By Pratham Mittal, Founder, Masters’ Union and Manik Arora
Eight seconds — what can be achieved in that little time? Your instinctive response may be “not a lot”, but those initial 8 seconds are key to defining whether businesses will have more customers and takers or not. 8 seconds is the average attention span of today’s generation (as per a Microsoft study, 2015). In the age of multiple screens, over which individuals scour through hundreds of apps and web pages, those 8 seconds either lock in customers or drive them away. Those precious 8 seconds are what businesses have to differentiate their brand and their offering. This is where the power of UI/UX comes in—to get attention, engage, and retain.
The Internet today is a marketplace. UI/UX has become the equivalent of product packaging and, thus, a pre-requisite. The importance of this is known. Look around you, and you’ll see dynamic websites, intuitive and personalised apps, and interfaces packed with science. These range from UPI payment and shopping apps to alarms and music players. It is courtesy of UI/UX designers that these experiences are pleasant and increase time spent on the app or page, a key success metric. Look at a brand like Apple; it was built on its intuitive UI/UX and continues to pull customers based on that intuitiveness. According to Hakuna, conversion rates can be improved by 300% through good UX design. In today’s digital world, where we consume digital products 24 hours a day, UI and UX can help build multi-million-dollar businesses.
Just like data analytics, UI/UX are key to business performance and success, making them very important and lucrative areas for designers and developers.
Should you choose a career in UI/UX?
A UI designer gets to solve real-world problems by taking a creative approach. And since UX translates to user experience design, the responsibility of the process demands keeping the user and their needs first. From an application to a website, be it for financial services, FMCG, or a layout designed for a virtual store, an exponential design is what inspires people the most.
One intriguing aspect of the UI/UX design field is its ability to provide synergy between creativity and logic. This thin line is where creative miracles happen. A UX/UI designer is an engineer in mind.
Is knowledge of coding necessary?
If you believe that in order to create a design, you must learn to code, that understanding is incorrect. The skillset needed to become a UX designer does not always include knowing how to code. Let’s assume you’re naturally creative and a logical thinker.
In this case, your logical side in creating practical solutions for users’ needs is what counts the most. However, what also matters is how you leverage the opportunity to design a product or service so its functionality is best suited to the end user. Say that when using a mobile phone, the primary function of the device is to make calls, yet it can’t be the only selling point since aesthetics with functionality is what sells the product.
UX equals CX
Digital interfaces are the primary port of customer outreach and engagement, so it’s not surprising that a great UI results in a pleasing customer experience overall. Today, this interface is where brand loyalty can make or break a company. As noted by UserZoom in its 2022 survey, 62% of respondents said that a good UX increases a brand’s perception. While the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report states that all it takes is 0.05 seconds for someone to form an opinion about a brand’s website, i.e., your brand
UX and Chill
The use of UX to generate a “call to action” has also been widely noted in promoting brand image. OTT platforms like Netflix and many others use this technique well to keep users engaged. Even if you’re not consuming the intended content, you’re consuming the intended content. The techniques deployed are backed by neuroscience and are highly effective.
Beyond a doubt, UI/UX can make or break businesses worth millions of dollars, and that area continues to become a far more evolved and scientific area of work. For individuals and businesses, the imperative value of UI/UX can’t be understated. From every dimension, a product or service that is imagined for sale online will have to keep innovating to stay relevant and usable in the years ahead.
With all that opportunity, surprisingly and unfortunately, India produces only one designer for every 1000 engineering graduates, as per a stat noted by Ken. While sad, this speaks to the immense opportunity available to Indian developers and designers. And since the best time to do it is now, creative designers can enrol in the user experience design course at MasterCamp right away.
The article is co-authored by Pratham Mittal, Founder, Masters’ Union and Manik Arora, Cofounder & Design Director, Onething Design
