate the user experience. Evaluate whether AI genuinely adds value or if a simpler solution would be more effective. Once you understand appropriate user and business needs, set your goal/expectations, define success metrics, identify the right type of AI solutions, consider the possible outcome and impact mentrics of the same to ensure that its really worth taking the AI path.

 

Where should AI not be used or better to avoid use?

In general sense it’s better to avoid using AI in areas like Privacy intensive applications, high stake decision making, emotionally sensitive applications, ethically complex decision making etc.

 

Data Collection and Preparation: Gather and Prepare Your Data

AI is not magic, it’s based on math. Data is everything for creating & designing effective user experience for AI powered products. Collecting and preparing high-quality data is really crucial for training AI models. Ensure your data is accurate, relevant, and diverse to build robust AI systems. Data collection & preparation involves steps like cleaning, normalization, and ensuring ethical data collection practices.

 

Photo by freepik.com
 

Ethical Considerations

AI introduces ethical challenges when building digital products and platforms. Ensure your AI systems are fair, transparent, and accountable. Address biases in your data and algorithms to prevent discrimination. Establish guidelines for ethical AI usage to build trust with your users. 
Some quick examples

  1. AI system used for hiring employees. If the training data includes biased information (e.g., past hiring data that favored certain demographics), the AI might learn and perpetuate these biases, leading to unfair hiring practices.
  2. A social media platform uses AI to recommend content to users. If the AI only promotes sensationalist or polarizing content to increase engagement, it can negatively impact societal well-being.
 

Design for Transparency and Explainability

Users need to understand how AI makes decisions. Design your AI systems or applications to be transparent and explainable. Provide clear explanations of AI-driven actions and decisions to help users trust and effectively use your product.
For example
A loan approval AI system decides whether individuals qualify for a loan. If the system’s decision-making process is opaque, applicants won’t understand why they were approved or denied. 

 

Calibrated Trust

Calibrated trust involves balancing user trust in AI with appropriate levels of skepticism. Ensure users understand the limitations of your AI system, neither they underestimate (poor/no trust) or even overestimate (blind trust) the AI capabilities your platform is offering them. Provide mechanisms for users to correct or override AI decisions if necessary.

 

Human-Centric / User-Centric Design: Not to Replace Humans but to Empower Humans

Focus on designing AI powered products that enhance human capabilities, give them superpowers and provide meaningful assistance in their tasks. User-centric design principles in AI should guide and serve to improve the overall experience of the platform.

 

Ensure Data Privacy and Security

Protecting your users’ data is crucial. Put strong privacy and security measures in place to keep their information secure. Stay on top of data protection laws and be transparent with users about how you handle their data. Clear communication builds trust and reassures users that their privacy is a top priority, fostering a safer and more reliable user experience.

 

Design for Inclusivity

AI should be for everyone, so it’s important to make your systems inclusive and accessible. Tailor AI user experiences  to meet the needs and abilities of all users. To ensure this, test designs with a diverse group of users. This will help you spot and fix any accessibility issues, making AI more user-friendly for everyone. The more inclusive your design, the better the experience for all users.

 

Collaborating with Cross-Functional Teams

AI product design requires collaboration between various teams, including designers, developers, data scientists, and product managers. Foster a collaborative environment where cross-functional teams can share insights, align goals, and work together effectively.

 

Photo by freepik.com

Prototyping and Iterating

AI product design requires collaboration between various teams, including designers, developers, data scientists, and product managers. Foster a collaborative environment where cross-functional teams can share insights, align goals, and work together effectively.

 

Conclusion

Designing experiences for AI-powered products is a challenging yet incredibly rewarding journey. By grasping the fundamentals of AI, pinpointing genuine user needs, and adhering to best practices for ethical and user-centric design, you can create AI products that surpass user expectations. Embrace AI’s potential to revolutionize your product development strategies and deliver outstanding user experiences. 

We hope that with this guide, you are a little more aware to navigate the unknown areas of AI-powered product design. The goal of any product design/redesign & development exercise isn’t just to incorporate AI, but to do so in a way that genuinely enhances the user experience. Keep experimenting, stay curious, and put the user at the center of your design process to turn this journey into something genuinely rewarding. 

If you are building something awesome in the space of AI, we would love to hear and explore how our team of experts can help you. Contact us to start the discussion! 

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Landing Page Design to Drive Conversions – UX Tips for Marketing

In the digital marketing landscape, landing pages play a pivotal role in converting visitors into leads or customers. A well-designed landing page can significantly boost your conversion rates. Following are the essential elements and best practices for designing landing pages that convert effectively. .



Understanding the Purpose of a Landing Page

A landing page is a standalone web page created specifically for a marketing campaign. It is where a visitor “lands” after clicking on a link in an email, ad, or other digital location. Unlike other web pages, a landing page is designed with a single focused objective – a call to action (CTA).

 

Photo by freepik.com

Key Objectives of a Landing Page:

  • Lead Generation: If the training data includes biased information (e.g., past hiring data that favoured certain demographics), the AI might learn and perpetuate these biases, leading to unfair hiring practices.
  • Sales: Encouraging visitors to make a purchase.
  • Event Registration: Signing up visitors for webinars, events, or trials.
  • Promotion: Highlighting a special offer or product.
 

Essential Elements of a High-Converting Landing Page

 Engaging Content Architecture

– Start with a compelling headline and subheadline.

– Provide clear, sequential information that builds on the visitor’s interest.

– Use logical sections to break up the content.

 

Meaningful Yet Hooking Copywriting

Your copy should be both meaningful and engaging, hooking the reader’s attention while delivering valuable information. It should highlight the benefits of your offer and motivate users to take action.

– Use clear, concise language that speaks directly to your audience.
– Use action-oriented language.

– Highlight key benefits and solutions to common pain points.
– Keep it short and to the point.

– Include a strong call to action that encourages immediate response.

 

Contextual Visual Design

Visual elements should enhance your message and create a compelling visual story that resonates with your audience. Use images, videos, and graphics that convey the nuances of your offer and help visitors relate to your message.

– Use high-quality, relevant images and videos.

– Ensure visuals are directly related to the content and support the message.

 

Avoid Distraction

To keep users focused on your CTA, eliminate unnecessary distractions. Remove any elements that don’t contribute to the main goal of the landing page.

– Remove navigation menus and extraneous links.

– Keep the design clean and uncluttered.

– Use white space strategically to direct attention to key areas.

 

Simple and Intuitive Form

If your goal is lead generation, a form is essential. It should be simple, intuitive, and only ask for necessary information.

– Limit the number of fields to reduce friction.

– Use a clear and concise form title.

– Provide context or instructions if needed.

 

Trust Signals

Trust signals such as security badges, guarantees, and testimonials can alleviate any concerns visitors might have and build credibility.

– Display security badges near the form.

– Include customer testimonials or logos of well-known clients.

– Highlight any money-back guarantees or satisfaction policies.

 

Best Practices for Designing High-Converting Landing Pages

Photo by freepik.com

 

 Keep It Focused

A landing page should have a single, clear objective. Avoid distractions by removing navigation menus and links that could lead visitors away from the page.

 

Optimise for Mobile

With a significant number of users accessing the internet via mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure your landing page is mobile-friendly. Use responsive design to adapt to different screen sizes. Ensure fast loading times by optimising images and reducing unnecessary elements and make buttons and forms easy to use on small screens.

 

A/B Testing

A/B testing involves creating two versions of your landing page with slight variations to see which one performs better.

You can test one element at a time (e.g., headline, CTA, image). Use tools like Unbounce or Optimizely to run tests and analyze results to implement changes based on data.

 

Use Analytics

Tracking and analysing the performance of your landing page is essential for ongoing optimization. Set up conversion tracking using tools like Google Analytics to help you monitor metrics such as bounce rate, time on page, and conversion rate. Use insights to identify areas for improvement.

Take away!

Designing a successful landing page requires a clear understanding of your audience and objectives. By focusing on essential elements like engaging content architecture, meaningful yet hooking copywriting, contextual visual design, and minimising distractions, you can create landing pages that not only attract visitors but also convert them into valuable leads or customers. Make sure to test and optimise your landing pages to ensure they deliver the best possible results.

By following these best practices, you can enhance the effectiveness of your landing pages and achieve your marketing goals more efficiently. 

Looking for an agency to help you design your landing pages? Let’s connect!

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Unlocking the Potential of Artificial Intelligence – Useful AI Tools for UX UI Designers

As a UI UX designer, it’s no secret that keeping up with the latest trends and technologies can be a daunting task. The design process is complex and multifaceted, and it can be difficult to know where to turn for help. Luckily, there are many AI-powered tools available that can make your job much easier. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at some of the best AI tools for UI UX designers that can help you streamline your workflow and create high-quality designs quickly and efficiently.


 

Sketch2Code

First up is Sketch2Code. Developed by Microsoft, this powerful tool uses AI to transform hand-drawn sketches into HTML code. This is a great option for designers who want to quickly create mockups and prototypes without having to write code from scratch. With Sketch2Code, you can easily turn your sketches into functional HTML code in no time.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-lab-sketch2code

Adobe Firefly

Want to see the best use of Generative AI allow me to introduce you to Adobe Firefly, a state-of-the-art generative engine that’s now available on Adobe Photoshop. You’ll be amazed by how it transforms your creative process, making it effortless to produce exceptional designs.

https://www.adobe.com/in/sensei/generative-ai/firefly.html

UXPin

If you’re looking for a tool that can help you create user flows and prototypes quickly and easily, then UXPin is an excellent option. This design platform uses AI to suggest design elements and layout options, making it much easier to create high-quality designs in a shorter amount of time. It also offers collaboration tools, making it a great choice for design teams.

https://www.uxpin.com/

Uizard

Uizard.io is a powerful design tool that enables users to create top-notch designs with ease and speed. Providing the ability to transform sketches into high-quality, editable mockups in mere seconds, it uses cutting-edge algorithms to generate one-of-a-kind design concepts based on user input. This makes it an ideal option for designers looking to save time and maintain their creative spark.

https://uizard.io/

Let’s Enhance

Do you want to take your images to the next level? Let’s Enhance is a robust tool that employs advanced AI technology to enhance image resolution while maintaining its quality. It’s a fully automated process that is fast and efficient, allowing you to upscale your images up to 16x without any loss in quality. With Let’s Enhance, designers can now improve their images with ease and obtain high-resolution pictures like never before.

https://letsenhance.io/

Writesonic

If you’ve had the opportunity to explore CharGPT or Grammarly and you’re in the market for another AI copywriting tool, it’s definitely worth considering WriteSonic. One of the key benefits of utilizing WriteSonic for your content creation needs is that the blogs it generates are specifically designed to be more SEO-friendly when compared to other AI tools. This can ultimately help you to improve your online visibility and drive more traffic to your website.

https://letsenhance.io/

Framer AI

If you are a UI/UX designer, it would be beneficial for you to explore Faramer AI. This tool can create website and app designs based on the given prompt, which can then be published on the desired domain.

https://www.framer.com/ai

Midjourney

Out of all the image generators available, Midjourney consistently produces the best results according to my preferences. The images it generates exhibit a higher level of coherence, with superior textures and colors. Overall, the output is simply more captivating and visually appealing.

https://www.midjourney.com/home/?callbackUrl=%2Fapp%2F

Tome

In case you find yourself pressed for time and in need of producing a compelling presentation, allow me to recommend Tome. This platform harnesses the power of storytelling AI to craft presentations that are tailored to your specific topic, ensuring that your message resonates with your audience.

https://tome.app/

Anima

Anima is a plugin that enables the conversion of websites into Figma designs and Figma designs into HTML/CSS. Although it may not be perfect, with time it is expected to improve.

https://www.animaapp.com/



There are additional tools that you may consider, which I have not mentioned because they are well-known and require no introduction. Here are a few listed below:

Chat GPT: for content creation and research

Grammarly: for content polishing

Kevil AI: for image generation

Hemingway App: for writing blogs

Copy AI: for writing professional emails

Blackbox AI: for writing code in a selected language.

In conclusion, AI tools can be incredibly helpful for UI UX designers looking to streamline their workflow and create high-quality designs quickly and efficiently. Whether you’re looking for a tool to help with coding, design suggestions, or collaboration, there’s an AI-powered tool out there that can help you achieve your goals. So why not give one of these tools a try and see how much easier your design process can become.

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Prismic Reflection gets global recognition at the 12TH ANNUAL INT’L DESIGNER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

Prismic Reflections® is honored with The International Design Awards at the 12th ANNUAL INT’L DESIGNER OF THE YEAR AWARDS”

The journey in the design industry is a huge roller coaster ride. From coming up with a concept through design thinking, amending the changes required, and making sure that the design enhances the user experience and resonates with the brand is a long journey. To a designer, a pat on the back and words of appreciation give the motivation to work throughout the journey and continue bringing meaning to the designs.

For us at Prismic Reflections®, client satisfaction is the highest. We work with passion at every task in hand and when we get recognition, we feel accomplished. It is a very ecstatic moment for us when we get recognition and appreciation for our work. We take pride to announce that we have recently been awarded bronze in the 12th International Design Award for one of our project, UX UI Design For AuthNTick – Web Application.

IDA Award

IDA award is one of the prestigious awards in the design industry which appreciates the designers and their work. The International Design Awards (IDA) recognizes, celebrates and promotes emerging talents in Architecture, Interior, Product, Graphic, and Fashion Design. At the IDA awards, we showcased our product designs and our UX/UI designs among the best designers in the world in the category ‘Multimedia-Website Design’.

Our hard work and design thinking strategy garnered eyeballs and got us love and appreciation from the jury of one of the most renowned body in the design industry, The International Design Awards. We were competing on a global platform among the best designs in the multimedia- website design category.

Our project ‘UX UI Design For AuthNTick‘ was one of the milestones in our journey. In this project, we were challenged to turn complex verification process into super simpler, faster & automated user experience for its end users. We began the project by understanding the needs of the owner and identifying the key stakeholders. A small team worked dedicate to come up with a design strategy to align the design strategy with the business goals of the client. The case study of our award winning project is here.

Taking one step at a time, our designers worked closely with the client right from developing the concept of launching the product through several iterations and final testing. At every step, we focused on making the UI/User Interface Design unique and captivating.

We derive the highest satisfaction when all the time and the efforts together in bringing the design to life resonates with the brand and enhances the user experience. We, at Prismic Reflections®, are always ecstatic about the accolades that come our way. We take immense pride in showcasing our work and making a difference to the brands by delivering exceptional UX/User Experience designs for our clients. We extend our gratitude to the IDA awards for adding one more feather to our cap. Receiving such recognition validates our efforts and ideas and motivates us to work even better every day.

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New to UX Design? Quick guide to start a career as a UX Designer

Still confused with UX? Where to start? What to refer? This article can guide you to know UX learning sources, will help in some basic UX Design concepts, and a quick guide to begin your journey with UX Design.

Of late, I have been observing that I spent a majority of my mentoring time to guide newcomers/freshers in UX. I tried my best to answer on social media, one on one communication and also when I was hiring UX Designer for my design studio.

Though there is lot information available about UX on the internet, it still lacks the clear, quick & focused guidance especially for newcomers. So, I decided to make a short article on this. This article can be useful for people who are looking to start or shift their career to UX.

Let’s start with some basic & typical questions.

What is UX design?

This term is discussed & explained several times. In recent years, this is one of the most searched keyword on the internet by businesses. For UX – there are various definitions available on the internet. Let me share what I think is easy to understand and also gives a clear idea about the term UX.

“User Experience” encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

~by NN Group

usability.gov says,

“User experience (UX) focuses on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities, and also their limitations. It also takes into account the business goals and objectives of the group managing the project. Best practices of UX promote improving the quality of the user’s interaction with and perceptions of your product and any related services”

Peter Morville represents User Experience beautifully through honeycomb below

Image by Semantic Studios

As for me, I would define UX in following way..

User Experience includes everything that contributes to physical & mental experiences of the user while using the product or service. It may include user’s journey, information flow, content text, videos, images, graphics, interfaces, colors, interactions with the products/services.

How can we create good User Experience?

Elements of Good User Experience Design

Building a good user experience is neither a linear nor a one time process. As a continuous activity, successful UX design requires the involvement of different departments in business with the design team. At some point in time, these different departments and people directly or indirectly come in contact with users through their product or services.

Following are the step by step practices that are involved while creating a good user experience.

Every step requires different expertise, but a most of the times, one person may cover several steps depending on the expertise & experience they have.

  1. Collaboration and Information gathering
  2. Analysis: Business, Product and Competition
  3. User Research
  4. Solution planning and Strategy
  5. Sketches, Wire-frames and Prototyping
  6. Early Testing
  7. Iteration & Refinement
  8. Visual Design
  9. Code Development
  10. Monitor and Evolve
  11. Project Management
UX, UI & CX – What’s the difference?

Mostly people opt UX, because they love designing. We need to understand that UX starts with research followed by analysis and strategy. UX Designers invest their majority of time in finding solutions, documentation, dealing with wire-frames, decision making & more logical stuff.

CX, UX & UI — from bird’s eye view

UI design on the other hand focuses on visual design or skinning the wire-frames, where the creative designer plays with colors, shapes, layouts, typography and more.

Customer Experience (CX) includes almost everything : UX + Advertising + Branding + Sales process + business strategy + pricing + after sales service + support and other things as well. So scope of CX is much wider than UX, but both are interconnected to each other. Its becomes essential to have a seamless experience for users when they use the product, before they buy it or after they buy it.

Who can get into UX design?
  • Do you love to solve problems through research, analysis & design?
  • Are you passionate enough about your UX career?

If there is a positive response to the above, then YES, UX is for you!

Your enthusiasm could be the first step for you, but you need to understand that there is a bigger responsibility on your shoulders when you position yourself for UX.

I have seen a lot of people shifting and positioning themselves successfully in UX design, like Web designers, Graphic designers, Consultants, Architects, Interior designers, Industrial designers, User researcher etc.

For UX, moreover to skills, attitude and mindset is very important. There are certain qualities that UX designer must develop within. Maybe in future I will share more about the qualities of UX Designer.

What’s the career path in UX?

UX as a career has two tracks –

1) Technical

2) Managerial

Career path in UX Design

Managerial track is more about managing the people and getting the work done. Whereas technical track is more about handling nitty-gritty of the work. Both tracks are important and require equal potential.

Technical track would be the best choice to start with. As experience increases here, focus can be moved to the managerial track based on management skills.

What are the different roles in UX design?

There are some defined standard roles and responsibilities like UX Designers, User researcher, UX Strategists, Usability Professionals, UX Engineer, UI Designer, Interaction Designer, Visual Designer, Project Manager and so on. It varies depending on the organization structure.

How to start UX design?

The easiest & simplest way is to start as a UX Intern or Design intern, and then become Junior UX Designer. Or start as a graphic or visual designer. If I have make a choice, then more of practical experience will be my first option.

Apart from practical experience, you can please start reading knowledge resources, books, and articles. As a domain, understanding the depth of the UX domain is very much important. And what’s happening in the domain can keep you on track with market trends too.

If you can hire a working professional as a UX Designer (preferably senior), who can reserve some time to teach, nothing is better than that.

There are a lots of good resources you can refer to update your knowledge. Few of them below are as below for your convenience :

Few popular online free resources
Courses & Certification Programs (Paid)
Institutions: where you can enroll for formal UX education

How to prepare UI/UX design portfolio as a fresher?

UX Portfolio: A journey from Problem to Opportunity and Solution

Demonstrative skills are very important for an employer when they hire UX professionals. As a beginner, you will face the problem of not having real work to showcase. As a solution, you can initiative redesigning the existing applications. Or you can start a project that addresses the particular real time issues.

It’s good, if your UX portfolio case studies cover the following sections :

  • Project Brief
  • Problem or Opportunity Statement
  • Background Research & Analysis
  • Solution Statement
  • Proposed Solution Sketch with Description – Flow diagram, Sketches & wireframes
  • Interface designs: Coloured UI with interaction explained
  • Conclusion & results: Outcome of testing that you conducted with real users.

Hope I have addressed most of the basic important questions you have, if you want to choose UX as a career. I encourage you to start and grow in this interesting field of UX. I wish all the best to beginners and hope that you enjoy this amazing journey of becoming a User Experience Designer.

If you have further questions, please connect with me via Twitter or Linked-In or Quora. You can visit our design studio website at Prismic Reflections®