User Experience Design vs Interaction Design Explained: Roles, Goals, and Impact

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Glass Morphism and liquid design for next-generation UI

Glassmorphism for next-generation UIIf you take a footstep into the world of the latest web design trends, you may already have heard of Glass Morphism. Eye-catching and colourful, this aligned term trend evokes transparency and a multi-layered approach. With its resemblance to the milky glass surfaces, it has drawn a lot of attention.Hello Glass Morphism! There is a new design trend on the block that is gaining popularity rapidly. Vividly coloured backgrounds, seemingly translucent objects, frosted-glass effects, floating-in-space features are the ones that have driven the term ‘Glass Morphism’ which pushes the boundaries of next-generation UI.Glass Morphism is a term used to describe UI design that emphasizes dark or light objects, placed on the top of colourful backgrounds. A background blur is placed on the objects that allow the background to shine through the frosted glass.Elements and Characteristics of Glass Morphism Aesthetics“A Classy design that looks Glassy”- The design represents the picturesque layout of a “series of glass panels floating in the vertical space”. The name absolutely fits the looks and the effect, which is created based on an amalgamation that is made of transparency, vivid background colours, layers, and shadows.TransparencyTransparency is achieved through the frosted-glass effect by making the background blur. This needs to be done to add depth to the design and to establish verticality. The designers also blur the objects to give the layout a sense of perspective as if it appears like they were floating in 3D space.Multi-layered approachWith objects floating in space, the multi-layered interface projects a clean look that is also eye-soothing. This style works best with one or more transparent layers on a colourful and bright backgroundVivid and Colorful backgroundThe background colour plays an important role in highlighting the blurred transparency, which always focuses on being both colourful and subtle. Dull, low-contrast backgrounds would simply fade away under objects and the effect would be lost. It is also noteworthy that subtle, semi-transparent white borders are used as light borders on translucent objects to simulate the glass edge and to make objects stand out from the subtle background.Why has Glass Morphism become the talk of the design agencies? Glass Morphism is a modern UI design trend that’s steadily been gaining popularity in recent years. It is utilized in web and app design and is quickly becoming mainstream. But it isn’t a brand new idea as the style is strongly influenced by similar concepts that have been first introduced by Apple in 2013 with iOS 7. The trend re-emerged in November 2020 when Apple brought back the design effect with the latest update, MAC OS Big Sur.It has since been used by Microsoft and Windows Vista as part of their Fluent design system. If you remember the switch to iOS 7 and Windows Vista, you will recall how refreshing it was to view notifications popping up with blurred items against the background. This effect is known as “The Acrylic” and uses it on app surfaces to add depth and establish a visual hierarchy. The style has developed over the years. It has reinvented itself with modern fonts, shapes, and colours to keep things fresh. Let’s catch a quick glimpse of some of these examples to see why this trend is so popular.How to implement Glass Morphism in Web Design in Easy Steps?Picking the right layersWhile applying this latest trend, designers first need to go through the app mock-up or the website and select the ideal vantage point to reflect the head-turning glassy looks prominently. It is recommended not to overuse it. It looks eye-soothing over light and colourful backgrounds. The Icons over it must be designed tactfully and can be accessed from anywhere without any glitch. Whilst they are becoming more common, we recommend using the layers with great consideration. Implementing Glass-a-like looksGlass Morphism aims to create the illusion of a glass-like panel floating over a background. Setting the right grade for transparency is relatively easy with common design tools such as Figma. Instead of the entire shape, it is only the fill that is made transparent. If this jargon term makes you worried about the technical inefficiency of the designers, then you must not tear your hair thinking that non-technical designers can also comfortably bring on this effect by tweaking your HTML/CSS. To implement a glass morphism effect for your website or application, here is a CSS resource to check for and to Implement it directly. You can try multiple effects and how it is suiting as per the requirements. Adding dimensions to bring on realism in designAdd a fine border to your object and lower its transparency to make it look glass-like to give your design some dimension. A shadow underneath will give you a sense of depth and these are slightly more technical changes that need to be tweaked in your code. If coding isn’t really your forte, you’d like to incorporate this trend into your own web designColour pallets to choose from for a Glass Morphic effectMainly pale colours are used for surfaces. Colours that are close to white and grey with low chroma key. Choosing a soft colour is key to minimalist design in Glass Morphism. Here you can choose a vivid colour with different colour gradients for an anomalous effect. Here are the colour pallets to choose directly from for the background in glass morphism design.What is Liquid Design?The term "liquid" implies the smooth flow of the website into the space it occupies. If you are using a high-resolution monitor, this may mean that you need to resize your browser. If you have a low-resolution monitor, you will still see the information compactly.If you do Liquid Design right, you should be able to make your pages display on almost anything and still make sense to the user. But it’s not just about making a page with the browser window. The Principles of Liquid Design align with the principles of accessibility when you build your site using relative font units and percentage-based widths for common elements. This will make the user interface a lot easier for a portion of your visitors.Website design trends have solved the problem of multiple screen sizes in a few ways. One solution is fluid design and it is becoming more and more popular. Instead of fixed columns and widths, a fluid website is built on relative widths, grids, and percentages. This allows the website to scale up and down fluidly.Liquid Design concept is about making 'Web' a Better Place’The first thing you’ll need to do is to change the way you think about the Web. Throw away the idea of having your pages look exactly the same on every deviceStart thinking about accessibility issues as you designHold your head high as you are on the way to make the net a better place!The liquid design concept is about creating customer-focused communication that’s simple, clear & engaging. This design concept strategically positions the brand to make it stand out from the crowd and gifts it a brand new personality that resonates well with its audience. It delivers a delightful experience to make the customer come over and over again.What's the Difference Between Fluid and Responsive Website Design? You may have heard the term "responsive design" and now you're wondering how it makes a difference when comparing with fluid or liquid design.Responsive sites use media queries to control the design as it scales up or down on the device. They also have breakpoints and set containers, so you have different "breakpoints" for different screen sizes; extra small for mobile and large size for desktop. "A fluid site is responsive, but not all responsive sites are fluid."- Sam McKinneySo, now to be a little more technical with explaining. Many of these websites have very minimal navigation, moving elements on the homepage, and all use the entire width of the page. Seeing is believing! Words do these websites no justice. You have to see them in action to understand the difference and why fluid design is special.Any designer who seeks 100% compatibility should take the time to set up a fluid layout. The main challenge isn’t the excessive white space in large screen resolutions, but rather the small percentage of users with a small screen resolution. For websites with large audiences, it should have a neat and user-friendly design anyway, which can be done effectively with a liquid design layout.

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UX Research Strategy: How to Build User Experiences That Truly Click

As designers and developers, it is easy to often free-fall into assuming that your own preferences will mirror those of your audience. The key to avoiding this assumption is a well-established UX research strategy.Aesthetic appeal, undoubtedly, is an unavoidable pillar of good user experience. But the design that truly resonates shouldn’t just look good. It should work just as good for the people who will actually use it. An efficient strategy for UX research provides a clear roadmap to keep designs grounded in reality. It ensures that real user insights rather than assumptions drive every decision.So, how do you get there?And why is it so important?Let’s find out!Why Do You Need a UX Research Strategy?So, why does this matter? Without a clear research strategy, your project risks veering off course. Think of it as your North Star, offering a clear direction and aligning your team with shared goals and best practices. Here's why it's essential:Aligns Teams and Stakeholders: A solid strategy helps bring stakeholders on board, emphasizing the importance of research and securing their involvement in the process.Guides Research Projects: It provides a roadmap for individual initiatives, laying out clear goals, checkpoints, and methods to ensure the research is focused and purposeful.Helps You Be Proactive: Without a strategy, it’s easy to become reactive and overwhelmed by incoming requests. A well-defined UX research strategy shifts the focus to proactive planning, anticipating needs and opportunities before they arise.Ensures Resource Efficiency: When the right data is collected at the right time, teams can avoid wasting resources on irrelevant research and get meaningful insights.By taking a thoughtful, structured approach to UX research, organizations can ensure that every initiative contributes to an overarching goal, streamlining processes and driving impactful results.Who Are You Building a UX Research Strategy For?More than just collecting user insights, a well-planned UX research strategy depends on understanding who will use those insights to make key decisions. Research impacts various teams across an organization. From top-level executives to hands-on developers, each stakeholder has different expectations. So, aligning your UX research and strategy with the needs of ‘who’ you are targeting ensures its success.Leaders: VPs, Heads of Marketing, and Senior Engineers use UX research to align product development with business goals, validate strategies, and minimize risks.Implementers: Designers, engineers, and product teams translate research insights into user-friendly designs, ensuring functionality and usability.Executives: Overseeing company vision, executives approve funding and UX research, and strategy. Framing research in terms of business impact, growth, competitive edge, and retention secures their buy-in.UX Research Methods: Frameworks and ImplementationA well-structured UX research strategy involves choosing the right methods to gather insights, improve usability, and enhance user experience. Below are key UX research methods, along with their explanations, execution steps, and practical applications.Personas and Empathy MapsBefore designing a seamless user experience, it’s essential to know who you’re designing for. Personas and empathy maps bring users to life by illustrating their behaviors, frustrations, and aspirations. It helps teams step into the users’ shoes, ensuring design decisions aren’t based on assumptions but on real user insights.Best Practices:Gather user data through research methods like interviews and surveys.Identify patterns and segment users into personas.Create empathy maps to visualize user thoughts, feelings, and actions.Practical Applications:Enhancing AI-Driven Personalization: Personas help refine AI-driven recommendation engines by tailoring user experiences based on behavioral insights. An effective UX research strategy example is designing for an "impatient/busy" persona by implementing one-click checkout or predictive search. This streamlines the user journey, enabling faster and more efficient interactions.Aligning Cross-Functional Teams: This ensures that product, engineering, marketing, and customer support have a shared understanding of user needs, leading to more cohesive user experiences.Guiding UX Design and Ideation: Personas and empathy maps support experience mapping, storyboarding, and usability testing, ensuring design choices resonate with real user pain points.SurveysWhen you need insights from a large audience without breaking the bank, surveys are the go-to method. They offer a quick and scalable way to gather feedback, whether you’re validating an idea, measuring satisfaction, or uncovering patterns in user behavior. The key is crafting the right questions because the quality of responses depends on how well you ask.Best Practices:Prepare a discussion guide: Develop a structured script to ensure all critical topics are addressed. Design clear, unbiased questions.Ask open-ended questions: Encourage in-depth responses rather than simple yes/no answers.Build focus groups: Bring together small, diverse groups of users matching established personas to discuss their perceptions, beliefs, and opinions.Use digital tools: Researchers can use tools like Google Forms to distribute and analyze responses.Segment Responses: Analyze data by demographics, usage behavior, or other relevant factors.Practical Applications:Validating Product-Market Fit: Before investing in full-scale development, surveys can gauge interest in new features, such as a car-buying app integrating real-time insurance rate calculations.Combining Surveys with Behavioral Analytics: Surveys complement tools like heatmaps or session recordings by revealing the why behind user actions. An effective UX strategy example uses heatmaps to identify low-engagement areas on a page. Pairing this with user surveys helps uncover whether the issue stems from poor content, confusing navigation, or a lack of user interest.Optimizing Digital Interfaces: By analyzing user preferences and feedback at scale, surveys help refine UI elements such as navigation menus, checkout flows, or mobile app layouts for enhanced usability.User InterviewsProbably, the best UX research strategy to understand users is by talking to them directly. User interviews provide firsthand insights into their needs, pain points, and expectations. Whether conducted in person or remotely, these conversations uncover the ‘why’ behind user behaviors, helping designers create solutions that truly resonate.Best Practices:Start with the context: Avoid diving straight into your product. Begin by understanding users' broader needs and the tasks they aim to accomplish.Ask thoughtful questions: Focus on how users approach their goals and the challenges they face.Invest in analysis: Record and transcribe sessions to extract actionable insights that can be shared with your team.Define goals and assumptions: Establish clear research objectives and internal assumptions to guide your inquiry.Practical Applications:Identifying Key Usability Challenges: By analyzing user feedback, teams can pinpoint usability issues in applications or digital platforms before full-scale development. For instance, interviews may reveal the need for customizable dashboards in an analytics tool.Data-Driven Feature Development: User interviews often uncover patterns through thematic analysis, helping prioritize features like personalization, automation, or accessibility improvements.Refining AI-Powered Interfaces: Insights from interviews can improve AI chatbots and voice assistants by identifying common user frustrations and expectations, leading to better conversational flow and response accuracy.Five-Second TestingFive-second testing gauges the immediate impact of a design by exposing users to a design or interface for just five seconds. This UX research strategy helps capture initial impressions and determines whether key messages and visual elements are effectively communicated at a glance.Best Practices:Use High-Impact Visuals: Choose images or screens that are representative of the overall design to ensure consistency in messaging.Follow Up Quickly: Ask targeted questions immediately after the exposure to capture fresh and unbiased impressions.Focus on Key Elements: Identify standout elements such as headlines, imagery, or call-to-actions to determine what captures users' attention.Compare Iterations: Utilize the results to refine designs and, if necessary, run additional tests to validate improvements.Practical Applications:Optimizing Visual Hierarchy: Use insights from five-second tests to adjust visual elements, ensuring that the most important information is immediately noticeable.Improving First Impressions: Refine the landing page or initial screens based on rapid feedback, which can be critical for retaining new users.Guiding Iterative Design: Apply the data to iteratively enhance design elements, ensuring that each version communicates the core message more effectively.Validating Marketing Collateral: Test advertising visuals and key messaging to ensure that campaign assets resonate with the audience at first glance.Concept TestingConcept testing evaluates the feasibility and appeal of new product ideas before significant resources are invested in development. This method is great for checking the efficacy of a process based on the latest design trends before implementation. It gathers feedback through surveys, interviews, or focus groups to validate user interest and refine the concept.Best Practices:Clarify the Concept: Clearly articulate the idea or feature being tested to ensure participants understand it.Mix Methods: Use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to gather a comprehensive view.Seek Diverse Feedback: Include a variety of user segments to ensure broad appeal.Iterate Based on Feedback: Refine the concept based on user insights before moving forward with development.Practical Applications:Early Market Validation: Determine whether a new product or feature resonates with your target audience before investing in full-scale development.Feature Prioritization: Identify which aspects of a concept have the strongest appeal and should be prioritized in development.Marketing Strategy Alignment: Use feedback to shape marketing messaging and positioning strategies, ensuring that the product's benefits are clearly communicated to potential users.Risk Mitigation: Reduce the risk of product failure by testing assumptions early and making necessary adjustments based on user insights.A/B TestingSometimes, the smallest design tweaks make the biggest difference in a UX research strategy. A/B testing removes the guesswork by pitting two versions of a design against each other to see which one performs better. Whether it’s a call-to-action button, a landing page layout, or a checkout flow, this method ensures that design decisions are backed by real user behavior—not just intuition.Best Practices:Define Clear Metrics: Identify the specific metrics (e.g., conversion rates, click-through rates) to compare performance.Control Variables: Ensure that only one element varies between the two versions to isolate its impact.Randomize User Assignment: Use random assignment to reduce bias in test groups.Iterate Based on Data: Use test results to inform continuous improvements and further testing.Practical Applications:Optimizing Digital Experiences with Data: A/B testing provides quantitative data that directly influences UI/UX improvements, such as tweaking CTA button placements to maximize conversions.Refining AI and Personalization Algorithms: Platforms like Spotify use A/B testing to fine-tune user interfaces—such as switching from a hamburger menu to a tab bar, improving engagement, and reducing churn.Reducing Friction in E-commerce and SaaS Products: Testing checkout flows, landing page variations, and pricing models ensures that businesses make decisions based on user behavior, not assumptions.Usability TestingA great design isn’t just about looking good; it’s about working seamlessly. Usability testing puts designs to the test by watching real users interact with a product. From subtle hesitations to major roadblocks, every user action tells a story, helping researchers uncover what works, what doesn’t, and what needs improvement.Best Practices:Use Realistic Scenarios: Craft tasks that mimic actual user interactions without overly guiding them.Iterate Frequently: Conduct multiple rounds of testing to refine the product continuously.Encourage Honest Feedback: Create an environment where users feel comfortable sharing their genuine thoughts.Document Observations: Record both qualitative observations and quantitative metrics to guide design decisions.Practical Applications:Improving Digital Accessibility: Identifies barriers for users with disabilities, allowing companies to enhance their platforms with WCAG-compliant design principles.Validating MVPs and Prototypes: Before launching a product, usability tests reveal gaps in user flows, helping refine navigation and task completion processes.Enhancing E-commerce and App Retention: By analyzing friction points, such as abandoned shopping carts or failed form submissions, teams can identify areas that need improvement. With these insights, they can make data-backed changes to boost engagement and increase conversion rates.How to Choose the Right UX Research and Strategy Method?Selecting the right UX research strategy method depends on your goals, available resources, and the stage of product development. While using multiple research methods provides the most comprehensive insights, constraints like time, budget, and stakeholder buy-in often dictate what’s feasible. The key is to choose a method that aligns with your needs while keeping the user at the center of your UX design process. To select the right approach, consider these key factors:Define Your Goals and ChallengesStart by clarifying what you need to learn. Ask the following questions:What do users need?What are their pain points?How can we improve their experience?Exploring UX research templates and case studies can also help refine your approach.Align with Your Design StageThe right research method depends on where you are in the product development cycle:Early-stage research: Use generative methods like field studies to gather broad insights.Mid-stage testing: Apply evaluative methods like usability testing to refine prototypes.Post-launch research: Focus on continuous feedback through surveys and analytics.Choose the Right Type of DataBalancing qualitative and quantitative research ensures a well-rounded UX strategy that keeps users at the heart of your design decisions.For deep qualitative insights (user motivations, behaviors, and emotions), use interviews, field studies, or contextual inquiries.For measurable, quantitative data (satisfaction scores, design comparisons). Use surveys, A/B testing, or analytics tools.Beyond Launch: A Continuous JourneyA strong UX research process doesn’t stop when a product goes live; it evolves with user needs. Post-launch research helps bridge qualitative insights with real-world data, ensuring the product delivers on its intended goals. Leading teams embrace continuous research, making user feedback a regular practice rather than a one-time event. By integrating ongoing discovery into the UX research strategy, businesses can refine experiences, adapt to changing demands, and stay ahead of the curve.

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Top 5 E-commerce Web Designing Trends in 2020

Online shopping habits are undergoing noticeable evolution constantly with a fast-paced life. Eventually, the designers also need to bring change in their design at regular intervals to make sure the online shoppers have a satisfying shopping experience.Whether you are an e-commerce website owner or a web designer, you cannot afford to lose your customers for amateurish e-commerce design. Right?The latest e-commerce web designing trends 2020 highlights the cutting-edge technologies like-Artificial intelligence and VR to provide better UICreative marketing techniques with more customization features for better UXScroll down to check out the top 5 e-commerce designing trends of 2020 that you must follow to design a head-turning, personalized e-commerce site and draw more online shoppers.1. Mobile-friendly layoutsEarlier, the designers used to create the e-commerce website designs primarily for web pages that are responsive and adaptive to mobile devices. In 2020, the idea has just flipped. A significant percentage of online shoppers find it easier and more time-saving to shop from their mobiles.Catering to this need of the customers, the web designers are now framing the layouts of the e-commerce stores first for mobile devices like iPads, tablets, and smartphones. Then they make sure the design also fits for the larger screen.Hence, this year, more mobile-friendly features happen to be incorporated in many e-commerce websites themes like-Card-like layoutsEasy navigationLong-scrolling pagesFinger-friendly icons2. Motion design for product imagesMotion design will play a pivotal role in e-commerce web designing this year. Static product images are no-longer appealing enough to grab the attention of online shoppers and trigger their greed to buy the product. Moreover, a dynamic and moving picture will help the shoppers to estimate how it will look from every dimension. The products having a different texture, patterns, cutting on different sides must be showcased in motion images.Though, we have seen the elements of motion design and videos in the last couple of years, more animation, micro-interactions, videos, cinemagraphs are taking the driver’s seat in 2020 e-commerce design trends.3. Rule of the advanced AI ChatbotsE-commerce web designing trends are now focusing more on the personalization approach to address the buyers. With the evolution of AI, chatbots have made their way to e-commerce in recent years. Chatbots are primarily generated to respond to the customer’s queries about payment, delivery, and products.But the chatbots of 2020 are more advanced to go beyond this limit by providing the shoppers with a customized shopping experience. They reflect shipping details and offer discount codes. Added to that, the round-the-clock virtual availability of this sales assistant guides the customers to land on purchasing decisions. So, those online shoppers who always feel guilty about their impulsive shopping decision will get a shopping companion even at the wee hours.4. Heterogeneous grid layoutsDo you want to stand out from most of the other e-commerce sites? Then think out of the box layouts and take your design out of the comfort zone. No doubt, that similar-sized, square, and homogenous grid layouts keep the website structured and make browsing user-friendly.But some brands, especially the fashion industries and brands particularly for the youngsters rely upon this new trend of unconventional grid design for their e-commerce sites to give an edgy feel. With this new layout, you can also highlight your best-selling products without explicitly categorizing them.5. Display of authentic imagesAre you tired of finding suitable images to design an e-commerce website? Many companies have professional photographers in their team to capture authentic, and top-notch quality images for their brand.Stock images have been back footed this year as the brands want to evoke their stories and sell their unique products. E-commerce designing trends are leaning towards Custom photography to enhance the visual aesthetics of the e-commerce sites as well as to be transparent to their customers with the original pictures of their products.What are the other e-commerce website designing trends you think will reign in 2020? Share your views with us.Besides, if you need bespoke website designing for your e-commerce site, feel free to Email us or talk to us at +91-98367-81929