In recent years, advertising has become more personal, addressing the needs of each person. Diversity marketing, also called inclusive marketing, focuses on connecting with individual consumers on a more personal level. Brands use it to reach new customers in various racial, cultural, ethnic and social groups. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts the country’s population will exceed 400 million by 2060. Around half of those people will be from minority groups. If businesses want to reach those in their communities, they must plan now for inclusive promotional efforts. Race isn’t the only definition of diversity marketing, though. The term also encompasses differences in gender, religion, age and sexual identity. Making the shift to inclusive marketing may also focus on other cultures as the world moves to a more global model.

Benefits of Diversity Marketing

As with any marketing model, there are distinct advantages to this strategy. Many obvious and subtle differences exist in diversity marketing that make it different — and sometimes more effective — than other marketing types. Here’s what to expect when you employ this method:

• Build employee morale: Your staff will see you care about their needs no matter how different they are from each other or you.
• Improve community relations: With the country’s shift in cultural diversity, it’s important for companies to relate to the communities they’re in. Figuring out consumer needs starts with better understanding.
• Gain customer loyalty: When your clients feel understood and heard, they’re more likely to remain loyal to your brand.

Your company will also improve from a better overall understanding of its customers and employees.

How Does Diversity Marketing Work?

Diversity marketing combines easily with other methods, such as close range and target marketing. Just how does diversity marketing work? Here’s a glance:

• Identify underserved segments in your industry: Look at age, cultural aspects, race, gender and social differences.
• Appoint a team to look at possible promotions: The last thing you want is an insensitive marketing effort, so run ideas through the viewpoints of people from many backgrounds.
• Assess your target market: Hire an expert to look at changing trends over time from a diversity standpoint.
• Look at current methods: Are there opportunities for diversity in the outreach you’re already doing? What is missing? If you aren’t sure, bring in a third party for input.

Many companies take a campaign they’ve created and then try to add some multicultural aspects to it. This technique doesn’t work out well in many cases and leaves the marketing feeling flat. It’s much better to start the campaign with diversity in mind from the beginning. Do your best not to exclude any groups in your customer base.

Who Uses Diversity Marketing?

As people become more aware of the beautiful variation in American culture and open up to global markets, more companies have turned to inclusive promotions. Any business wanting to reach new buyers across different cultural, racial or social groups uses diversity marketing. With the marketplace growing increasingly global, there are more opportunities than ever before to reach out to a mixture of clients from all types of backgrounds. Here are a few examples of companies getting inclusive marketing right.

Think With Google

Google looked at how they could diversify their company to meet their audience’s needs more effectively. They studied the variation in their campaigns. They found they were doing fine on racial diversity, but all of their images were of young professionals. This meant they were ignoring socioeconomic differences. They also considered the difficulties families face when one parent works or when someone has a mental illness.

ThirdLove

Lingerie e-commerce store ThirdLove uses women of all colors, shapes and sizes in their promotions. They embrace inclusive marketing and give companies like Victoria’s Secret a run for their money. By reaching out to different groups, they show they know how to meet the needs of all consumers in their audience.

Coca-Cola

From their “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” campaign in the ’70s to the present day, Coca-Cola embraces the things we have in common. These characteristics bring us all together, no matter what our backgrounds are. More recent commercials show activities like children playing games in the pool and friends grabbing food. These everyday situations show we have a lot in common with other humans. Start by having a team look at your marketing and find areas where you can be more inclusive.

Tips for Diversifying Your Promotions

There are many ways to mix up what you do and be more inclusive. Start by being sensitive to cultural and personal differences, and the rest will follow naturally. Here a few tips:

1. Be Authentic

Don’t just embrace diversity because it’s the trendy thing to do. At the core of your reasons for including diversity in your campaigns, there should be a desire to embrace all your customers. If you’re just trying to gain new business without an understanding or concern for the bigger picture, people will take offense.

2. Plan for the Long-Term

Don’t create a single inclusive campaign and then wash your hands of the effort. Inclusiveness is an ongoing endeavor. Campaigns going forward should have a new tone that matches your inclusive marketing. Any programs you implement should consider your customer base and new markets you’d like to reach.

3. Make Human Connections

Think about the psychological factors driving every human being. Look for instances when people have more in common than not. Tug on the emotional heartstrings and remind people what we’re all working for — healthy families, a successful country and happiness.

4. Choose Your Audience

Know what you offer and to who. Scope out your current customer demographics as well as potential ones. If you sell something particularly for young people, then inclusion for you doesn’t mean reaching all ages. It might mean reaching young adults from different races. It could also mean appealing to young professionals who use your product but excluding those who don’t need what you sell. Diversity marketing doesn’t mean being everything to everyone. It means reaching potential customers in a smart and fair way.

Don’t Try to Please Everyone

When it comes to diversity marketing, you can’t please the world. Not everyone wants inclusiveness. Understand there might be a person here or there who balks at the change in your tone, images or statements regarding the cause. Know why you stand for these things so you’ll be prepared to respond to those who oppose what you’re trying to do. Have a statement ready to send to them. You may lose a few people, but you’ll gain others. Don’t worry about being a people-pleaser with issues you care about. Instead, do what you know is right. Success will soon follow.

CHAPTER 13: Target Marketing      CHAPTER 15: Undercover Marketing

The Small Business Marketing Guide: Introduction

Chapter 1: Successful Viral Marketing Campaigns
Chapter 2: Influencer Marketing
Chapter 3: Conversational Marketing
Chapter 4: CMS Marketing
Chapter 5: Brand Marketing
Chapter 6: Scarcity Marketing
Chapter 7: Transactional Marketing
Chapter 8: FOMO Marketing
Chapter 9: Neuromarketing
Chapter 10: Close Range Marketing
Chapter 11: Guerrilla Marketing
Chapter 12: Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Chapter 13: Target Marketing
Chapter 14: Diversity Marketing
Chapter 15: Undercover Marketing
Chapter 16: Cause Marketing

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Most people start a company because they have a passion for their fellow human, an industry or some other interest. Cause marketing taps into the core of why we do what we do. This marketing model combines the best of business growth with efforts to help the world be a better place. In Edelman’s 2022 Trust Barometer report, 52% of consumers want companies to address climate change and 49% want them to look at social inequality. People pay attention to the nonprofit organizations that companies sponsor.

You can attract a lot of positive press while improving the world. The key is finding something you care about, though. One example of a brand focused on cause marketing is Bombas Socks. For every pair purchased, they donate a pair to a homeless shelter. The founders discovered the homeless community was always in need of socks, which drove them to develop their current model. They’ve donated more than 30 million pairs since starting their mission.

Benefits of Cause Marketing

There are many benefits to cause marketing that you should be aware of as you approach this promotional method. Here are a few:

• Help others. It might sound like a simple thing, but the good feelings you get from helping someone else are priceless. Both you and your employees will feel good.
• Increase brand loyalty. People who believe in what you’re doing develop a commitment to what drives you and continue to buy from you.
• Boost employee job satisfaction. When people feel they are part of something bigger, they feel content on the job. You’ll keep well-trained employees longer.
• Gain free positive press. While you shouldn’t embrace a cause just for free promotion, when you do big things, the media will cover it. You’ll gain valuable word-of-mouth marketing without intentionally seeking it out.
• Establish community goodwill. Locals will come to rely on your company, improving your brand reputation.
• Stand out from competitors. Your charities are unique to you. What you focus on differentiates you from other brands in your industry.
• Team up with nonprofits. There are many advantages to working with organizations in your area. Collaborating helps the charity, and they can tell their patrons about your efforts. Plus, they can show you unique ways to promote your business.

How Does Cause Marketing Work?

Understand that cause marketing is different from philanthropic efforts. It is more of a relationship between the nonprofit charity and for-profit business. With philanthropy, you donate a check to the local baseball little league team so they can go to an out-of-town game. With cause marketing, you give them T-shirts to wear and put your name on them to gain exposure among their fans. In actuality, cause marketing is much more complicated than sponsoring a youth team, though. It is part of your overall business methods. Your cause ties to what you do, and what you do binds to your company’s purpose. It becomes part of your mission statement. When your values align with your customers’, you embrace the same causes. Then, they become loyal to your goals.

Who Uses Cause Marketing

According to Accelerist’s 2020 Trend Report, corporations in the United States give five times as much to charity as individuals do. Some examples of companies using cause marketing in smart ways include:

• TOMS: TOMS gives shoes to poor people around the world. For every sale, they donate one. They’ve given out more than 100 million pairs of shoes. They also give $1 for every $3 they make.
• Cuddle + Kind: This company donates 10 meals to people in need for every stuffed toy they sell. They provide food from their profits and hire people in developing countries to hand-make their toys. Doing this offers valuable opportunities to people who otherwise wouldn’t have any.
• BrewDog: This brewery shifted gears when the coronavirus struck the U.S. and there was a shortage of hand sanitizer. They took on the task of learning how to make sanitizer and made and shipped more than 100,000 bottles in recent weeks.

There are thousands of examples of cause marketing, but the thing tying them together is the act of wanting to help a cause. Any type of business can adopt a charity and make a difference.

Tips for Implementing Purpose-Based Marketing

You can take several steps to start your journey with cause marketing. Above all else, be authentic. People see right through those who are only doing something for their benefit rather than the desire to help. Here are some tips for starting out:

1. Find a Cause You and Your Employees Love

If you don’t yet have a charity in mind, brainstorm with your employees. The best kinds of cause marketing happen when the entire company gets excited about the efforts. Ideally, your employees will have paid time to help them volunteer for the cause. You can donate a portion of your profits and work alongside the nonprofit to help them thrive. You aren’t participating in a one-time effort, but something that builds over time. Make sure whatever you embrace, you can support it for years.

2. Look for Charities That Align With What You Do

Think about what types of causes match up to what you already do. For example, if you sell skincare, can you team up with a skin cancer organization to promote skin health? If you run a restaurant, maybe you want to help local kids not go hungry in the summer when school’s out. What groups are already helping with the issue, and how can you support them? Narrow the list to several organizations in your area, in order of preference.

3. Sit Down With the Executive Director

Approach the number one choice on your list and ask to speak to the leader of the nonprofit. Not every charity will want to team up. They may already have other partnerships or concerns. Once you find one excited about working with you, find out how you can best help them. In addition to financial support, they may need help with marketing, securing volunteers to serve at their place of business or accomplishing any other needs.

4. Plan Joint Promotions

Once you’ve established the relationship, figure out the best way to promote one another. They might announce in their newsletter or on social media that you’ve joined the cause. Doing this puts your brand’s name in front of their subscribers. You can do the same and invite your customers to join your efforts. You can also plan campaigns, such as encouraging followers on both lists to post a photo to social media with a specific hashtag. You’ll want to create a memorable message that lets people know why you’re supporting the idea. Make sure it also puts your company name at the forefront. 

Know Your Purpose

At the core of cause marketing is knowing who you are as a brand and a human. What things do you care about, and why? Don’t attempt purpose-based marketing until you have a firm grasp of what drives you. Otherwise, you’ll come across as inauthentic and only interested in profit. It’s better to take some time choosing a cause so you can throw your full support behind its efforts. If you have zeal, your employees will follow. So will the rest of the community you serve, including your customers. 

CHAPTER 15: Undercover Marketing 

The Small Business Marketing Guide: Introduction

Chapter 1: Successful Viral Marketing Campaigns
Chapter 2: Influencer Marketing
Chapter 3: Conversational Marketing
Chapter 4: CMS Marketing
Chapter 5: Brand Marketing
Chapter 6: Scarcity Marketing
Chapter 7: Transactional Marketing
Chapter 8: FOMO Marketing
Chapter 9: Neuromarketing
Chapter 10: Close Range Marketing
Chapter 11: Guerrilla Marketing
Chapter 12: Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Chapter 13: Target Marketing
Chapter 14: Diversity Marketing
Chapter 15: Undercover Marketing
Chapter 16: Cause Marketing

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UX and UI are two distinct things that work in conjunction with one another to present a cohesive, user-friendly website. User interface (UI) involves the functional part of the website. It’s how the site functions for the user when they interact. It’s the bones of the design. User experience (UX) involves the UI along with aspects such as aesthetics. Many would argue that excellent UX can’t exist without strong UI developer skills. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are around 160,500 web developers in the country.

Not all of them specialize in UI developer skills, and many have multiple disciplines incorporated into their work. So, one day, they might work on the UI of a mobile phone app and the next on tapping into the emotions of site visitors. While UX and UI have distinctive differences and skillsets, you should be well-versed in both. UI designers should learn more about UX design and vice versa, as the two areas work in tandem. Enhancing your UI developer skills should be your first order of business.

What Does a UI Developer Do?

• Develops an interface that functions in expected ways.
• Meets user expectations so they don’t grow frustrated and bounce away.
• Strives for efficiency.
• Creates seamless interactions.
• Keeps things simple and easy to navigate.
• Ensures all forms work.
• Tests for different device types and how the site looks.
• Knows front-end and back-end functions.
• Applies interactive functions.

Developing a robust set of UI developer skills is a matter of understanding the elements that make a site function smoothly.

How Do I Become a UI Designer?

Do you need a formal education to gain the UI developer skills required to land a job or work as a freelance designer? Many designers do not have a college education or they received training in related fields. As with many careers, those with a degree may find it easier to land a job or gain promotions. If you plan to work for a company instead of yourself, a degree becomes more critical in remaining competitive in your field. Most community colleges offer at least some courses in UI developer skills. You can also take a class and gain certifications through online programs. If you plan to get a degree, choose design as your major and add specialty courses on topics such as user interface, user experience and app development. Look for opportunities teaching real-world skills you’ll use on the job. If you prefer not to go to school, you’ll need more on-the-job training. Seek out a mentor and practice on projects for nonprofits and those who will throw volunteer work your way as you develop your portfolio.

Colleges Specializing in UX Design

While it might be a better idea to get an overall education in web development, if you want to just take a few courses or dig deep in UX design, there are a few colleges specializing in the topic:

• Tandon School of Engineering at New York University in New York City has an integrated digital media track. One of the best parts of this program is their ability to hook students up with internships in the digital media field. The degree takes four years to complete.
• The University of California has an online course on interactive design. It is an eight-lesson course and is the perfect add-on to an existing degree or to brush up on skills. This course of study will take you about two years to finish as a full-time student.
• Another two-year degree is through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is in Media Arts & Sciences. The program limits entrances to only 50 students per year, making it a sought-after choice.

In addition to the handful of highly respected schools offering classes, there are courses available online and through local sources. Think about the skills you need to develop and whether you’d like a degree to go with them and decide from there.

Helpful Ongoing Learning for UI Developer Skills

Prior to School

If you are still in the decision phase about learning UI developer skills, you will want to make sure this career is really for you. Play around with some app building programs and read articles about UI design. Try to find a designer working in the field and shadow them to see exactly what the work entails.

During School

While gaining your skills as a designer, pay attention to trends. Is there anything you need to learn? A few years ago, people didn’t think much about voice search. Now, over 25% of Americans have smart speakers in their homes. Knowing what is trending allows you to keep your skills as up-to-date as possible while you’re gaining essential skills.

After Graduation

Once you’ve graduated, keep learning. Attend conferences for web developers, find a mentor and try out new techniques. Pay attention to what your competition is up to. If another UI developer competes in your niche, check out their work and see if you lack skills anywhere.

Is UI Developer a Good Career?

Whether becoming a UI developer is an excellent choice for you depends on your personality. Do you love sitting at a computer for hours and designing? If you enjoy taking on challenges, writing code and using customer service skills, you might love the work. However, there are many ways to make a living, so if you find sitting inside for hours on end stifling, this might not be the best career path for you. Web developers make a decent income. The median wage for web developers is about $73,760 per year. The BLS offers a positive job outlook for web developers. Expected growth is 13% by 2028, which is faster than the average for other occupations. UI development can be a comfortable career with promising possibilities moving forward.

Tips for Building Your UI Developer Skills

Your UI developer skills build over time. Here are some things you can do to enhance your abilities and speed up the learning process:

• Save time with UI design patterns.
• Find a mentor.
• Network with others in your field.
• Take on pro bono work.
• Study top UI designers and imitate their styles.
• Read widely on the topic of UI and changes in the industry.
• Learn one new skill each month.
• Get feedback from people smarter than you.
• Improve your communication skills. You can’t design what you don’t understand.

The best developers never stop learning and gaining new skills. Seek to improve yourself each and every day, and your skills will grow over time. No one starts as an expert in UI design or anything else.

Your Career as a UI Developer

UI design can be highly rewarding and pays well. Develop the skills you need to compete in your location and stay on top of new trends. You may begin by working for a corporation to gain some insight and later branch out on your own. There are pros and cons to working for a company and freelancing. Try both and see which is best for you and your needs as a designer. 

CHAPTER 15: The Top UX Design Courses

The UX Design Guide for All Levels: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Top Front End Technologies for UX Designers
Chapter 2: What is the Difference Between UX and UI?
Chapter 3: The Laws of UX
Chapter 4: Why Mobile UX Matters
Chapter 5: What Is the UX Process?
Chapter 6: Why User Experience Design Is Essential to Everything
Chapter 7: What Is Lean UX?
Chapter 8: The Top UX Design Principles
Chapter 9: The Best UX Tools and Techniques
Chapter 10: How to Become a UX Designer
Chapter 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember
Chapter 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics
Chapter 13: What Does Good Customer Experience Look Like?
Chapter 14: The Different Types of User Interface
Chapter 15: The Top UX Design Courses
Chapter 16: Skills Needed to Become a Great UI Developer

The post Chapter 16: Skills Needed to Become a Great UI Developer appeared first on Designerly.

A UX design guide is a valuable tool for creating the most amazing experience for your site visitors imaginable. User experience (UX) is just what it sounds like — the way your design comes together and creates what the user experiences on your website. However, UX covers far more than a few elements. It takes into account every aspect of your site, from speed to content to navigation and more. Recent studies show good UX design increases conversion rates as much as 400 percent.

The experience of those who visit your site is about more than just making a good impression. This also impacts the profitability of your company. You must understand the ways customers interact with your site and what they want out of it. A strong user-centered experience flows naturally from one element to the next. It happens in a way that requires little thought from site visitors. Good UX never gives the user a moment to think they might want to leave your site or check out a competitor.

History of UX Design

Some experts argue that the basics of UX design date back to 4000 B.C. and point to practices such as ancient Feng Shui. Creating harmony and ease-of-use isn’t a new endeavor. We’ve just taken the principles and added them to the digital medium. User experience from a branding standpoint has been around as long as people have owned businesses and worried about how to gain and keep customers.

However, the actual term “user experience” was put together in 1993 when Don Normal talked about it at Apple Computer. Other experts point out that user-centered design has been around longer than the internet. Bell Labs hired a psychologist to design telephone systems in 1945 and came up with a touchtone keypad. We still use a touch keypad design today, even on smartphones, so getting the UX of the design perfect has had an impact for 74 years and counting.

By 2050, the number of people working in the UX field will grow 100 percent. Whether you think the field of UX is fairly new or you believe it’s been around since ancient times, knowing what it is and when to use it is vital to successful websites. This UX design guide explores elements such as the importance of understanding UX in design work and the different components making up a robust user-centered design.

UX Versus UI

People sometimes grow confused over the difference between UX and UI. The two work closely together in creating the UX of your site. Designers often find they’re expected to understand both UX and UI fully. However, UX is not the same as UI. Here are the differences:

• UI, user interface, is the overall function of a website. If a user engages with your site, they do so via some type of device, such as a touch screen. The UI is the way the user interacts with your site and how seamless that interaction is.
• UX, user experience, is a way of designing that focuses on the needs of the user. UX is relatively complex, but in a nutshell, focuses on everything from the contrast between colors to where items are located to ensuring interactive elements are clickable.

We may use both the terms UX and UI throughout this guide, but the focus is as a UX design guide. You could say UX is simply refining UI and making the site as usable as possible. You can have a user interface without a good UX, but why would you want to? They work together, and both need perfecting to meet users’ needs. UX in design work drives consumers toward engaging with your brand.

Eight Basic Elements of Good UX

Good UX may vary in the look of a website or even the features offered, but eight basic elements make a site stand out as more usable than others.

1. Good hierarchy: Your site’s architecture needs to make sense. Think about what your main categories are and what goes under them in a logical procession.
2. Beautiful design: The aesthetics of your site should make an excellent first impression on visitors. The colors should complement one another, be easy to read and provide the right level of contrast.
3. Clear CTAs: Clear calls to action guide site visitors through a sales funnel. CTAs should be easy to locate and actionable.
4. Site consistency: Your website should be predictable throughout. If you place your navigation bar just under the header on your home page, put it in the same spot on every page on your site. If your logo is clickable on one page, make it clickable on the others. Keep things consistent, so users know what to expect.
5. Minimal clutter: Keep your page minimal and uncluttered, so users quickly and easily find the elements they need. Your landing page doesn’t need to be everything to everyone.
6. Clear purpose: Your site needs a clear focus and outline of your unique selling proposition (USP). Don’t make visitors guess what the purpose of your page is.
7. Breakdown of complex data: One of the goals of good UX is taking complex ideas and breaking them down into terms and examples users easily understand. Good UX looks at content, graphics and data visualizations and ties it all up in a neat bow that tells a story.
8. Accessibility: UX designers consider who the target audience is and what devices they might access the site through. Accessibility includes offering the capability for voice search and usage on mobile devices.

UX designers consider dozens of different elements when working on a website. The eight listed above are some of the more popular, but the list is expansive enough to include many others.

Tools for UX Designers

In this guide, we’ll explore some of the best tools for UX design. Before you publish, you want to make sure the site runs at optimal efficiency. Accomplish this by creating prototypes and getting feedback from your client. A business owner knows their customers much better than you do. Listen to their input about what their customers want. You’ll also need to test every element on your pages.

Multivariate testing lets you test a bunch of different elements at once and see which ones visitors respond to best. On the other hand, you may want to see if people click on a red call to action (CTA) button more often than a green one. Use A/B testing to ascertain what’s best between two choices. You should also poll users and see what they like and don’t like. You are an expert on how to present the design and get the coding in place. The customer knows what they like and don’t like.

The most beautiful design in the world isn’t much use if it doesn’t meet the expectations of your user. You must know what their intent is for visiting your site in the first place and then meet their needs.

Map Out User Scenarios

Before you learn about UX design elements, you must get to know the audience for which you’re creating material. If you don’t already have buyer personas, develop them based on the customer profiles in the company’s databases. Who is the typical buyer? Dig out demographic details such as age, gender, career, where they live and how much money they make. Next, look at their behaviors and the things driving them to take action. You should understand their emotions. Take your buyer personas and map out scenarios. For example:

• “My name is John Doe. I am a 30-something businessman with a wife, kids and a successful white-collar career.”
• “I searched for information on installing an alarm system because I want to keep my family safe. I’m concerned about some recent local break-ins.”
• “I travel frequently and I need a full solution to my problem of keeping my home safe from burglars.”

With the information above, you should be able to very easily create a page answering John’s questions that taps into his emotional pain points. John is worried about his family’s safety, so let him know you understand his fear and have a solution. At the core of UX is knowing who your customer is and what drives them. All the concepts within this guide tie into who your user is, so spend time on your buyer personas first and foremost.

UX Design Guide Series Focus

The user’s experience comes from many different elements. Think about the last time you visited the website of a large corporation. Factors such as the color choices, where the navigation bar sat and how the content all came into play as you moved through the site affected your experience.

UX starts with first impressions before your brain even has time to process the content on the page. It encompasses everything from the aesthetics of the site to the placement of objects. If you visit Walmart’s website, you’ll note it loads at lightning speed.

As a user, you may not even realize this is part of your experience. Not to mention how it impacts the way you see the brand. Other elements your mind registers in a split second include where navigation is — hamburger menu in the upper left — and big images of modern designs for your home. Your first impression is formed of a professional, easy-to-navigate site, and you then dig further. While the speed of loading is only one element of UX design, it illustrates why every piece of the puzzle matters. If a website fails to load quickly, the user may bounce away. At any point in the design process, a user may feel disengaged and leave your site.

The UX Design Guide

In this UX design guide, each chapter covers a different aspect of enhancing the UX of your website and improving your knowledge for better customer retention and conversion. We’ll dig deeper into what UX and UI design are, the UX process, laws about UX, basic user-based design principles, and testing and refining your website for the highest conversions and engagement possible.

You’ll learn what we think are the absolute best tools and tips for UX designers. One of the best ways to learn good UX design is by looking at examples and studying how other brands accomplish excellent UX. We’ll also delve into case studies showing you exactly what you need to improve user experience. Mobile browsing traffic increases every year, so we take a careful look at mobile UX and the importance of interface in relation to how well people respond via smartphones. We also do a deep dive into all the concepts you need to know to become adept at UX design. 

CHAPTER 1: The Top Front-End Technologies for UX Designers

The UX Design Guide for All Levels: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Top Front End Technologies for UX Designers
Chapter 2: What is the Difference Between UX and UI?
Chapter 3: The Laws of UX
Chapter 4: Why Mobile UX Matters
Chapter 5: What Is the UX Process?
Chapter 6: Why User Experience Design Is Essential to Everything
Chapter 7: What Is Lean UX?
Chapter 8: The Top UX Design Principles
Chapter 9: The Best UX Tools and Techniques
Chapter 10: How to Become a UX Designer
Chapter 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember
Chapter 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics
Chapter 13: What Does Good Customer Experience Look Like?
Chapter 14: The Different Types of User Interface
Chapter 15: The Top UX Design Courses
Chapter 16: Skills Needed to Become a Great UI Developer

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Undercover marketing is also called stealth marketing and buzz. It is a sort of hidden, secretive strategy. Consumers don’t realize it’s a marketing effort, so the hope is that users talk and don’t notice it’s a campaign. It allows you to introduce a product to consumers without it looking like you’re promoting the item. 

Around 39% of marketers turn to analytics to help them make decisions about where to spend advertising dollars. Undercover marketing is one place you can focus your budget and experiment a bit with branding. In this part of our Small Business Marketing Guide, we’ll delve into the ins and outs of undercover marketing. Learn how you can use your promotional money strategically and stealthily. Here’s what you need to know about creating a buzz. 

Benefits of Undercover Marketing

Undercover marketing is one of the more creative types of advertising. You may feel a bit uncertain implementing something harder to track than a social media method. However, there are some stark advantages, such as:

• The costs associated with undercover marketing are meager. You may tap into a few influencers and regular customers, but you won’t spend much on ads.
• Word-of-mouth builds your audience exponentially. As more people share information about your product, you reach all their friends and followers.
• Generate some buzz before launching your traditional advertising campaign. A stealth approach, combined with more established methods, reaches more people than one or the other used alone. 
• Use a stealth website to create a comfort zone for the consumer. They can gather information without feeling pressure to buy. 

You may find creating buzz doesn’t help sales as much as some other methods. Where the advantage lies is in building name recognition. 

How Does Undercover Marketing Work?

Many different marketing methods are available for businesses to try. Undercover marketing is a bit unique in that it often precedes the release of a new product campaign. It can work in conjunction with other means of getting the word out, transitioning into a full-on advertising effort. The word “stealth” is often associated with this type of marketing. At the same time, though, you have to be careful not to make people feel you tricked them. You need to find a balance between making the promotions organic and being upfront about your efforts. One fundamental way to get people buzzing is by offering them the opportunity to try your product. Send out freebies to influencers and top customers. Ask them to share the info with others if they like what you sent. 

See Undercover Marketing in Action

People are over traditional marketing methods. Think about how many times a day the average consumer sees an ad or hears a radio commercial. As a society, we’re overwhelmed with organizations trying to sell us stuff. Then, there are the brands that get so creative with it that we sit up and take notice. Here are a few examples of undercover marketing you can learn from. 

Product Placement

Placing products where people will see and subliminally want to try them isn’t anything new. Even as far back as the movie “E.T.,” advertisers put Reese’s Pieces and other brands in films and television shows. You’ve perhaps noticed this when it isn’t as subtle as it should be. In the movie, advertisers use Reese’s Pieces as Elliot attempts to attract the extraterrestrial with candy. In the film “Castaway” with Tom Hanks, a FedEx delivery plays a crucial role in helping Hanks keep his sanity. You can use this method in an online video or at an event. For example, if you sell craft beer, you might offer coasters with your company logo to bars during a holiday. Putting items where consumers flock to gets your brand name in front of your target audience. 

Street Teams

Another method of undercover marketing is hiring street teams to talk up your product. Recording artists have used this technique for years. However, it’s open to any type of business. You put your product in their hands first and ask them to tell others about it. Sometimes, they take the chatter to an actual physical location. Your street team can also create buzz online, such as influencers on social media. Sony Ericsson’s Fake Tourism campaign was a unique stealth marketing attempt. They put faux tourists out on the streets in popular vacation spots. They asked people to take photos using the phone, which resulted in people asking what the device was. Then, the “tourist” explained the features. 

Fake Controversy

Another way to get buzz going is to start a rumor that people hate your product or have some issues. In reality, people don’t, and many will come to your defense. Be careful with this tactic, though, as it can backfire. Make sure the complaint is something minor. Starbucks created controversy around their holiday mug back in 2015 that stormed social media. Some people called for a boycott of Starbucks over the cup. Others, however, pointed out there wasn’t anything offensive about it, and they didn’t understand the concern. One thing is certain, news outlets and people everywhere were talking about Starbucks. 

Tips for Your Campaign

The examples above are just a few ways you can deploy undercover marketing. As you start your stealth campaigns, keep these points in mind:

• Don’t be underhanded. One company launched a campaign where they had young girls flirt with men in bars, which is extremely deceptive.
• Think about where your typical customer hangs out and brainstorm ways to reach those people.
• If one buzz doesn’t take hold, try something different. Some campaigns are more effective than others.
• Watch what your competitors do for their promotions and repeat anything successful without copying. 

An Add-On to Other Strategies

Undercover marketing is an add-on you can use with methods you’re already using. You shouldn’t suspend other campaigns, but throw this into the mix so that you can reach more people.  

CHAPTER 14: Diversity Marketing       CHAPTER 16: Cause Marketing

The Small Business Marketing Guide: Introduction

Chapter 1: Successful Viral Marketing Campaigns
Chapter 2: Influencer Marketing
Chapter 3: Conversational Marketing
Chapter 4: CMS Marketing
Chapter 5: Brand Marketing
Chapter 6: Scarcity Marketing
Chapter 7: Transactional Marketing
Chapter 8: FOMO Marketing
Chapter 9: Neuromarketing
Chapter 10: Close Range Marketing
Chapter 11: Guerrilla Marketing
Chapter 12: Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Chapter 13: Target Marketing
Chapter 14: Diversity Marketing
Chapter 15: Undercover Marketing
Chapter 16: Cause Marketing

The post Chapter 15: Undercover Marketing appeared first on Designerly.

Should you take UX design courses? Adding the skill of user experience (UX) insight to your resume allows you to expand the clients you work with. Knowing what it takes to specialize in the job market is pretty straightforward. You have to fully understand your target audience and the features they most want. The average UX designer in Indianapolis, Indiana, makes about $72,622 per year. The salary is a little below the national average, but the cost of living in this area is lower. By contrast, the average web designer makes just $46,658 annually. Taking a few UX design courses and upping your skillset increases your earning potential dramatically. Furthermore, you have a couple of options for UX design courses. You could go to your local college and find out what classes they have. However, if you’re more the do-it-yourself type, you could seek out an online option for brushing up on your skills. Below, we offer both college-level and DIY plans of study so that you can choose what works for you. 

Jump to: User Experience Design Essentials | Springboard UX Career Track | UX Design Immersive Online | Introduction to User Experience Design | Web Design: Wireframes to Prototypes | Design Lab Mentor Program | Iron Hack UX/UI Design | CareerFoundry UX Design Program | Learn User Behavior and Psychology | Learnux.io: Usability Course

1. User Experience Design Essentials

Udemy provides a number of UX design courses. Currently, the top-rated class on the site is User Experience Design Essentials – Adobe XD UI UX Design. Daniel Walter Scott teaches the course. It covers topics like how to use premade UI kits and building and testing a mobile app. It also shares professional techniques. The regular price for the course is $199.99, but you can often find it on sale for under $15.

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2.Springboard UX Career Track

Springboard offers a UX bootcamp that allows you to get job-ready in four to six months. Now is the time to start, as 87% of manages plan to hire more UX professionals in the coming years. This class uses a project-based curriculum so that you can experience hands-on learning and have examples to show potential employers. The site allows deferred tuition, so you only pay after you find a job. Plus, they offer two UX design courses, one of which includes IU fundamentals.

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3. UX Design Immersive Online

General Assembly offers an immersive user experience design course remotely — they also give an on-campus option. They place their graduates with companies such as Starbucks, Hilton, Microsoft, Adobe and Google. During the class, you’ll create a professional-grade portfolio. The skills you’ll learn include UX and UI, design and development and uses for UX in the real world. 

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4. Introduction to User Experience Design

Trying to figure out if UX is right for you? One of the best beginner UX design courses out there is through the Georgia Institute of Technology. About 1,868 people took the course through Coursera and gave it an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars. The school estimates the class takes about seven hours to complete over five weeks. It covers the basics, such as requirement gathering and presentation. 

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5. Web Design: Wireframes to Prototypes

As your skills progress, you may want to dig into more specific UX design courses. For instance, Web Design: Wireframes to Prototypes offered by the California Institute of Arts. Enrollment is currently free, and the course has a 4.9 out of 5-star rating. Additionally, the class discusses responsive web design, web typography, basic coding and how to use data to create wireframes and mockups. It takes about 25 hours in total to complete. 

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6. Design Lab Mentor Program

If you want something a bit more specific to the skills you need, you can try Design Lab. They assign you a one-on-one personal mentor through their UX design courses. If you’re a beginner, you can start with their 101 Design Course that lasts four weeks. In addition, you can take any of their short lectures, such as UX research and strategy or interaction design. Prices vary based on your needs. 

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7. Iron Hack UX/UI Design

Iron Hack’s UX design courses come in the form of a bootcamp. By having the courses in this format, you can learn skills quickly and find out how to implement them in the real world. Moreover, the class breaks into four modules. You will start by learning the basics of thinking like a UX designer and how to use HTML and CSS. Then, you will move to understanding the user experience through research methods, interaction design principles and various information architectures. In addition, the lessons delve into user interfaces and building a portfolio. 

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8. CareerFoundry UX Design Program

CareerFoundry offers a full UX design program you complete in under 10 months. The lessons are online and flexible, so you don’t have to take time off your current job. You’ll receive expert mentorships and the chance to build a portfolio. Plus, their graduates work at places such as PayPal, Facebook, Visa and Netflix. The cost of the course depends upon your method of payment. A one-time fee of $6555 covers it all. You can choose to pay $1400 upfront and $550 for 10 months.

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9. Learn User Behavior and Psychology

A big part of UX design is figuring out how consumers think. This Udemy course covers basics for beginners with a specific look at the behavior and psychology of users. The class features more than five hours of on-demand video, unique articles and a certificate of completion. The regular price is $99.99, but the course goes on sale regularly for under $15. Discover how the mind works, common mistakes and how to improve digital products by applying UX design methods. 

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10. Learnux.io: Usability Course

Greg Rog teaches this course and offers tutorials for designers. If you want to know the ins and outs of UX design, you’ll learn them in these 18 lessons. Topics include what usability is, heuristics, gestalt principles and in-depth looks at usability for search and navigation. The site charges $12 per month to access all the classes, including this one. 

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The Best of UX Design Courses

Gaining new skills as a designer should be part of your yearly goals. UX design improves your income and gives you new abilities, allowing you to deliver an excellent product to your clients. While there are many UX design courses online, only a handful offer the basics you’ll need to up your game. Start with the ones above and then look for advanced offerings to take your work farther than you thought possible. 

Chapter 14: The Different Types of User InterfaceCHAPTER 16: Skills Needed to Become a Great UI Developer >

The UX Design Guide for All Levels: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Top Front End Technologies for UX Designers
Chapter 2: What is the Difference Between UX and UI?
Chapter 3: The Laws of UX
Chapter 4: Why Mobile UX Matters
Chapter 5: What Is the UX Process?
Chapter 6: Why User Experience Design Is Essential to Everything
Chapter 7: What Is Lean UX?
Chapter 8: The Top UX Design Principles
Chapter 9: The Best UX Tools and Techniques
Chapter 10: How to Become a UX Designer
Chapter 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember
Chapter 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics
Chapter 13: What Does Good Customer Experience Look Like?
Chapter 14: The Different Types of User Interface
Chapter 15: The Top UX Design Courses
Chapter 16: Skills Needed to Become a Great UI Developer

The post Chapter 15: The Top UX Design Courses appeared first on Designerly.

The online customer experience (CX) is the next frontier of good business practice — and one that many brands have failed to fully consider until now. There is fierce competition both online and offline for consumer dollars, so anything you can do to enhance your relationship with your client base will benefit your brand in the long run.

In a survey of marketing leaders, researchers discovered that 80% of organizations plan to compete on the basis of the customer experience. Companies now realize the value of the customer perception and whether the person walks away feeling as though you care about them as an individual and made an effort to make sure they had a positive purchasing experience. Figuring out the ins and outs of ensuring your customer experience rises above your competitors isn’t an easy task, however. There are so many moving parts when it comes to interacting with buyers.

One important key to creating a positive encounter is having the right customer management leaders in place. You need someone with a history of previous work handling people and leaving a good impression of the company. Outside of that, here are nine specific things you can do to create a good customer experience on the web.

1. Create Consistency

One of the first things you should do as a brand is to create a consistent image. If a customer contacts you via phone, your attitude and answers should be the same as if they contacted you via your website. Few things are more frustrating for a person than getting one answer online and then phoning to find that the rep has no idea what they’re talking about. Conducting your business this way will make you seem shady to many people, so make sure all your customer service reps are trained the same way, no matter what medium they interact with users on.

2. Utilize AI Technology

You can’t be everyone all the time, so don’t be afraid of tapping into some of the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology to enhance your buyers’ experience. You might utilize a chatbot, for example, and program it with some of your most commonly asked questions and answers. Anything outside the realm of the machine’s knowledge will transfer immediately to a live agent so that solutions are customized to the customer. One study found that AI technology drives as much as 37% of online revenue.

3. Find a Clear Purpose

Good user experience (UX) is part of the bigger CX of your website. Take a step back and figure out the purpose of your site. What is the one singular goal when someone lands on your page? Do you want them to sign up for a newsletter or perhaps make a purchase? Once you understand this purpose, you can cut out all the clutter that doesn’t point the user toward your business’ online goals. What’s more, customers will no longer have to guess what they’re supposed to do.

4. Provide a Call to Action (CTA)

One way you can create a clear, purpose-driven message is by using strong CTAs. Urge the user toward some action, and grab their attention with a compelling CTA button. Use a color that contrasts with the rest of the page to draw attention. Think through the language you use in your CTA, and gear it to the target audience. If your typical customer is a millennial, for instance, they may be more likely to respond to certain words or colors than others.

5. Be Authentic

The general public has grown used to companies dangling a carrot and then snatching it away. The bait and switch tactics of some underhanded brands give everyone a bad name and make customers much less likely to trust you. Be as open and honest as you can about your policies, including returns, so that there are no surprises for your customers. Once people feel they can trust you, they’re much more likely to do business with you again. Be ready to live up to your word. If you promise 100% money back no questions asked, then make returns super easy without any invasive questions.

6. Get to Know Your Customers

You might create a customer experience strategy based on who your customers are, but then the makeup of your audience changes over time or you gain new specifics that you didn’t have when you were originally creating the strategy. Every six months or so, take a look at your customer database again. Who are your top and repeat customers? Spend time polling them and asking upfront about what you can do to make their experience with your brand a better one.

7. Pay Attention to Complaints

For every customer who complains, you can be sure there are others who aren’t happy for the same reason but didn’t complain directly to you. Pay careful attention to any complaints, and work hard to resolve them until the customer is satisfied. Once you’ve come up with a solution, take a step back and figure out how you can keep the problem from occurring in the first place. At a minimum, make sure you have an instant solution should the issue arise again.

8. Make an Emotional Connection

One Harvard Business School professor states that 95% of purchasing decisions happen on a subconscious level and are tied into our emotions. When you make an emotional connection with your customers, you’re forced to see the world through their eyes. This process allows you to think about their overall experience and how they will personally react to happenings. Work hard at making an emotional connection by learning what they care most about and embracing those causes. Figure out the pain points that your customers deal with on a daily basis, and solve those problems for them to create an amazing and memorable customer experience.

9. Gather Employee Feedback

Your first thought about creating a great customer service experience might not be to look at employees and their thoughts, but your workers are often customers as well. Even if they don’t buy from your brand, they likely work with your customers, taking complaints and solving issues. As a result, they can offer valid insight. Create a panel of employees to work on bettering the CX for your brand. 

Never Stop

Creating a great customer experience isn’t something you look at once or twice before moving on. Instead, you should constantly seek ways of improving your website and your customer service. Study the different phases of interaction with your buyers. They should have a positive view of you from the minute they land on your page, during any questions they might ask your support agents and even after they’ve made the purchase and received delivery. Customer experience can almost always be improved, so never stop working on bettering yours. 

CHAPTER 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics  CHAPTER 14: The Different Types of User Interface

The UX Design Guide for All Levels: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Top Front End Technologies for UX Designers
Chapter 2: What is the Difference Between UX and UI?
Chapter 3: The Laws of UX
Chapter 4: Why Mobile UX Matters
Chapter 5: What Is the UX Process?
Chapter 6: Why User Experience Design Is Essential to Everything
Chapter 7: What Is Lean UX?
Chapter 8: The Top UX Design Principles
Chapter 9: The Best UX Tools and Techniques
Chapter 10: How to Become a UX Designer
Chapter 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember
Chapter 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics
Chapter 13: What Does Good Customer Experience Look Like?
Chapter 14: The Different Types of User Interface
Chapter 15: The Top UX Design Courses
Chapter 16: Skills Needed to Become a Great UI Developer

The post Chapter 13: What Does Good Customer Experience Look Like on the Web? appeared first on Designerly.

Have you ever been to a carnival where they played bait and switch tactics for one of their midway games? If you have, then you can probably guess what dark patterns in web design are. Dark patterns mislead site visitors. They’re meant to get visitors to take a desired action. These actions might include clicking on a button or providing an email address. However, the promised result isn’t what they get — and dark patterns lead to a lot of frustration and mistrust. In a recent study, university researchers found that dark patterns are quite common on e-commerce websites. They looked at around 11,0000 websites and found that over 11 percent of them had one or more dark pattern. Even something as simple as not fully revealing all the charges involved in a purchase could be seen as an underhanded tactic. Even as designers, it’s sometimes difficult to spot a dark pattern. The last thing you want is for a user to walk away feeling as though you intentionally misled them. It’s best to understand why you shouldn’t use dark patterns. So spotting them is a vital part of your final check as a designer.

How to Spot Dark Patterns

Spotting dark patterns isn’t always easy — sometimes they are so subtle you don’t even realize you’ve created one. Here are some things to look for when checking your website for them:

1. Scarcity Marketing

Threats that there is a limited number of something when there really isn’t is definitely dishonest. Scarcity marketing has been around for a while. If you are truly only offering 200 deeply discounted items, then you aren’t lying. The problem is when you say you are limiting the discount and then offer it again. Imagine being a customer and landing on a page that says if you don’t buy in the next 20 minutes, you lose your 50 percent discount. You just aren’t prepared to buy, so you leave and come back another day only to see the same message. Obviously, the first message was a blatant lie to try to trick you into making a purchase. What else might that company be dishonest about?

2. Bait and Switch Tactics

Probably the most common dark pattern tactic is promising one thing in exchange for a user action and then delivering another. You’ve likely seen this used often on social media. In these instances, they promise you something, but then require a ton of personal information. You might even give them that info. However, when you reach the end of filling out all those form fields, they inform you that you only get a gift card if you sign up for a paid service. They haven’t been honest about why you’re sharing all your personal information, but now they have it in their database and will drive you insane with emails and phone calls just the same. And you have nothing to show for it.

3. Fake Items for Swipes

Another unethical tactic that’s becoming more common is placing an image on top of an ad that looks like a piece of hair, a bug or a piece of lint. The goal is to get you to swipe up, whether you want to or not, in order to remove the “debris.” These tactics might work once or twice, but in the long run users catch on — and it will impact your reputation as a retailer. Who wants to do business with someone who starts off by bamboozling them?

4. Forced Continuity

If you promise easy cancelation of a subscription, or even if you do not, don’t suddenly make it difficult with endless steps to end the relationship. It’s probably okay to ask once if the person is sure they want to cancel. But if you make them take more steps beyond this, you are forcing the relationship to keep going even after the person no longer wants it. Some companies offer several calls to action (CTAs) side by side, with one lengthening the subscription and one canceling, for example. If the user doesn’t pay close attention to the wording, it’s easy to do something other than what you planned and either keep or extend the membership rather than canceling. Once the user finally does cancel, you can be certain they’ll never return again.

5. Recurring Payments

Another tactic that has been around for a while is signing a user up for recurring payments but doing so in a sneaky way that the user doesn’t realize until they see charges come through on their credit card statement. Many sites do this by offering an extremely inexpensive first-month option, but then the price of the service goes up drastically in the second month and beyond.

Prevalence of Dark Pattern Tactics

Why are so many more companies using dark patterns now than in the past? With advances in artificial intelligence and machines analyzing user patterns, expect more and more psychological double-dealing in the future. Although there are currently some pretty common patterns you can spot easily, companies are starting to use less obvious things. Some examples include hiding information about prices until the end, so you can’t easily compare prices, and even automatically adding items to your shopping cart but making them hard to remove. Getting into the mindset of looking for cons like these will help you spot them now and in the future. It will also help you avoid hoodwinking your own customers so you can build authenticity and trust. After all, you want to keep your customers for many years to come. If you still aren’t sure if you’re using dark patterns, enlist the help of some folks with a good eye for detail. Ask them to check your site specifically for anything misleading. 

Avoid Dark Patterns

Dark patterns in modern design are something you should avoid. unless you want to leave your customers with a bad impression. Tricking people into doing business with you, or continuing on when they no longer want to, typically backfires in the long run. Think about the businesses that have pulled some type of trick on you and whether you plan to do business with them again in the future. It’s always best to be upfront and honest with your clients. You’ll develop a reputation for it, and your buyers will be much more likely to tell others what they like about your brand. 

CHAPTER 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember  CHAPTER 13: What Does Good Customer Experience Look Like on the Web?

The UX Design Guide for All Levels: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Top Front End Technologies for UX Designers
Chapter 2: What is the Difference Between UX and UI?
Chapter 3: The Laws of UX
Chapter 4: Why Mobile UX Matters
Chapter 5: What Is the UX Process?
Chapter 6: Why User Experience Design Is Essential to Everything
Chapter 7: What Is Lean UX?
Chapter 8: The Top UX Design Principles
Chapter 9: The Best UX Tools and Techniques
Chapter 10: How to Become a UX Designer
Chapter 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember
Chapter 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics
Chapter 13: What Does Good Customer Experience Look Like?
Chapter 14: The Different Types of User Interface
Chapter 15: The Top UX Design Courses
Chapter 16: Skills Needed to Become a Great UI Developer

The post Chapter 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics appeared first on Designerly.

Focusing on the user experience (UX) ensures your website is one that visitors appreciate and want to use again. With more and more people using mobile devices to access the internet, mobile UX design principles should be a regular part of your design process. The number of mobile phone users around the globe will hit 4.68 billion this year. The huge growth in the market is likely due to how popular smartphones are and the added accessibility of wireless connectivity. If your website isn’t ready for mobile users, you may lose out on hard-earned potential customers. You are likely already familiar with some basic UX design principles, but mobile UX design principles vary slightly. Here are 14 of the top mobile UX design principles to keep in mind as you work on your next project.

1. Focus on the Hook

People’s attention spans are fairly short, so make sure you hook the user from the first second they land on your site. Keep in mind that those using a mobile device to access your website are likely between meetings and have a very small window in which to find the info they need. Your headline must grab the user quickly or you risk them bouncing away to another task.

2. Cut Clutter

Since the user has a much smaller screen, it’s important to simplify your mobile design as much as possible. Since everything will be condensed, you don’t want images and text so small that the user can’t see it. Instead, cut out as much as you can so the size is optimized and the choices are limited.

3. Enlarge Links

As much as 70 percent of website traffic comes from mobile devices. Think about how people move from one point in your site to another and create links and buttons large enough for the user to tap with a finger. If you make links too small, the precision required to click the link may frustrate some users. Instead, use finger-friendly tap targets.

4. Communicate Current Location

One thing people sometimes forget to focus on is letting users know their current location on mobile. It’s easy for users to lose their way, especially with browsers that open a new tab every time the user clicks on a link. However, if you show where the user is, it is much easier for them to navigate back to the place they started when needed.

5. Strive for Consistency

Customers often use more than one channel when connecting with companies. Around 65 percent of consumers said they’ve felt frustrated over the lack of consistency between different interactions with the same company. Work toward the same appearance and features for mobile and desktop access as well as on social media.

6. Keep Font Size Legible

It’s hard to get all the information you need onto a smaller screen. However, if you go below about 11 points for your font, the text will be unreadable. It’s better to create a long scroll or remove some information for mobile rather than use a smaller font.

7. Allow Ample White Space

Another mistake some designers make when creating a mobile version of a website is pulling everything together and losing white space. However, lack of breathing room makes the text blur together and creates a crowded feel to the page. It’s better to lose non-vital elements than to push things too closely together.

8. Create High Contrast

If you want everything to appear clear, use colors that contrast sharply. For example, you might use a white background, black text and a pop of red for accent. Make sure the colors all contrast enough that users can read the text and see buttons with a quick glance. Keep in mind that some users turn down the backlight on their phones, which makes the screen appear less vibrant. Test your mobile UX design principles for different brightness settings.

9. Think About Thumb Placement

Even though the research is older, one study found that about 49 percent of people use just one thumb to complete most tasks on mobile. When you’re designing navigation placement, think about where the thumbs naturally rest as a person uses their phone and place links and buttons within easy reach. Keep in mind that mobile UX design principles such as this one require picking up a few popular models of smartphones and testing them out to see where thumb placement goes.

10. Consider Other Gestures

Tapping with a thumb or finger isn’t the only action users take on a mobile device. Think about some of the other things site visitors tend to do, such as pinching to zoom in and out. People might also double-tap, scroll and slide around your website. What result will each of these actions cause, and how can you make the process easier for the user?

11. Reduce Required Typing

Typing on a small device is difficult and time-consuming. Think about ways to reduce the number of fields and making the process simpler, such as including a one-tap option for popular email address such as yahoo.com or gmail.com. Anything you can do to make adding an email simpler for the user, the more likely they are to sign up for your newsletter or other offers. Smart mobile UX design principles focus on how to save the user time and effort.

12. Focus on the User Goal

You likely know what your goal is for a landing page. For example, you want the user to sign up for your newsletter. However, you must also consider what the user’s goal is for good UX. Why did they come to your site? What are they likely looking for? Look at information such as popular keywords to find clues about what users really want and then do your best to deliver and make it easy for them to reach their goal.

13. Personalize the Experience

People today expect a highly personalized experience when interacting with websites and apps. Think about how you can create a more personalized experience for your user. You might base the experience on location, ask for the person’s name, or create an app that sends push notifications when the user is near a store.

14. Test Your Designs

As with any type of design, it’s important to fully vet your finished project and make sure it works well for the end-user. Conduct A/B testing and also pick up a smartphone and test out different elements on your own. Anytime you make a change, test your site again for usability.

Best Mobile UX Design Principles

Some of the basic good design practices that work for any type of design also apply to mobile, such as ensuring the speed is fast and you have a firm navigational hierarchy in mind. The areas that are unique to mobile design include considering the smaller screen size and the unique way people use their phones to navigate to different elements on your page. With a little focus on user experience, your mobile site will be just as valuable as your desktop design.

CHAPTER 10: How to Become a UX Designer  CHAPTER 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics

The UX Design Guide for All Levels: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Top Front End Technologies for UX Designers
Chapter 2: What is the Difference Between UX and UI?
Chapter 3: The Laws of UX
Chapter 4: Why Mobile UX Matters
Chapter 5: What Is the UX Process?
Chapter 6: Why User Experience Design Is Essential to Everything
Chapter 7: What Is Lean UX?
Chapter 8: The Top UX Design Principles
Chapter 9: The Best UX Tools and Techniques
Chapter 10: How to Become a UX Designer
Chapter 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember
Chapter 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics
Chapter 13: What Does Good Customer Experience Look Like?
Chapter 14: The Different Types of User Interface
Chapter 15: The Top UX Design Courses
Chapter 16: Skills Needed to Become a Great UI Developer

The post Chapter 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember appeared first on Designerly.

If you’re already in creative work or simply love making something from nothing, you might be wondering how to become a UX designer. UX designers typically make good money and are becoming more in demand than ever before. However, gaining the skills needed to work in UX takes time, commitment and a bit of know-how. Two decades ago, designers were still figuring out the best ways of integrating digital design into their everyday work.

Today, nearly all work is done digitally, and marketing has moved to an online platform in many cases. This changes the way designers work and forces them to think through the user experience (UX) more than in the past. The average salary for UX designers is around $88,280 per year.

If you’re thinking about specializing in UX, there is strong demand in most sectors for this specialization in design, with about 87 percent of managers reporting they plan to hire more UX professionals in the next few years.

What Type of Training Do You Need?

If a new career in UX design sounds fascinating, you might wonder exactly how to become a UX designer. Do you have to go to college? What classes do you need? What skills do employers look for? While you don’t have to go to college to become a UX designer, a degree in design is a good start in getting the skills you need. However, you can also gain those skills through online courses or by taking a few classes at a local community college. Just keep in mind that as you move up in your career, you may want the degree to go into management at some point.

Skills You Need

As a UX designer, your job is making the user experience better through product, service or delivery. There are some specific skills you need to do your job effectively:

• Ability to sift through data and analyze the results
• Understanding of prototyping software and its importance
• Knowledge of split testing and platforms for getting user feedback
• Basic design knowledge about what users expect

Many of the skills graphic and web designers need are the same ones used in UX design. However, UX designers must ramp things up a bit and always consider the end user and the overall experience. How will a specific color palette affect the emotions of site visitors? Is the product package easy to open?

Colleges Specializing in UX

If you want to add on to your education and specialize in UX, a few colleges are offering interesting programs.

• Stanford offers a graduate design program that looks at human behavior and teaches designers to examine big issues.
• The University of Southern California offers a graduate-level course in UX design and strategy taught by expert Jaime Levy.
• The University of Washington offers a master’s degree in human-computer interaction and design.

Those are a few of the better-known programs for picking up UX-specific skills. However, keep in mind that you can take courses through your local community college. Think about offerings such as human behavior, statistics, IT knowledge and design. By combining several classes, you could even complete a general studies degree with a specialization in human behavior and design topics. Are you wondering how to become a UX designer without spending a fortune on a master’s degree? There are online courses and do-it-yourself options, too.

Online Courses

If you’re more of a do-it-yourselfer, you may want to go the online route and learn the UX skills needed. Keep in mind that you may need to really ramp up your portfolio if you don’t have a related degree. However, it can still be done. Here are a few options for how to become a UX designer through online courses:

• Interaction Design Foundation: Join this organization for around $13 per month and gain access to its vast library of courses in interactive design.
• Udemy: If you just want to brush up your skills in UX, Udemy offers several courses for reasonable rates.
• Springboard: For about $72 per month, you can take Springboard’s courses in UX design and begin building an online portfolio.
• Career Foundry: Take a full UX design course through Career Foundry and finish with a certification in UX design. It also offers a UI program, if you’d later like to add that to your skills. It’s pricey at about $6,500, but it is a full, fast-paced class that will offer all the skills you need.

If you’re on a tight budget, you could also look at the required courses for a degree and then find free online equivalents to go through on your own. Read some of the best UX design blogs to round out your skills. It might be a bit harder to master how to become a UX designer by reading on your own, but it isn’t impossible.

Gaining Experience in UX Design

How to become a UX designer includes the necessity for gaining experience. First, find a local charity or cause you believe in. Help it out pro bono to flesh out your portfolio and gain valuable experience. While you’ll work for free, you’ll give back to something you already believe in, and the samples will help you when you go on interviews.

When thinking about how to become a UX designer, you may also want to look at taking on some lower-paying jobs at first. If the pay is less, people are more likely to take on a beginner UX designer. You’ll still make a little money, but you’ll also gain experience and more samples to show higher-paying clients or potential employers. Find a mentor and study under them — ideally, you’d find a mentor who is already employed at a company where you’d like to work. However, you might also gain a cheerleader through a course you take or networking opportunities.

Someone who is experienced in UX design can guide you and help you avoid the pitfalls all newbies run into.

Landing Your First Job

How to become a UX designer includes actually landing that first job. Getting someone to take a chance on you isn’t always easy. Sure, you can build up your portfolio by taking one-time gigs on Fiverr and Elance, but what about getting a full-time job with benefits, paid time off and a 401(k)?First, practice your interview skills. Make sure your portfolio is fleshed out, even with pro bono projects, so you can show potential employers what you’re capable of. Go for entry-level positions at first. You aren’t going to land a job where you’re competing against people with 10 years of experience. There are some areas of the country where UX designers are in high demand. How to become a UX designer? Go where you’re needed.

Best Cities for UX Designers

There are some cities where UX designers are in high demand, the pay is excellent and opportunities are vast. Although cities such as Hong Kong are excellent choices, most people don’t want to relocate to another country. For this guide, we’ll stick with U.S. locations. However, if you are willing to expand to other geographic regions, your opportunities and potential pay also increase.

• San Francisco: Silicon Valley is at the cutting edge of digital technology, so it isn’t surprising that salaries for UX designers in this area average $107,529 per year. However, the cost of living in California is also much higher than in some other parts of the country. You’ll gain year-round milder temperatures, but you may also have to move far from family and friends.
• Seattle: This beautiful, if rainy, town is home to corporate giants such as Amazon and Microsoft. The average salary in Seattle for a UX designer is $106,776.
• Charlotte, NC: Charlotte makes the list of one of the towns creating the most tech jobs in recent years. UX designers make about $94,355 per year in Charlotte, and the cost of living is fairly low.
• Indianapolis: Smack in the heart of the Midwest, this thriving town also made the list of top five places for tech jobs. Salary for UX designers hits $94,632 in Naptown. Cost of living is lower than any of the other cities on this list, but Chicago is only a short four-hour drive and Cincinnati two hours.
• Dallas: Even though Dallas doesn’t always make the top five cities lists, it’s an interesting choice because of its location and other big cities in the state, such as Austin, where opportunities abound. The average UX designer in Dallas makes $98,077 per year. Cost of living is average.

Even though some cities pay better than others, the best city is the one where you want to live and feel most at home. You can do UX work from nearly anywhere, especially if you don’t mind freelancing.

Tips for New UX Designers

As a recap, be sure to take these steps to advance your career as a UX designer:

• Find a mentor. Someone with more experience than you can teach you a lot about how to become a UX designer.
• Take on every job at first. Taking on a wide variety of tasks allows you to see where you excel and where you need work.
• Network with other designers. Go to conferences, attend workshops and chat with others in your line of work.
• Read UX design blogs. They will help you stay up on the latest trends in the industry.
• Learn strong communication skills. You’ll need them to work with collaborators and clients.

UX design is a rewarding career. Be open to new experiences and pay attention to what those who know more have to say.

UX Design as a Career

UX design is a rewarding career that pays well. Take the time to learn the skills needed to rise above the competition. Over time, you’ll figure out if you want to work for a company or for yourself. As technology changes in the coming years, the role of UX design is likely to evolve as well. Stay open to new progress, take classes and keep learning. To be the best in your field, gain new skills every year. 

CHAPTER 9: The Best UX Tools and Techniques  CHAPTER 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember

The UX Design Guide for All Levels: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Top Front End Technologies for UX Designers
Chapter 2: What is the Difference Between UX and UI?
Chapter 3: The Laws of UX
Chapter 4: Why Mobile UX Matters
Chapter 5: What Is the UX Process?
Chapter 6: Why User Experience Design Is Essential to Everything
Chapter 7: What Is Lean UX?
Chapter 8: The Top UX Design Principles
Chapter 9: The Best UX Tools and Techniques
Chapter 10: How to Become a UX Designer
Chapter 11: Top Mobile UX Design Principles to Remember
Chapter 12: Dark Patterns: The Trickery Behind These Poor UI Tactics
Chapter 13: What Does Good Customer Experience Look Like?
Chapter 14: The Different Types of User Interface
Chapter 15: The Top UX Design Courses
Chapter 16: Skills Needed to Become a Great UI Developer

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