We’ve all seen successful UX design, and we’ve likely all seen the worst. Maybe you’re nervous your brand falls into the latter category, and you’re looking for some tips, or searching how you could incorporate a few proven strategies.
You could easily google “UX design tips” and find lackluster, over-generalized results like, “A successful UX design should incorporate the brand’s identity into every digital touchpoint” or “UX should be research-based to make sure the experiences you provide resonate with users” – but (spark) isn’t about recycling tired information. Instead, we’re committed to pulling back the curtain on the design process, identifying commonly overlooked areas that can bring new growth, and showing brands exactly what they’ll benefit from if they choose to partner with our team.
Finding the Gaps in Modern UX – And How To Fix Them
The UX landscape is constantly evolving, but some fundamental issues remain overlooked. By focusing more on accessibility, emotional design, communication, feedback loops, onboarding, and microinteractions, we can build more engaging, inclusive, and meaningful user experiences. Designers must move beyond surface-level improvements and strive to create products that genuinely resonate with users. It’s time to address these gaps to ensure we’re not just designing for usability, but for lasting impact.
Unsure if your UX has any gaps in its performance? You can make quick work of diagnosing any issues by first understanding user needs and behaviors through various research methods, then analyzing the discrepancies between your current UX and your desired outcomes. Once you’ve identified any cracks in your UX foundation, it’s time to overhaul the system. If you’ve never gone through this process before, our (spark) staff recommends following these guidelines for best results.
Leap’s Recent UX Overhaul
Too many marketing agencies have a tendency to bandwagon onto the latest UX trends – this year’s trends include leveraging AI-driven tools, embedding accessibility into every design, and prioritising privacy-first choices – but that’s not the (spark) approach. After months of research and testing, our best minds have drafted a successful UX outline to set our clients up for success, regardless of the latest craze. Jake Zastrow, our Associate Director of UX, distilled the team’s findings into four indispensable truths.
UX makes sure the experience actually works for the people using it. If we don’t think about user intent, personas, and pain points, there’s a big gap between what we design and what the audience actually needs. How content is organized, from the site structure to the user paths, directly shapes how people feel about the brand.
Rather than just throwing out a mix of information that might convert, but isn’t very useful for specific groups, we base flows on real research and persona needs. This is how brands can guide each audience segment toward the exact messages, products, and services that matter most to them.
When we let personal or client bias drive the work instead of actual users, we often end up with something that looks great and might work okay, but misses the details that could have made it truly effective. Stop throwing time and money down the proverbial drain by assuming you know what your audience wants and instead base decisions on solid research.
A solid information architecture and well-planned user paths are much easier to adapt to new offerings or changes in the market. UX sets up a strong foundation so that sites can grow and evolve alongside a brand instead of requiring a full, resource-consuming rebuild.
Leap Lesson: What Successful UX Looks Like
Once again, we turned to our VP of UX to discuss the driving factors behind a successful UX design. More specifically, we asked Mr. Zastrow his thoughts about how (spark) is able to hit consistent UX home runs when designing for our clients. Feel free to measure your UX against his nuggets of wisdom:
We look at things like GA4 event tracking tied to specific KPIs, heatmaps to measure task completion or friction points, and sometimes even predictive tools like Neurons to test designs before they go live. The key is always testing against the client’s priorities while keeping real user needs and personas front and center.”
Strong UX builds trust, which drives results.
“You can get short-term conversions with dark patterns, but that often erodes brand trust. When we focus on usability, empathy, and smart heuristics, the conversions and other business results follow in a more sustainable way. At (spark), we balance data with human insight. Analytics show us what’s happening; qualitative feedback tells us why it’s happening, and the why often leads to more thoughtful, lasting solutions than numbers alone can reveal.”
At (spark), we’ve learned that some of the biggest UX wins are invisible. If your brand’s digital users can pick up on patterns naturally, find what they need without thinking, and move through the experience quickly – or more quickly than before – that’s success. Better yet, that’s the masterful level we help our (spark) clients reach every day, and after a simple phone call or email, your brand could be next.