What are Gestalt Principles? Gestalt Principles are principles/laws of human perception that describe how humans group similar elements, recognize patterns and simplify complex images when we perceive objects. Designers use the principles to organize content on websites and other interfaces so it is aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand. Gestalt Principles Gestalt Principles are an essential part of visual design. There are more than ten overlapping principles; four of the most widely recognized ones are: Closure (Reification): We prefer complete shapes, so we automatically fill in gaps between elements to perceive a complete image. That’s how we can see the whole first. Common Region: We group elements that are in the same closed region. You include related objects in the same closed area to show they stand apart from other groups. You can see this principle applied in Facebook, for example, where likes, comments and other interactions appear within the boundaries of one post and so stand apart from others. Figure/Ground (Multi-stability): We dislike uncertainty, so we look for solid, stable items. You can apply figure/ground in many ways, but chiefly to contrast elements. When you use figure/ground well, alongside other considerations such as a careful application of colour theory, you’ll help guide users in their tasks and lessen their cognitive load. Proximity (Emergence): We group closer-together elements, separating them from those farther apart. So, when you cluster individual elements into one area or group on your design, users will recognize it as one entity standing distinct from anything else on-screen. The Gestalt Principles are vital in user experience (UX) design. When you design interfaces, users must be able to understand what they see—and find what they want—at a glance. Without this, users would struggle to make associations between unrelated clustered-together items—and leave. In your designs, you should never confuse or delay users. Instead, guide them to their options so they can identify with organizations/brands rapidly. #BrandLume #digitalmarketing #goals #brandingdesign #brandingagency #brandingtips #brandingidentity #socialmedia #SMM #marketing #growthhacking #socialmediamarketing #blogging #SEO #affiliatemarketing

The UX Design Process: Everything You Need to Know Without a solid UX design process, you have a lower chance of creating a product with good UX. A well-defined and well-executed UX process, on the other hand, makes it possible to craft amazing experiences for users. Today, we’ll define a general UX design process, the typical order for the different UX phases, and the methods to use during each phase. What does the UX process look like? Most designers are familiar with the concept of “design thinking” as a UX process. This process has five stages in it: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Most design processes originate from this concept. If we apply design thinking to product design, we would follow a UX process with the following five key phases: Product Definition One of the most important phases in UX design is actually done before the product team creates anything. Before you can build a product, you need to understand its context for existence. Product Research Once you’ve defined your idea, the product team moves to the research phase. This phase typically includes both user research and market research. Analysis The aim of the analysis phase is to draw insights from data collected during the research phase, moving from “what” users want/think/need to “why” they want/think/need it. Design When users’ wants, needs, and expectations from a product are clear, product designers move to the design phase. Validation (Testing) Validation is an essential step in the design process because it helps teams understand whether their design works for their users. When it comes to the UX design process, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. But no matter what process you follow, the goal of each design process is the same: create a great product for your users. Use what works the best for your project, get rid of the rest, and evolve your UX process as your product evolves. #BrandLume #digitalmarketing #UX #brandingdesign #brandingagency #brandingtips #brandingidentity #socialmedia

What is User Research? User research is the methodic study of target users—including their needs and pain points—so designers have the sharpest possible insights to work with to make the best designs. User researchers use various methods to expose problems and design opportunities and find crucial information to use in their design process. Discover why user research forms a crucial part of the design process. User Research – Get to know your Users, and What They want To call user research a crucial part of an interaction design process might seem overly obvious. Indeed, it’s the only way to discover exactly what these users need, having first found out precisely who they are. To set out to generate these facts, you must gather data from your users through a structured approach. First, you must choose methods that 1) suit your research’s purpose and 2) will yield the clearest information. Afterwards—to get the insights you want—you’ll need to interpret your findings from all that data, which can be tricky. You can apply user research anytime during the design process. Leverage User Research Methods throughout Development Here are key methods: - Discover – Determine what’s relevant for users. - Explore – See how to address all users’ needs. - Test – Evaluate your designs. - Listen – Put issues in perspective, uncover any new problems and spot trends. However you approach user research, always consider the pros and cons of each technique. Card sorting is cheap and easy, for example, but may prove time-consuming when you proceed to analysis. Moreover, it might not provide in-depth contextual meaning. The resources available to you are another constraint. These will decide when, how much and which type of user research you can actually do. Overall, user research is a valuable way to validate the assumptions the design team makes concerning users in the field, cut the expense of the best deliverables and keep your product’s demand high and ahead of competitors in the marketplace. #BrandLume #digitalmarketing #goals #brandingdesign

Everything You Should Know To Create A Useful Competitor Report Analyzing and monitoring your competition is fundamental to any business's success. So what should a good competitive report include and how to take it from research to action? Why Does My Business Need a Competitive Report? There are many reasons why a business may need a competitive report, and all of these are valid: - To better understand your target audience by researching how they find and engage with your more established competitor - For market research: Understand what is currently available on the market and where your business fits in - To get an estimate of your future marketing budget - To identify effective marketing tactics, etc. Business owners that claim they don’t need a competitive report because they already know everything are clearly missing out. Competitive research is much more than copying your more successful competitor’s marketing tactics. Actually, it is not at all about that because copying would never bring you ahead. Competitive research is about understanding your target market and distinguishing your unique value proposition and consequently your unique marketing strategy to conquer it. So what should a solid competitive report include? Competitive Benchmarking Competitive benchmarking means collecting the performance data of your competitors and comparing it to your business. It is used to measure and monitor your business’s performance against its competitors. Basic Overview of Competition There are fundamental KPIs you are going to focus on and there are secondary metrics that will help you identify competitors to keep an eye on. Detailed Dive into Organic Search Engine Optimization Tactics Look at some key search engine optimization tactics your competitors are using #BrandLume #digitalmarketing #goals #brandingdesign #brandingagency #brandingtips #brandingidentity #socialmedia #SMM #marketing #growthhacking #socialmediamarketing #blogging #SEO #affiliatemarketing

Why SEO And Copywriting Go Hand In Hand Content is considered to be the foundation of a successful SEO strategy. What exactly does that mean? Content is traditionally fundamental to SEO because Google needs words and text to understand relevancy. Even decades after Google algorithm was born and now that it can read visual and video content, Google still admits relying on text for the most part. What is High-Quality Content? Number one, just be awesome at what you do. Google is getting better and better at being able to differentiate what people are really asking for. Be very clear about who you are and what you do. It’s not guaranteed that you won’t run into those problems, but Google is getting better at figuring out the intent of a query and really finding what the best result should be. Authenticity and transparency go a long way. It is not about faking relevance and quality signals. It’s about really solving the problems behind search queries. As a result, it’s getting harder for affiliates and resellers to suck traffic away from brands in branded search queries, without the brand having to do much SEO improvement on their part. Content and SEO: They Only Win Together So it is quite clear that SEO isn’t really possible without content. Can content exist without SEO? It actually can. But unless you keep SEO in mind when creating content, you rely on a sheer chance to have it ever discovered or found. When it comes to business and marketing, relying on luck is never a good strategy. You need data and planning to increase your odds of success, and that’s where SEO comes in handy. It’s becoming much more important for content creators to understand how content is published and discovered on the Internet. In a way, optimizing your content for search is getting easier to understand and easier to integrate into the whole content creation process. #BrandLume #digitalmarketing #goals #brandingdesign #brandingagency #brandingtips #brandingidentity #socialmedia #SMM #marketing #blogging #SEO #affiliatemarketing