{"id":22687,"date":"2017-01-03T00:11:05","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T06:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.crowdspring.com\/?p=22687"},"modified":"2023-08-06T10:48:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-06T15:48:30","slug":"small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Business Web &#038; App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/15083960888_ef4fc54b34_z\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-22855\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22855\" src=\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/27132223\/15083960888_ef4fc54b34_z.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/27132223\/15083960888_ef4fc54b34_z.jpg 550w, https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/27132223\/15083960888_ef4fc54b34_z-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re ready to build. Maybe it&#8217;s a website, an app, a landing page, or an email template. Now you just need to figure out the design. And it&#8217;s here, in this pivotal moment, before anyone has put pen to paper or pixels to screen, where you&#8217;ll either get it right or wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the top 5 mistakes commonly made in UX design &#8211; and how to avoid them.<\/p>\n<h2>Mistake #1: Prioritizing your own aesthetic tastes<\/h2>\n<p>We have preferences regarding the digital media with which we interact. Some people like interactive sites with lots of videos. Some people like a bare-bones site with simple, intuitive navigation and straightforward text explanations. Some people like a modern look. Some people are still big on gradients. It just depends.<\/p>\n<p>And those personal tastes are all perfectly valid, but\u00a0<em>personal\u00a0<\/em>is the key word in this discussion.\u00a0<em>You\u00a0<\/em>are not the entirety of your customers and prospects.\u00a0<em>You\u00a0do<\/em> not represent your whole audience. And while it&#8217;s certainly within your rights to have an opinion on how a design looks, if you rely solely on your own tastes, your end result will be about you instead of the people you&#8217;re hoping to engage. This will not only create low-conversion pages (or apps), but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/want-to-boost-your-search-performance-invest-in-ux-design\/\">will also impact your search results<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Quick Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>If something about a design is rubbing you the wrong way, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/the-most-underutilized-question-in-web-design\/\">frame your response as a question instead of a dismissal<\/a>, and use the answer to check your concerns. Ask, &#8220;Is there a particular reason we would want to use this size image?&#8221; or &#8220;What was the rationale behind your color choices here?&#8221; If the response is grounded in evidence, research, and experience, be sure to keep that in consideration before you make a final decision.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"subscription-hero-snippet image-on-left\" style=\"background: #161C4A\"><div class=\"title centered\">Want a free brand review?<\/div><div class=\"main-content\"><div class=\"image-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/09131004\/brand-identity-grader-blog-cta-hero.png\" alt=\"brand identity grader hero\"\/><\/div><div class=\"form-wrapper\"><div class=\"subtitle\">Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand.<\/div><div>\n<script>\nfunction submitForm_drip_form(oFormElement) {\n  var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();\n  xhr.onload = function() { \n    if (xhr.status == 200 || xhr.status == 202) {\n      var formEl = document.getElementById(\"drip_form\");\n      var doneEl = document.getElementById(\"done_drip_form\");\n      formEl.style = \"display: none\";\n      doneEl.style = \"display: block\";\n    } else {\n      alert(xhr.responseText);\n    }\n  }\n  var formData = new FormData(oFormElement);\n  grecaptcha.execute(\"6LcyQTUpAAAAAC5ZPtCYQzRWKR732_LmqInv9YSK\", { action: \"external_bumblebee_lead\" }).then((token) => {\n    formData.set(\"recaptcha_token\", token);\n    xhr.open(oFormElement.method, oFormElement.action, true);\n    xhr.setRequestHeader(\"x-frontendurl\", window.location.href);\n    xhr.send(formData);\n  });\n\n  return false;\n  }\n<\/script>\n<div id=\"done_drip_form\" class=\"done\">\n      <div class=\"success-title\">\n        <i class=\"fa fa-check-circle\"><\/i><br\/> We just emailed the info to you.\n      <\/div><\/div><form id=\"drip_form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/api\/v1\/bb\/external_leads\/\" method=\"post\" onsubmit=\"return submitForm_drip_form(this);\">\n      <div class=\"form-group\">\n        <input type=\"email\" name=\"email\" class=\"form-control\" id=\"mce-EMAIL\" required=\"true\"\/>\n        <label html_for=\"mce-EMAIL\" class=\"form-label\">Email Address<\/label>\n      <\/div> \n      <div style=\"position: absolute; left: -5000px\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t<input type=\"text\" value=\"brand-identity-grader-landing-page\" tabindex=\"-1\" name=\"tags\" readonly=\"true\"\/>\n        <input type=\"text\" value=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" name=\"add_country_tier_suffix\" readonly=\"true\"\/>\n      <\/div><input type=\"submit\" value=\"I want a stronger brand!\" class=\"btn btn-primary\" \/><p class=\"notice\"> <\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<h2>Mistake #2: Relying heavily on fads<\/h2>\n<p>Every year, and especially towards the end of one year and the beginning of a new year, you&#8217;ll find many articles detailing all the design fads to watch over the coming months. Some of these are less radical than others. Some represent a significant break from convention, usually popularized by a handful of trailblazers. But much like our wardrobes, what is fashionable in one season can become passe in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n<p>And this is where trying hard to make your digital media fit with current design trends can backfire, especially when designing digital media intended to be durable. It&#8217;s one thing to tailor an email template to the hottest design look of the season, but when you&#8217;re spending good money on a website or app, you need to think beyond frills.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Quick Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>Don&#8217;t hesitate to ask your customers what they like. If you&#8217;re just getting started, researching the design choices of your competition is a good way to kick things off. Once you have a working idea, consider leveraging a focus group to test your assumptions. For example, all design projects on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdsping.com\/\">crowdSPRING<\/a> include free focus groups that let you quickly test your design options privately or publicly (with your own email list or on a social network like Facebook or Twitter). I can&#8217;t tell you how many times I&#8217;ve run projects and picked a favorite, only to learn that my friends and acquaintances preferred a different design (and for good reasons).<\/p>\n<h2>Mistake #3: Not caring about fads at all<\/h2>\n<p>In the face of fickle tastes, it can be tempting to say you don&#8217;t care about design trends, choosing instead to go your own way. Sometimes that pays off. More often than not, though, it can hurt you not to consider those trends. After all, there are reasons these ideas became popular in the first place. They&#8217;ve worked for people in one way or another, and people tend to test their concepts obsessively.<\/p>\n<p>For some of your audience, it probably won&#8217;t matter that your digital media isn&#8217;t the belle of the ball as long as it gets the job done. But your aesthetic can be a tipping point for those who need some persuading. It&#8217;s hard to convince a potential customer of the quality of your service or product if it looks like something out of the early 90s. This is particularly true with many small business websites. You can be small, but your web presence or mobile app doesn&#8217;t need to scream that loudly.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Quick Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>Reach out to younger friends and family who may not be familiar with your company&#8217;s products or services. Given the world they&#8217;ve grown up in, they likely boast higher design expectations from the brands they give money. Ask them to take a look at the design concepts and describe your brand in 3-5 words from a quick glance. Once again, quick focus groups can help you to make better choices.<\/p>\n<h2>Mistake #4: Assuming general UX best practices will work for\u00a0<em>your\u00a0<\/em>audience<\/h2>\n<p>An effective design, especially when you consider <a href=\"https:\/\/capturly.com\/blog\/introduction-to-user-experience-design\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UX\/user experience<\/a>, must be tailored to your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/four-frequently-neglected-elements-of-branding-you-cant-afford-to-ignore\/\">expected\u00a0audience<\/a>. For example, mobile apps are designed differently for kids and adults. When designing for elderly users, you must consider special needs, such as larger fonts, color contrasts, and other techniques that help older people interact with designs. So you may need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twine.net\/blog\/ui-design-principles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">adopt a new user interface<\/a> if your audience consists primarily of elderly users.<\/p>\n<p>You should also consider audiences and how they&#8217;ll consume your content. If most of your customers and prospects use Android devices (and not iPhones), there are special design considerations when designing for Android devices.<\/p>\n<p>Many people run into problems here by copying the designs of other companies. What works for one audience may not necessarily work for another. There&#8217;s not a large margin for error. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/marketing-and-selling-to-squirrels\/\">People&#8217;s attention span<\/a> is incredibly short &#8211; just 8 seconds!<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Quick Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>If you don&#8217;t know your audience, you should consider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/10-tips-for-small-business-surveying-your-customers\/\">sending a survey<\/a> to understand their demographics and psychographics better. Even if your audience covers different age groups, cultures, and sexes, you still would benefit in knowing more about the people who&#8217;ll interact with your website, app, or newsletter. You can also experiment with <a href=\"https:\/\/usabilityhub.com\/guides\/card-sorting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">card sorting<\/a> to decide how to categorize content for your audience.<\/p>\n<h2>Mistake #5: Not adapting your design for mobile<\/h2>\n<p>Even if most of your customers and prospects will be viewing your site, app, or newsletter on a big screen, many will also view it on a mobile phone or a tablet. Smaller resolutions and screen sizes in the mobile world create unique problems for effective user experience. Thankfully, <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/web\/fundamentals\/design-and-ui\/responsive\/\">responsive techniques<\/a> permit designers to design different solutions for various screen sizes. When designing at crowdSPRING, we always start with the mobile design and then port it to a bigger screen. This forces us to consider the small screen first and deal with the limitations of mobile devices.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Quick Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>It&#8217;s tempting to design for both Android and iPhone simultaneously, but there are nuances to those two mobile platforms that require some customization. We typically pick one platform (usually iPhone) and design for that platform. Once we&#8217;re happy, we tweak the designs for the other platform.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/how-it-works\/?utm_source=csblog&utm_medium=design&utm_campaign=cta\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-35262\" src=\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/06164945\/small-business-blog-master-cta.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;re ready to build. Maybe it&#8217;s a website, an app, a landing page, or an email template. Now you just need to figure out the design. And it&#8217;s here, in this pivotal moment, before anyone has put pen to paper or pixels to screen, where you&#8217;ll either get it right or wrong. Here are the top 5 mistakes commonly made in UX design &#8211; and how to avoid them. Mistake #1: Prioritizing your own aesthetic tastes We have preferences regarding the digital media with which we interact. Some people like interactive sites with lots of videos. Some people like a bare-bones site with simple, intuitive navigation and straightforward text explanations. Some people like a modern look. Some people are still big on gradients. It just depends. And those personal tastes are all perfectly valid, but\u00a0personal\u00a0is the key word in this discussion.\u00a0You\u00a0are not the entirety of your customers and prospects.\u00a0You\u00a0do not represent your whole audience. And while it&#8217;s certainly within your rights to have an opinion on how a design looks, if you rely solely on your own tastes, your end result will be about you instead of the people you&#8217;re hoping to engage. This will not only create low-conversion pages (or apps), but will also impact your search results. Quick Tip:\u00a0If something about a design is rubbing you the wrong way, frame your response as a question instead of a dismissal, and use the answer to check your concerns. Ask, &#8220;Is there a particular reason we would want to use this size image?&#8221; or &#8220;What was the rationale behind your color choices here?&#8221; If the response is grounded in evidence, research, and experience, be sure to keep that in consideration before you make a final decision. Want a free brand review?Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand. We just emailed the info to you. Email Address Mistake #2: Relying heavily on fads Every year, and especially towards the end of one year and the beginning of a new year, you&#8217;ll find many articles detailing all the design fads to watch over the coming months. Some of these are less radical than others. Some represent a significant break from convention, usually popularized by a handful of trailblazers. But much like our wardrobes, what is fashionable in one season can become passe in the blink of an eye. And this is where trying hard to make your digital media fit with current design trends can backfire, especially when designing digital media intended to be durable. It&#8217;s one thing to tailor an email template to the hottest design look of the season, but when you&#8217;re spending good money on a website or app, you need to think beyond frills. Quick Tip:\u00a0Don&#8217;t hesitate to ask your customers what they like. If you&#8217;re just getting started, researching the design choices of your competition is a good way to kick things off. Once you have a working idea,..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3155],"tags":[3168,786],"class_list":["post-22687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design","tag-ui-ux","tag-web-design"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Small Business Web &amp; App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid - crowdspring Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small Business Web &amp; App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid - crowdspring Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You&#8217;re ready to build. Maybe it&#8217;s a website, an app, a landing page, or an email template. Now you just need to figure out the design. And it&#8217;s here, in this pivotal moment, before anyone has put pen to paper or pixels to screen, where you&#8217;ll either get it right or wrong. Here are the top 5 mistakes commonly made in UX design &#8211; and how to avoid them. Mistake #1: Prioritizing your own aesthetic tastes We have preferences regarding the digital media with which we interact. Some people like interactive sites with lots of videos. Some people like a bare-bones site with simple, intuitive navigation and straightforward text explanations. Some people like a modern look. Some people are still big on gradients. It just depends. And those personal tastes are all perfectly valid, but\u00a0personal\u00a0is the key word in this discussion.\u00a0You\u00a0are not the entirety of your customers and prospects.\u00a0You\u00a0do not represent your whole audience. And while it&#8217;s certainly within your rights to have an opinion on how a design looks, if you rely solely on your own tastes, your end result will be about you instead of the people you&#8217;re hoping to engage. This will not only create low-conversion pages (or apps), but will also impact your search results. Quick Tip:\u00a0If something about a design is rubbing you the wrong way, frame your response as a question instead of a dismissal, and use the answer to check your concerns. Ask, &#8220;Is there a particular reason we would want to use this size image?&#8221; or &#8220;What was the rationale behind your color choices here?&#8221; If the response is grounded in evidence, research, and experience, be sure to keep that in consideration before you make a final decision. Want a free brand review?Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand. We just emailed the info to you. Email Address Mistake #2: Relying heavily on fads Every year, and especially towards the end of one year and the beginning of a new year, you&#8217;ll find many articles detailing all the design fads to watch over the coming months. Some of these are less radical than others. Some represent a significant break from convention, usually popularized by a handful of trailblazers. But much like our wardrobes, what is fashionable in one season can become passe in the blink of an eye. And this is where trying hard to make your digital media fit with current design trends can backfire, especially when designing digital media intended to be durable. It&#8217;s one thing to tailor an email template to the hottest design look of the season, but when you&#8217;re spending good money on a website or app, you need to think beyond frills. Quick Tip:\u00a0Don&#8217;t hesitate to ask your customers what they like. If you&#8217;re just getting started, researching the design choices of your competition is a good way to kick things off. Once you have a working idea,..\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"crowdspring Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-03T06:11:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-06T15:48:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/27132241\/mailchimpAB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"548\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ross Kimbarovsky\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ross Kimbarovsky\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ross Kimbarovsky\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45a66ce5a05496798744cf14367aa575\"},\"headline\":\"Small Business Web &#038; App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-03T06:11:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-06T15:48:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1202,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/27132241\\\/mailchimpAB.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"UI\\\/UX\",\"Web Design\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Design\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Small Business Web & App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid - crowdspring Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/27132241\\\/mailchimpAB.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-03T06:11:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-06T15:48:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/27132241\\\/mailchimpAB.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/27132241\\\/mailchimpAB.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":548},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Small Business Web &#038; App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"crowdspring Blog\",\"description\":\"Actionable insights on small business, marketing, entrepreneurship, design, and more, from crowdspring.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"crowdspring\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/27131716\\\/cs_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/images.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/27131716\\\/cs_logo.png\",\"width\":1404,\"height\":276,\"caption\":\"crowdspring\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45a66ce5a05496798744cf14367aa575\",\"name\":\"Ross Kimbarovsky\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f7a209df9705fd84386951221639a0ba31f8f7acf8e831c42b80de809b9f7164?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f7a209df9705fd84386951221639a0ba31f8f7acf8e831c42b80de809b9f7164?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f7a209df9705fd84386951221639a0ba31f8f7acf8e831c42b80de809b9f7164?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Ross Kimbarovsky\"},\"description\":\"Ross Kimbarovsky is seasoned entrepreneur, small business expert and startup mentor with over 30 years of experience in business, marketing, technology, and law. He is the CEO and Founder of crowdspring, a leading platform for custom design and creative services. He's mentored 2,000+ entrepreneurs and business owners, has raised or helped raise $10+ million in funding, and founded a startup studio where he developed, incubated, and launched innovative new businesses. Ross is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and small business owners thrive. He's the author of Stand Out, a guide for anyone looking to start and grow a successful business. He is a regular speaker at events and a contributor to Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Inc. Magazine. His achievements in technology, business, and law have earned him a spot on Techweek100\u2032s list of top leaders and other awards. And yes, he started crowdspring to ditch the attorney dress code and rock shorts and sandals to work!\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.crowdspring.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ross\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Small Business Web & App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid - crowdspring Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Small Business Web & App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid - crowdspring Blog","og_description":"You&#8217;re ready to build. Maybe it&#8217;s a website, an app, a landing page, or an email template. Now you just need to figure out the design. And it&#8217;s here, in this pivotal moment, before anyone has put pen to paper or pixels to screen, where you&#8217;ll either get it right or wrong. Here are the top 5 mistakes commonly made in UX design &#8211; and how to avoid them. Mistake #1: Prioritizing your own aesthetic tastes We have preferences regarding the digital media with which we interact. Some people like interactive sites with lots of videos. Some people like a bare-bones site with simple, intuitive navigation and straightforward text explanations. Some people like a modern look. Some people are still big on gradients. It just depends. And those personal tastes are all perfectly valid, but\u00a0personal\u00a0is the key word in this discussion.\u00a0You\u00a0are not the entirety of your customers and prospects.\u00a0You\u00a0do not represent your whole audience. And while it&#8217;s certainly within your rights to have an opinion on how a design looks, if you rely solely on your own tastes, your end result will be about you instead of the people you&#8217;re hoping to engage. This will not only create low-conversion pages (or apps), but will also impact your search results. Quick Tip:\u00a0If something about a design is rubbing you the wrong way, frame your response as a question instead of a dismissal, and use the answer to check your concerns. Ask, &#8220;Is there a particular reason we would want to use this size image?&#8221; or &#8220;What was the rationale behind your color choices here?&#8221; If the response is grounded in evidence, research, and experience, be sure to keep that in consideration before you make a final decision. Want a free brand review?Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand. We just emailed the info to you. Email Address Mistake #2: Relying heavily on fads Every year, and especially towards the end of one year and the beginning of a new year, you&#8217;ll find many articles detailing all the design fads to watch over the coming months. Some of these are less radical than others. Some represent a significant break from convention, usually popularized by a handful of trailblazers. But much like our wardrobes, what is fashionable in one season can become passe in the blink of an eye. And this is where trying hard to make your digital media fit with current design trends can backfire, especially when designing digital media intended to be durable. It&#8217;s one thing to tailor an email template to the hottest design look of the season, but when you&#8217;re spending good money on a website or app, you need to think beyond frills. Quick Tip:\u00a0Don&#8217;t hesitate to ask your customers what they like. If you&#8217;re just getting started, researching the design choices of your competition is a good way to kick things off. Once you have a working idea,..","og_url":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/","og_site_name":"crowdspring Blog","article_published_time":"2017-01-03T06:11:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-06T15:48:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":548,"url":"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/27132241\/mailchimpAB.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ross Kimbarovsky","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ross Kimbarovsky","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/"},"author":{"name":"Ross Kimbarovsky","@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45a66ce5a05496798744cf14367aa575"},"headline":"Small Business Web &#038; App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid","datePublished":"2017-01-03T06:11:05+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-06T15:48:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/"},"wordCount":1202,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/27132241\/mailchimpAB.jpg","keywords":["UI\/UX","Web Design"],"articleSection":["Design"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/","url":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/","name":"Small Business Web & App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid - crowdspring Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/27132241\/mailchimpAB.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-03T06:11:05+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-06T15:48:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/27132241\/mailchimpAB.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/27132241\/mailchimpAB.jpg","width":720,"height":548},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-web-app-design-ux-mistakes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Small Business Web &#038; App Design: Five Common UX Mistakes to Avoid"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/","name":"crowdspring Blog","description":"Actionable insights on small business, marketing, entrepreneurship, design, and more, from crowdspring.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"crowdspring","url":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/27131716\/cs_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/27131716\/cs_logo.png","width":1404,"height":276,"caption":"crowdspring"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45a66ce5a05496798744cf14367aa575","name":"Ross Kimbarovsky","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f7a209df9705fd84386951221639a0ba31f8f7acf8e831c42b80de809b9f7164?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f7a209df9705fd84386951221639a0ba31f8f7acf8e831c42b80de809b9f7164?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f7a209df9705fd84386951221639a0ba31f8f7acf8e831c42b80de809b9f7164?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Ross Kimbarovsky"},"description":"Ross Kimbarovsky is seasoned entrepreneur, small business expert and startup mentor with over 30 years of experience in business, marketing, technology, and law. He is the CEO and Founder of crowdspring, a leading platform for custom design and creative services. He's mentored 2,000+ entrepreneurs and business owners, has raised or helped raise $10+ million in funding, and founded a startup studio where he developed, incubated, and launched innovative new businesses. Ross is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and small business owners thrive. He's the author of Stand Out, a guide for anyone looking to start and grow a successful business. He is a regular speaker at events and a contributor to Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Inc. Magazine. His achievements in technology, business, and law have earned him a spot on Techweek100\u2032s list of top leaders and other awards. And yes, he started crowdspring to ditch the attorney dress code and rock shorts and sandals to work!","url":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/author\/ross\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22687"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44023,"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22687\/revisions\/44023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}