More than just making your application look good and flow smoothly, good UX gives a significant advantage to those businesses that have it. For example, Forrester research suggests that a single dollar spent on UX returns $100 back to the firm.
But when it comes to good user interfaces, coding-based application development offers very little flexibility. It is difficult to design prototypes or try out new paths with this approach. Moreover, ensuring brand cohesion across the entire application is also quite cumbersome.
In this blog, we explore how no-code platforms and tools are helping to make UX design much easier, faster, and better.
What is UI/UX Design?
The term “user experience” describes how a user interacts with and uses a platform or service. Designers aim to create a fun and easy process for users to accomplish their objectives.
This may entail deciding several aspects of user navigation, including
- Which items are categorized together in the menus?
- What actions will mouse clicks achieve?
- Positioning of buttons and other such elements.
Elements of UI/UX
User experience impacts several facets of product design, including the user interface (UI), Interaction Design (Ixd), and Research (UXR). Let’s understand these a bit.
User Interface (UI) involves creating an easy-to-use and guided navigation in the application. For example, it might create a “happy path” for the user by differentiating between how buttons look for “Login” or “Cancel”. It also helps to communicate brand values and reinforces trust. The designer’s choice of imagery, color schemes, and design element help to remind users of these things.
User research (UXR) involves understanding the user’s intent and where they want to go. It tries to understand the answer to questions like: Why has the person come to the application? What is the workflow that they need to access? In this way, the application designer can better understand the users and ensure that it is useful to them.
Interaction design (IxD) focuses on the intuitiveness of the product. For example, what events should be triggered when a button is pressed? This part of UX helps to think about such questions and integrate them into the design elements.
When using traditional code-based application development, it becomes hard to bring together the various aspects of UX. It is hard to implement the changes that are triggered with every design choice. No code makes this aspect of UX much easier. In the next section, we talk about this in detail.
How NCAP Is a Boon To UI/UX Designers
Traditionally, UX designers have been severely restricted in their choices due to their dependence on the application development team. But no code is changing all this through easier visualization and prototyping. Let’s see what benefits it is bringing to UX professionals.
Speeds Up Design
No code platforms are completely visual-based, unlike traditional code-based applications. They employ drag-and-drop components which can help visualize even complex workflows. They also use defined layouts that can enhance data presentation.
This has several advantages for the UI/UX designer. Firstly, they no longer need to learn to code or understand it in order to do their jobs. They can focus purely on the aesthetic and logical aspects of the work.
Secondly, they don’t have to worry about communicating their design to the development team. In traditional setups, designers communicate their ideas either through paper or through modeling tools. The developers try to replicate it based on their own understanding, and often they lose a lot in translation.
Custom Styling
No-code platforms can help create custom styling that gel with brand identity and brand logos/colors. It is easy to create a user interface with perfect brand cohesion. This will make the brand instantly recognizable to users by just looking at the interface.
These tools let the company use Customer Style Sheets (CSS) so that the same styling can be implemented everywhere in the application. This takes away the pain of mimicking the design style across multiple parts of the software.
Easy Prototyping
One of the best features that No code brings to UX is easy prototyping. After all, creating engaging user flows is not a one-and-done process. It takes several iterations to get it right.
With no code, there is no difficulty in trying out multiple paths before selecting a final one. It can all be done in real-time and tested out immediately. This gives the designer a lot of flexibility as compared to clickable mockups that are provided in traditional coding.
Multiplatform
Traditionally application development has been uni-platform. For example, the process of designing a website is different from that of creating an app. But design elements across both user interfaces remain exactly the same. This means unnecessary dual work for the UI/UX person.
No code tools are multiplatform-ready from the get-go. There is no need to create separate applications for different interfaces. The work of the designer gets replicated across all platforms. This saves significant time and effort for them.
Instant User Feedback
No code helps make instant changes to design elements. Hence designers are able to make changes that get reflected immediately to customers. This gives UI/UX designers access to instant feedback on their design choices.
They don’t have to go through multiple stages of testing and research, which saves them a lot of time and resources. This is especially true when modifications are being made to an existing application.
Wrap Up
The way a business interacts with its customers is absolutely critical to its success in today’s world. Consumers expect their journey to be as cohesive and simple as possible and are willing to choose between brands based on these features.
No code tools reduce the time required for implementing and testing design features. Their rapid prototyping, instant live feedback, and application-wide styling features enable UI/UX designers like never before in history.