Imagine a digital world where every interaction feels effortless, intuitive, and enjoyable. Where you’re able to breeze through a checkout process and manage your bills in a matter of seconds. When the next step makes sense and leads you closer to your goal. 

User Experience (UX) design makes this world possible by creating seamless interactions between us and the digital products we use. While user interface (UI) focuses more on aesthetics—how the site or app visually appeals to the user—UX narrows in on the function and flow of the entire experience, including usability, accessibility, and emotional response.

UX designers ensure that technology doesn’t get in the way of what we’re trying to accomplish. They ask questions like: is the check-out process intuitive? Are pages formatted in a way that makes sense? Is the navigation from start to finish hassle-free? Can the process be made simpler? This interdisciplinary, interactive process ties into behavioral insights, linguistics, and art.

Through usability testing, which analyzes how usable and accessible a product is, UX design helps businesses connect with us in a way that drives satisfaction and success—a win-win for everyone. In commerce, e-learning, and streaming services, UX design continues to shape our digital experiences to be as smooth, enjoyable, and efficient as possible.

Accessibility: The practice of making digital products usable by people with a wide range of abilities, including those with disabilities.

Affordance: The design feature that suggests how an object should be used (such as a button that looks clickable).

A/B Testing: A method for comparing two versions of a design to determine which one performs better in terms of user engagement, conversion rates, or other metrics.

Empathy Mapping: A tool used to understand a user's emotional state, needs, thoughts, and behaviors, often used in the early stages of design to design a more user-focused approach.

Heuristic Evaluation: A usability inspection method where a small group of evaluators review a product based on established usability principles (heuristics) to identify potential issues.

Information Architecture (IA): The practice of organizing and structuring content within a digital product to ensure we can find and navigate information easily.

Interaction Design (IxD): The creation of interactive elements in a digital product, focusing on the way we interact with these elements to achieve their goals.

Iterative Design: A design process that involves continuously refining and improving a product based on feedback, testing, and user interaction.

Persona: A fictional character that represents a specific segment of users, created based on research to guide design decisions.

Prototyping: The process of creating a model or simulation of a product to test and validate its functionality, flow, and user experience before the final design is built.

Responsive Design: Designing a product so that it adapts and provides an optimal user experience across various devices and screen sizes.

Task Analysis: The process of studying and breaking down the steps a user takes to complete a particular task or goal within a product.

User-Centered Design (UCD): A design approach that prioritizes the needs, behaviors, and goals of the user throughout the design process.

User Experience (UX): The overall experience a person has when interacting with a product, system, or service, including aspects such as usability, accessibility, and pleasure.

User Flow: A visual representation of the steps a user takes to accomplish a specific task or goal within a product.

User Interface (UI): The point of interaction between the user and the digital product, which includes elements like buttons, icons, and layout design.

Usability Testing: The process of evaluating how easy and efficient a product is for real users to achieve their goals with minimal effort and frustration. This involves observing users as they complete specific tasks, identifying pain points, and gathering feedback to improve the overall experience. 

Wireframe: A low-fidelity (lo-fi) visual representation of a user interface used to lay out elements and structure of a web page or app without focusing on design details.

Before UX as we know it today, fields like ergonomics (the study of efficiency in work environments) and human factors engineering paved the way for systems design. These disciplines emerged primarily in military, aviation, and industrial design, where optimizing human interaction with complex machinery was critical for safety.

During World War II, researchers investigated how pilots interacted with aircraft controls, where poor design could be fatal. This led to innovations in cockpit layout and control standardization, forming the early principles of HCI. Similarly, in industrial design, companies sought to improve factory workflows by designing tools that maximized productivity. Today, UX continues to build on these foundations, ensuring technology is not only functional but also intuitive and human-centered so that tools and machines are easier for us to navigate.¹

As computers became more prevalent, these principles transitioned into software and digital interfaces, influencing early computing systems, graphical user interfaces (GUIs), and eventually modern UX design. The focus was on creating functional and aesthetically pleasing digital content that was clear and visually appealing.² This aligns with Hick’s Law, most prominent in the 1950s, which states that as the number of choices increases, the time it takes to make a decision also grows.

Fitts’ Law mathematically suggests that the time required to move a cursor to a target area depends on the distance from the two elements divided by the size of the target. The principle was established by Paul Fitts in 1954. In a nutshell, we’re more likely to click on and hover over larger targets (such as checkout buttons).

A year later, in 1955, industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss published Designing for People, a collection of real stories and anecdotes emphasizing human-centered design. His work on products like the rotary telephone and airline seating introduces the idea that good design should seamlessly fit human behavior, a core concept in UX.

In the 1960s, the term user interface emerged as researchers explored how we could interact with computers. By the 1970s, the term human-computer interaction (HCI) was coined, and the concept of making computers more user-friendly gained traction. With the first version of the Internet, Web 1.0, Douglas Engelbart developed the mouse and GUI, which laid the groundwork for modern UX.³

A decade later, the 1980s saw usability engineering as part of the software development process, which focused on how to make processes easier, and hence, faster. 

UX design, coined by Don A. Norman, made its first appearance in mainstream media in 1988. His inaugural book, Design of Everyday Things, stated, 

“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself.” 

Norman's book revolutionized how designers think about how to plan and create a great product that users keep returning to. It laid out principles of excellent design, such as affordances (how objects suggest their use), signifiers (visual cues that suggest action), and human feedback. Norman essentially boiled down what, how, and why UX and product are so closely intertwined.

In 1982, Bill Moggridge designed the GRiD Compass (also nicknamed the “computer in a briefcase”), the first-ever laptop with a clamshell design. Almost a decade later, in 1991, Moggridge co-founded IDEO, a global design consultancy that champions iterative user research and prototyping, which solidified the role of design thinking in product development.

Jakob Nielsen, a Danish usability consultant, proposed the usability heuristics in 1989. Then, in 1992, Brenda Laurel, HCI expert and professor for the California College of the Arts, co-founded Purple Moon, a video game company focused on creating interactive experiences tailored for young girls. Her work challenged industry norms and expanded representation in gaming. She highlighted inclusive and narrative-driven design, leaving a lasting impact on both game development and user-centered design principles.

As the web gained popularity in the 1990s, the need for good user design expanded. The World Wide Web’s interface prioritized clarity, accessibility, and usability so that users could scroll through pictures and text to find the information they needed.⁴ 

The 2000s marked a crucial transition period for UX as the internet matured and digital products became more sophisticated. This era saw the widespread adoption of user-centered design (UCD), a methodology that prioritizes user needs through iterative design testing and feedback. Companies began leveraging A/B testing, a data-driven approach comparing different design variations to determine which performed best, leading to more effective and user-friendly interfaces.

The 2010s saw a rise in mobile-first design, driven by the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and the overall growing importance of mobile devices. Interfaces were optimized for smaller, touch-based screens to prevent information overload. The main focus? Thinking about automatic thinking in users. How can we find what we’re looking for, as quickly as possible? 

In the 2020s, UX became a core discipline across many industries, with a growing focus on accessibility, inclusivity, and personalized user experiences. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning began playing a more prominent part in shaping personalized user interactions in features like chatbots, predictive design, and adaptive interfaces.

UX research is constantly evolving with each byte of data analyzed. Designers must write easily digestible microcopy to create human-centered, representative digital experiences. Adaptive interfaces, a growing concept in the HCI space, are all about making the experience feel more personal by adjusting to how you interact with a system.⁵ It could be something simple, like rearranging content when you switch from your phone to a tablet, so it looks and feels right on the new screen size.

Jakob Nielsen

A major figure in usability who proposed principles called usability heuristics, which became a cornerstone of UX design. These heuristics provide essential guidelines to enhance the usability of interfaces. Nielsen focuses on principles to ensure system feedback, maintain consistency, prevent errors, and minimize cognitive load. 

Donald Norman

A leader in UX who joined Apple and began advocating for user-centered design (UCD), working to integrate cognitive science with design. This idea eventually inspired him to lead the UCD movement, a philosophy that focuses on designing products with the needs, behaviors, and limitations of the user as the primary focus.

Alan Cooper

Nicknamed the "Father of Visual Basic," Alan Cooper revolutionized software design with his introduction of personas—fictional yet detailed profiles of target users—into the design process. His book About Face is a cornerstone of interaction design and helps guide designers in creating user-friendly software interfaces.

Brenda Laurel 

Laurel’s work rests at the intersection of HCI and UX design, contributing to our understanding of how we think about our emotional and psychological responses to interactive systems. Her popular guide, Computers as Theatre, explores the power of brand narratives and dramatic structure in UIs.

Bill Moggridge

A pioneering industrial and interaction designer, Moggridge co-founded IDEO and designed the first-ever laptop, emphasizing the importance of human-centered design in digital interfaces. His work helped shape modern UX design, advocating for iterative prototyping and user research to create more intuitive technology.

Paul Fitts

Fitts, a psychologist and ergonomics expert, developed his famous Fitts’ Law, a foundational principle in UX that predicts how users interact with interfaces based on target size and distance. His research in aviation and human factors engineering influenced everything from cockpit design to digital interfaces, improving usability and efficiency.

Henry Dreyfuss

An industrial designer, Dreyfuss championed designing for people, emphasizing ergonomics and usability in everyday products like the rotary telephone and airline seating. His book, Designing for People set the tone for UX principles, showing how data-driven design improves both functionality and user satisfaction.

UX design has changed the game across many industries, making a huge digital splash on how we experience products and services. Companies that focus on a product’s ease of use and emotional connection position themselves to improve customer satisfaction and keep them returning.6 Let’s look at how intuition, visual indicators, and color theory all play a role.

Presenting users with too many options can overwhelm them and slow down their decision-making process, possibly leading to frustration. We must strike a balance: too few choices can limit functionality, but too many can complicate the experience.

Intuition is King

We tend to take the path of least effort by default—a concept in cognitive psychology known as System 1 Thinking. Well-placed, recognizable buttons with short, action-oriented text like “Sign Up” or “Buy Now” encourage us to make quick decisions and prevent choice overload. UX designers position call to actions (CTAs) in places where we naturally expect them, like the top of the page or at the end of a section. 

Wireframes are boiled-down, low-fidelity visual representations of a website or app layout. They provide a basic structure without any detailed design elements (like colors, fonts, or images). Instead, they focus on the placement of key elements on a page, such as navigation menus, buttons, content sections, and forms. 

A wireframe might include simple boxes representing images, buttons labeled with actions like "Submit" or "Learn More," and placeholders for text, all arranged to show how the layout and flow of the page will work.

These bare-bones, minimalist wireframes serve as blueprints that guide the design process. They help designers, stakeholders, and developers understand the layout and functionality of a page before diving into the more detailed visual design or coding. Wireframes map how users would interact with the final product, so we can easily navigate and interact with it from start to finish, based on our intuition. 

Visual Indicators

Visual indicators are design elements, like buttons, icons, or colors, that guide users through an interface and provide feedback on their actions. In UX, these indicators make navigation more intuitive, reduce cognitive load, and improve overall user satisfaction. These can include icons, colors, labels, shadows, or animations that signal functionality (e.g., a button with a drop shadow that looks "clickable").

Visual affordances, on the other hand, refer to properties of an object or interface element that suggest how it should be used. They can be perceived affordances (where the design clearly implies interaction, like a raised button) or actual affordances (the real physical or functional properties, like a door handle allowing pulling or pushing).

In short, affordances define what actions are possible, while visual indicators signal those possibilities to the user. Let’s look at common examples of these, starting with what we see at the top of a page with multiple steps. 

To begin, a progressive step indicator in a multi-page survey or registration form. For example, instead of just showing a blank form with no context, you might see a bar at the top that says, “Step 1 of 4” or “You’re 25% done.” This helps us understand our position within the process, so we know we’re making progress and have a clear sense of how much longer the task will take to finish.

Another example is a loading spinner with a percentage indicator. This shows the progress, reducing the stress of waiting because you can see how much of the task is completed and how much is left. The visual cue lets us know that the process is ongoing and provides an estimated completion time, which makes it feel less like an uncertain wait.

Here are some more examples of visual indicators in UX design:

• Error Messages: A red icon or text highlighting an error message informs us that something went wrong. For example, a red exclamation mark or a warning triangle can indicate an invalid action or input, helping us quickly correct mistakes.
• Tooltips: Small pop-up boxes or text that appear when we hover over or click an element can provide additional information without cluttering the interface. These are often used to explain icons or buttons.
• Success Messages: A green checkmark or a message like, “Your changes have been saved,” visually reassures us that our action was completed successfully.
• Highlighting Focus: In forms or interactive elements, a highlighted border around a text field when it’s selected shows us where our focus is, which helps us navigate pages.

These visual indicators work to guide us through a step-by-step process and help us understand what’s left to do before crossing the digital finish line. They create a seamless user experience by providing immediate, intuitive feedback at every step of the journey. 

By using color, shape, and motion to communicate different statuses, users can quickly understand what’s happening, make corrections, and feel confident in their actions—ultimately improving speed and efficiency.

Color Theory

Colors influence how we perceive and interact with a digital interface.⁷ Different hues can evoke emotions, drive behavior, and create a sense of visual hierarchy, all of which impact the overall user experience. Visually speaking, according to a study by Witzel and Gegenfurtner in 2018, we recognize color first, before text or even shapes.⁸

Color gradients and subtle transitions between hues can create a smooth interactive flow across the page, leading us naturally through the interface.⁵ Using gradients can guide our attention from one part of the page to another, such as a smooth shopping to checkout process. 

Gradients can also provide a sense of depth and movement, leading users through the digital space without abrupt shifts or visual distractions. This smooth flow enhances usability by reducing cognitive load, making it easier for users to engage with content and complete tasks, such as adding items to a cart or navigating through menus.

Warm tones may encourage action, creating a sense of urgency or excitement, while cooler colors can evoke calm and trust. Beyond user attention and emotion, gradients are also used to establish a visual hierarchy. By guiding the eye naturally across the screen, gradients can subtly prompt users to take specific actions without being overly intrusive.

Dark UX Patterns

Ever had trouble finding the “Opt Out” button at the bottom of a flash sale from an e-shop? Or has a link to unsubscribe from a newsletter ever led to a busy site with too many options? These are examples of dark patterns, which intentionally provoke negative feelings in the user—such as frustration, guilt, or pity—to get them to do something. 

There are bad actors (such as malicious individuals or corporations) behind these intentional UX patterns that point us to take an action that may not be in our best interest. These results can range anywhere from a twinge of guilt for closing the tab to giving away their credentials due to spear phishing.  

For example, if a gardening site asks the user to sign up for their newsletter, the only button to exit may read, “No, I don’t want to educate myself.” This tactic, known as “Confirm shaming,” guilts users into opting in by implying that saying no is a bad decision, which can create negative feelings toward the site.

Sometimes, the options to stop receiving messages completely are confusingly worded on purpose. This is dark UX hard at work, specifically using Roach Motel patterns, where users can easily opt in but face a frustrating, convoluted process to opt out. In other words, it’s easy to sign up, but hard (sometimes bordering on impossible) to leave. 

Similarly, having to click through multiple buttons to untoggle optional cookies falls under Obstruction, where a straightforward action—like rejecting cookies—is deliberately made difficult. These forms often present an “Accept All” button upfront while burying the “Customize” or “Reject All” options, nudging users to accept cookies out of convenience or confusion.

In both scenarios, companies use these dark patterns to drive engagement, but at the cost of user control and autonomy.

This creates a really frustrating (and sometimes, downright dangerous) experience for us to make intentional, informed decisions. It often leads to us unintentionally agreeing to receive emails or having our data tracked. Again, this preys on our tendencies to default to the easiest cognitive route. 

Dark UX patterns pose a clear example of how UX design can be used unethically in the digital age, especially for vulnerable groups, like the elderly population or people who require additional support with reading.

Microtransactions in Mobile Games

Dark patterns in mobile games are extremely popular across many genres, like casino and action games.⁹ They often offer time-sensitive daily quests and loot boxes, where players buy reward packages that contain an assortment of virtual items. Some of these are rarer and hence more valuable within the game’s ecosystem, which can be purchased with microtransactions. 

Microtransactions are small amounts of currency (purchased with real money) within apps or games that unlock different cosmetic features. For example, the blockbuster social deduction game Among Us, with impostors and crewmates, offers funny accessories and pets that players can purchase with coins to spruce up their agent’s appearance in the game.

By manipulating the probability of obtaining desirable items, designers encourage players to make ongoing, repeated purchases. Like winning the lottery or cranking the slot machine, the player hopes that the next ticket or pull might “hit.” This highly addictive, controversial approach has been associated with gambling disorders and even chronic gaming addiction.¹⁰

Hidden Costs and Drip Pricing in Ticket Sales

Hidden costs and drip pricing are deceptive UX strategies where users are presented with an initial price that seems attractive, only to have additional fees revealed progressively during the checkout process. This dark pattern exploits our propensity to commitment bias and consistency.

Some sites use visual hierarchy (like small font or faded colors) to make hidden fees less noticeable until checkout. With drip pricing, additional costs (like service fees or convenience charges) are revealed in stages rather than upfront. This keeps users engaged longer before they realize the actual price.

Paired with drip pricing, false urgency messages ("Only 2 left at this incredible price!") pressure us to continue with our purchase despite any unexpected costs that have cropped up. We may fear losing the deal or the time spent shopping, making us more likely to tolerate extra fees—an example of loss aversion.

By the time we stumble upon the hidden fees, we’ve already invested so much effort in the purchasing process, making us more likely to complete the transaction rather than start over elsewhere. This is known as the sunk cost fallacy. 

Airbnb

One real-world case study of a UX tweak that significantly drove profits comes from Airbnb, the travel accommodation alternative to hotel booking apps. The company made a small but impactful change to its platform that resulted in a noticeable boost in bookings and revenue. 

Vibha Bamba, Airbnb’s Design Lead, explains that the decision to create the tool came from noticing user behaviors across the app. They discovered that hosts were sending around 1.5 million photo messages to guests each week, mostly to share details about location and entry instructions. These messages often combined home photos with maps, lockbox info, and nearby landmarks. 

Airbnb’s early users often expressed hesitation and a reluctance to book homes because of trust issues regarding the quality and authenticity of the listings. They were concerned about whether the photos truly reflected the properties or if they’d encounter new problems upon arrival, such as broken or dysfunctional amenities.

So, how did their team solve this? Airbnb decided to implement a profile verification system for both hosts and guests. Users could verify their identity by linking their accounts to social media profiles, confirming phone numbers, and even undergoing video verification. In addition, they prompted hosts to upload multiple photos of their properties from different angles.

The increased trust from their users led to a spike in conversions (from browsing to booking). As a direct result, Airbnb saw a significant increase in bookings and overall satisfaction with the app, which boosted profits. The Airbnb team ended 2022 with 6.6 million global active listings, an increase of 15% more active listings, in comparison to 2021.¹¹

Trust is crucial in online transactions, especially in a marketplace where users are essentially entering strangers' homes. By showing that both hosts and guests were vetted, Airbnb made its users feel safer, which likely reduced hesitation in booking. The verification tweak was simple yet powerful because it addressed a clear pain point—the concern over authenticity.

The career listing giant LinkedIn has decided to follow suit in 2023, with options for working professionals to verify their identity with workplace or educational email confirmations, or by using third-party services.¹² Profiles with verification badges are likely to receive more engagement from other members, as they are perceived as more trustworthy. 

Spotify Wrapped

Spotify launched its popular Wrapped feature in December 2015, giving users a personalized recap of their year in music. Each December, Spotify Wrapped highlights a listener’s top songs, artists, and genres, turning their music habits into fun, shareable graphics. 

This unique feature quickly became a viral sensation, driving massive engagement across social media—by 2021, users shared their Wrapped results over 60 million times. Wrapped has since become one of the most successful marketing campaigns in music streaming, keeping users excited to revisit their listening habits year after year.

A significant part of Wrapped’s success is the social focus, as users can compare their results with friends. Listeners are presented with fun, colorful, and shareable graphics that summarize their most listened stats. These graphics can go viral over social media, which allows Spotify to amplify its marketing message without spending significant resources on traditional advertising. 

With these pre-packaged lists, this campaign generated massive buzz in the media. It’s much more than simply showcasing data. It’s a strategic tool for enhancing user retention. 

Wrapped personalizes the user experience by curating unique playlists that evoke nostalgia. It engages through gamification with dynamic, interactive visuals. Wrapped also plays into discoverability by introducing users to new music based on their listening habits, while social features encourage them to share their top tunes, increasing brand visibility.

Spotify Wrapped relies on feedback loops, another fundamental UX principle. Users’ listening habits are constantly gathered throughout the year. So as the listener evolves, so does the algorithm to accommodate their tastes. To garner excitement and anticipation, Wrapped encourages users to come back to the app and explore new songs they may enjoy.

All in all, Spotify Wrapped is a brilliant music UX marketing campaign that combines data-driven insights with emotional storytelling, personalized experiences, and social sharing. It transforms the annual music summary into a highly anticipated cultural moment. By focusing on connecting users, Spotify encourages everyone’s Wrapped experience to be a long-term, ongoing one. 

UX Research

UX research is a branch of the broader study of user research. While user research looks more broadly at needs and behaviors, UX research zooms in on the user’s actual experience when they engage with a product. Curious about the key differences between these two research methods? Keep reading to learn more.

Human-Computer Interaction

HCI is the study and design of how we interact with computers and other technology. It focuses on improving the usability, efficiency, and overall user experience when using digital systems, to make technology more accessible and intuitive. Want to explore how HCI shapes the technology we use every day? Click here to dive deeper!

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