UX Design – What Video Games, Web Design, and Mobile App Design have in Common: Part 2
Part 2: Interfaces and Empathy
I’ve been playing video games throughout my entire life. As a child, the moment I held a Nintendo Entertainment System controller, I couldn’t put it down. Several decades later, I still find myself engrossed in the story and challenge of playing a game. There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of completing that difficult level you were stuck on for days or finally beating an entire game that you’ve spent months trying to complete.
As my love for games grew, so did my curiosity in the creative design of a user's experience and the player interface. I began to wonder what the process looked like to design a game that created a great experience for a player. What went into a game that looked great, was easy to use, engaging, and made the players fall in love with it? These are, after all, the paramount aspects of a game's success. I have found by having a great user interface and designing for the players through use of empathy, you provide yourself the cornerstones of a great gaming experience.
Where games use these types of elements in their design to keep their users having fun and entertained, websites and mobile applications use several principles and guidelines to keep people on their website longer. The longer a user spends on your website, the higher the chance for them to remember, trust, and buy something from you. Having a high bounce rate is a clear indication that something is causing a bad user experience on your site.
Some of the many ways designers avoid a high bounce rate is by having:
- Clear and easy to understand navigation
- Clean and scannable content
- Optimized images and elements for fast page load times
- Providing value to your target audience
- Relevant and up-to-date content
A designer utilizing these simple but very important principles can create a much more immersive product that keeps their users interested in what they’re being offered. A great user experience builds credibility and trust which in return will ensure your users will return time and time again.
Conclusion
While we’ve only touched on a few of the many aspects of UX/UI design within the digital world, it’s easy to see that by keeping accessibility in mind, creating a user-friendly interface, and using empathy to design for your audience, a digital product can become an amazing experience. With new opportunities to create more captivating elements, I’m excited to see what the future holds for the design community. As a designer and a video game enthusiast, there is no better time to be alive!
Check out part 1 of this series where we take a look at accessibility.