What is UX design?
By Ash, Founder, HosteazePublished 2 min read
The short answer
UX (user experience) design is the work of making a website, app or service easy and pleasant to use, so visitors can do what they came for without fuss. It covers what pages you have, how they're organised, the wording, speed and accessibility, not just how things look. For a small business site, good UX usually means more enquiries.
UX stands for user experience. UX design is the job of making sure someone who lands on your website can do what they came for, quickly and without getting annoyed. For a plumber that might be finding a phone number on a phone in the rain. For a café it might be checking Sunday opening hours. If they can't, they leave, however nice the site looks.
What's the difference between UX and UI?
UI (user interface) is the screen itself: buttons, menus, colours, type. UX is the whole experience, including things no one designs in Figma, like whether you actually answer the contact form. Nielsen Norman Group's example is a film review site with a perfect search box but a database missing independent films. Lovely UI, poor UX.
| UX design | UI design | |
|---|---|---|
| Main question | Can people do what they came to do? | Does each screen look clear and consistent? |
| Covers | Page structure, content, task flow, speed, accessibility | Layout, buttons, colour, typography, icons |
| Typical work | Interviews, sitemaps, wireframes, user testing | Visual mock-ups, style guides, component libraries |
| A failure looks like | Prices hidden three clicks deep | A button that doesn't look clickable |
What does good UX look like on a small business site?
- The main action is obvious on every page: call, book, buy or get a quote.
- Navigation uses your customers' words ("Prices", not "Investment").
- The site works properly on a phone, because that is where many visitors will find you.
- Pages load quickly and nothing jumps around as they load.
- It's usable by disabled visitors. The WCAG guidelines are the standard to check against.
A common mistake is putting the phone number in an image. It can't be tapped to call or copied, and it may be missed entirely by screen readers if the image has no alt text.
How can I improve my site's UX without a big budget?
- Write down the three things visitors most often want from your site. The GOV.UK Service Manual calls these user needs.
- Ask five customers or friends to do each task on their own phone while you watch silently.
- Note every pause, wrong tap and "where's the...?".
- Fix the worst problem first, then test again with a new group.
Our guide to making a website mobile-friendly and the accessibility checklist cover the most common fixes. If you're planning a new site, put your user needs at the top of your website brief.
More plain-English guides are in Email and domains.
Frequently asked questions
Is UX design the same as web design?
They overlap. Web design often means the visual side and the build. UX is about whether the site works for the people using it, which includes structure, content and how tasks flow, and it applies to services and apps too.
Do I need to hire a UX designer for a small business website?
Rarely as a separate role. A good web designer should cover the basics. What you can do yourself is watch a few real customers use your site and fix what trips them up.
How many people do I need to test my website with?
Five is a good start. Nielsen Norman Group found that a test with five participants uncovers about 85% of usability problems, so several small rounds beat one big study.