When was the last time you really enjoyed an online experience? Was the site appealing, easy to navigate, easy on the eyes?
If not, this might have been due to underdeveloped User Interface and User Design – Luckily the ones of our ELEVATE teams are great. Thanks to Natalie Korotaeva.
The importance of user interface and user experience
Natalie is the expert who recently taught our accelerator batch about User Interface Design and creating an appealing Customer Experience. And despite her being modest and (rightfully) stating that each and every workshop topic is essential in its own right, the importance of UI/UX must not be underestimated.
After all, lots of startups could succeed in their endeavours – if they just improved their User Interface. Be it redesigning the user on-boarding process or making your Call-To-Action more appealing – these things can radically change your conversion and retention rates. But why is that?
The struggles of entering a crowded market
If you create a new product in an existing market you need to make it ten times better than other current ones.
Launching a product in a crowded market is hard, but it is not impossible. Examples for some apps or platforms that managed to be successful in these circumstances are Revolut and N26. Why? Because they have user-friendly interfaces, are modern, appealing and well designed (besides their technological and product innovations).
The UI trend
And it’s time to get on the train now – the industry is constantly developing. Natalie sees the trend of UI & UX going greatly towards voice interfaces, which will also create some challenges. How do you create an interface without having an actual, visual screen? How to handle errors? How do you do A/B-testing to understand whether the user is satisfied with their experience?
These are problems and challenges that will need to be tackled sooner rather than later. TheVentury is actively working on them, be it in our everyday work with conversational interfacing or with ELEVATE: Batch’s 3 team Espresso Labs is focusing on non-visual voice interfaces in the hospitality industry for example – things are moving forward fast.
Tips & tricks for prospective UI designers
To get started, Natalie has the following recommendations for tools and resources.
- Figma for designing digital screens and providing first visual insights.
- To design digital products, she highly recommends Framer
- And if you are completely new to the topic, she recommends starting with this book
Lastly, Natalie gave us a valuable tip to redirect to entrepreneurs and UI designers, neatly packing it into her favourite quote from the movie “The Founder”:
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
So, stay persistent!
