Social Networking Web Design Solutions

Social Networking Web Design Solutions

 

The article by Sujay Kumar N gathering general points important to think about in process of making efficient UI/UX design for social networks of various kinds.

Today there are a lot of social networking sites and services ranging from general ones providing multiple functions and features for the broad audience to specialized networks concentrating on the needs and pains of the narrow audience. There are specialized social networks for mums, scientists, cyclists, writers, tourists, teachers than on then forth. Let’s discuss social network design.

Having practical experience of varied social network UI design here in Sujay Kumar Studio, today we share some ideas on things important to think about within the process of making a product targeted at communication. As this subject is wide and it’s impossible to say everything in one post, today we only start this conversation having gathered the overall positions designer must take under consideration while performing on this type of product.

Features of a social network

Social networks because the services targeting communication usually have some basic features, which are mostly universal independently from the audience or perhaps content on which the communication is predicated. Among these basic features we might mention:

1. Creation and straightforward editing of a private account, preferably with the power to guard the info it includes
2. Easy search of users and content
3. Categorizing the content
4. Sharing with friends or followers
5. Feed showing the newest updates
6. Personal and group chatting and discussions
7. Creating groups, public pages, or other forms of communities
8. Clear and arranged notifications informing the user about activity and socialization with his/her circle of friends, followers, communities, etc.

Everything above mentioned makes the network social, therefore the better they're thought out, the better and clearer it'll be for users.

Vital points for efficient UX Thinking the way to design a social network, from the very start the designer should be targeting several points:

The Social Network is formed for communication. it's not a private exhibition, the newsreader, a group of articles, or a gallery. it's a community, where a user is often both silent and loud. it's a platform where people can communicate easily at any moment they need.

Successful, popular, and efficient social networks are all supported by user-generated content. Therefore, the user should be offered multiple functions to get that content via discussions, posts, sharing, chatting, libraries, collections then on then forth. Otherwise, the danger of fail gets high: the social network won't attract the users and can not create a platform of pleasant communication.

Most users of social networks are people that aren't highly-tech. They don’t easily switch to updates and don’t read the subtle designer solutions beyond what they see.

The power of habit, during this case, is usually stronger than the wish of revolution. Nowadays most of the people using the web are familiar with one or several social networks so that they have a sort of general understanding of basic functions and possible transitions. Certainly, just copying the prevailing social network design patterns and functionality won't produce an ingenious product; however, going too far away from the common image of social networking features and creating something revolutionary new can confuse users. 

Keeping the balance on this thin line between habit and innovation is one of the vital tasks the designer will need to compute.

Most users (if not all) aren't able to spend tons of their time to find out how the social network works. albeit they need time, they might rather spend it on doing something interesting and interesting within the network rather than making up how it functions. Creating a social networking website design relating to ad or web designing, it’s crucial to form the navigation intuitive so that users could learn it and remember basic operations quickly.

A social network should provide useful functions and make a user conscious of them. Nobody now needs the social network only for pure communication – it should give more to be attractive. Creating additional features and adding useful integrations may be a great way to draw in the audience.

The act of Remembering and considering the things mentioned in positions helps the designer to form successful user search also as build efficient user stories and flows so that the social network design concepts provided a positive user experience. It supports the website or app's ability to only to draw in users but also retain and group them around a convenient and useful platform.

Solutions for efficient UX

Some of the overall solutions that would be a sort of basis for the designer performing on UX for a social network, we think, are the following:

1. Easy and straightforward registration with a minimal number of steps needed to be done. it's advisable at the very beginning stage to supply a sort of straightforward, catchy, and entertaining tutorial or presentation of the essential advantages, engaging the user, but not overloading with an excessive amount of information.

2. An account should be easy to urge filled in and will provide several modes of openness to others. The user should make certain that he or she is in a position to stay a coffee profile or close the info for strangers at any time when it's wanted.

3. Optimized and well-thought-out search with a transparent system of filters is one of the essential factors to make a positive user experience.

4. The functionality of generating and sharing content should be clear and make the method fast.

5. Feed page or screen which provides to ascertain the updates within the network easily set wanted data or users visible and giving the power to maneuver on to different functional zones of the network should be carefully designed.

6. It’s important to enable a user to categorize the content consistent with different nature, popularity, or other characteristics.

7. Direct communication features like discussing and chatting with people should be visible, clear, and available from any point of using the network.

8. Opportunities for engaging other users, creating groups, lists, clubs, communities, public pages, and discussions become an efficient basis for creating the network socially. the great thanks to easing using them for a user is that the feature of automatic grouping alongside the content or other characteristics and manual (personal) grouping, created by the user.

9. As social networks are always crammed with different information and typically filled with it dynamically, it's important to enable users to save lots of or mark the content or people they need to recollect or move out of the overall flow.

10. counting on the audience, integrations, games, special functions or tight reference to other networks can become the factor of creating user experience positive and increasing the extent of usability.

Certainly, the points mentioned above are generalized, and that they should be carefully revised consistent with the precise design task. Thorough research of the defined audience, understanding target users’ needs and pains will help to chew over the mentioned positions from the attitude of efficient UX, which can outline a number of the points because the most vital factors while the others will stay behind the scene within the specific conditions.

No doubt, this list goes to be continued in our next posts where we'll tell more about UX and UI design for social networking sites and services.