Forms can frustrate users and can lead them to abandoning the form—and website—altogether. This can be disastrous for your digital product if it relies on forms to move users to the next level of engagement.

Card sorting is a low cost, effective user experience research method used to understand how users would group information on your website, app, or other digital product.

Breadcrumbs allow users to see their current location relative to the rest of the site. They are particularly helpful on websites with large menus and many layers.

On mobile devices, target sizes should be at least 48 CSS pixels by 48 CSS pixels (approximately 9mm by 9mm) and tappable elements should be spaced at least 10 CSS pixels apart.

Prepare for what will inevitably go wrong and use error messages to help the user complete the task successfully and provide helpful information about how to prevent the issue from happening again.

In most cases, include labels with icons, even when your team considers an icon to be “universal.” Providing a label name on hover isn’t enough.

As people who create digital products, we make an awful lot of assumptions about what our users want and why they do—or don’t do—certain things. Sometimes an assumption is right. But in too many cases, those assumptions lead us to build or make changes to products that result in features people don’t want or can’t use.

Don’t waste money designing a new marketing website if you haven’t gotten these basics right.

In order for calls-to-action to be effective, your team must first map out what you want users to do (ensuring that aligns with what goals they want to accomplish) and what steps they must take as part of that process. Without this clarity, even the most effective call-to-action won’t help you achieve your business goals.

A diary study is a longitudinal user experience (UX) research method that allows your team to explore how users use your digital product over time. Diary studies often include a combination of videos, photos, and survey questions, in addition to product analytics, which provides your team with a rich mix of qualitative and quantitative data.

QA (quality assurance) and usability studies are often confused because they are both a process of evaluating digital products. But they are not the same.

The user experience (UX) refers to a users’ perspective, thoughts, and feelings using a digital product. User Experience design (UXD or sometimes just UX) is a process of creating digital products that revolves around constantly validating assumptions through user research.

We outline five tips we have developed at Voice+Code after talking to hundreds of companies who either succeeded or failed in hiring the right UX firm.

Website visitors don’t read every single word on a website. Instead, they jump around content and pages, looking for clues that indicate they are getting closer to their goal. Because of this, it’s important to craft copy that will ensure website visitors understand your message and see a clear path forward to accomplishing their goals. 

A hamburger menu should not be used when there is plenty of real estate to display menu items. On devices with less real estate (like smartphones), using a hamburger menu is sometimes a necessity. When a hamburger menu is used in these circumstances, it should be accompanied by a clear “menu” label above or below the horizontal lines.