UI and UX design are the first things that will catch your customer's attention when he opens your website or app. The value of UI and UX cannot be stressed enough as the user tends to form an opinion of your web page within milliseconds of his first visit. UI and UX design can make or mar a company’s image and brand. Yet, many times, the UX developer makes glaring mistakes while designing a web page either intentionally or otherwise. This degrades customer experience and makes a bad first impression. Poor UI and UX design can cost a business dearly in terms of precious engagement and conversion. Before we go into the common UI and UX design flaws in websites, let’s distinguish User Interface and User Experience. **User Interface and User Experience** The user interface is the medium through which a user interacts with the computer. It guides the user to use the site or the app through instructions and images. The fonts, text, buttons, and icons form a part of the UI. User experience is what people gain out of the interaction with your website, company, and brand. User experience extends way beyond user interface to encompass everything from services, support, products, and so on. The user interface design focus is on what goes into the site so that the user can find what he needs. On the other hand, UX design focuses on how to get all the elements working together to deliver a smooth, seamless navigation experience. For instance, UX design involves intuitive ways of placing the CTA buttons so that they are visible. **Common Mistakes in UI and UX Design** **1. Too many or unclear fonts** This is a common but easy to fix the issue on most websites. The UI design team must ensure that the fonts chosen are readable and of the right size, contrast and colour. Use only the most commonly used fonts such as Times New Roman or Arial. The dark colour text must be placed on a light background for legibility. Some sites have light text on a light background which may frustrate and chase away the user. **2. Annoying Pop-up’s** Many websites use pop-ups for newsletters and other marketing campaigns, but UI and UX developers must ensure that critical content and menus are not covered by pop-ups. In fact, websites that had pop-ups covering the main content are penalized by Google. Pop-ups must be small and rightly placed. **3. Unwanted information** Unless the content is an agreement, terms, or conditions, stick to short paragraphs and sentences. Users browse websites to get the information as quickly as they can. Undesirable verbose content only will end up losing the customer to a competitor. If at all in-depth content is a necessity, post it with subheadings, bullets, and images making it more scannable. **4. Lack of social presence** In this era of social media, your social network presence is more important than your content itself. Customer feedback links to Facebook and social media postings will push up your SEO rankings. Your website will be seen more and more visits means more conversions. **5. Mobile incompatible design** More than 50% of Internet users throughout the world browse from their phones. This means any website or app must work well on mobile phones. They must be compatible with iOS and Android platforms. One of the criteria for Google rankings is mobile-friendliness. UI and UX developers must create designs that work optimally on both mobile phones and other devices. **6. Poor quality images** Reusing existing stock photos or putting up bad quality images is a big turn off for the web user. Images must have high resolution and not be pixelated. Images must add value to the content. Use images only when relevant and do not overuse them as it will only increase the page load time unnecessarily. **7. Unimpressive CTA’s** CTAs or call-to-actions are the most critical feature of UI and UX design. They prompt the user to seal the deal by making a purchase. CTAs call for conversion and sales. Hence, they must be thoughtfully designed. The buttons must be medium sized-neither too big nor too small. They must be strategically located. The text on the buttons must have clear intent and be in the first person. They must prompt the user to proceed with text such as “Click here”, “Sign up” or “Buy now”. There is no one size fits all for UI and UX design. The UI and UX developers must build the website or app by getting inside the customer’s head. The right UI and UX design can bridge the gap between the company and its customers.

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