💥Design Brief #119: A SaaS Website,  How to Announce New Features, the Microcopy of Saying Goodbye, an Icon Set Design, and UX Trends in Google

Why Split Tests and Small Tweaks Don’t Work

Split testing and making small tweaks to a SaaS website seems necessary today, but there is a better way to convert users into customers - argues Pedro Cortes in his article. A SaaS website should be nothing less than a proper system of acquiring customers based on the amount of targeted traffic sent to them. Instead of producing small tweaks, which work only temporarily and are not effective after all, you should focus on the costs of bringing someone to your website (by creating content or paid traffic) and the costs of keeping them (once they become customers). Read more

Vital UX Skills That Few Designers Have, and How to Develop Them

The UX industry is becoming very competitive, yet there are still far too few designers that have the skills necessary for the job. Hiring managers are constantly on the lookout for those who can demonstrate creative maturity, empathy or knowledge of business in interviews. You should read this guide by Jeremy Bird from Omadi if you you want to improve your chances to land the UX job you’ve always dreamed of. Read more

How to Announce New Features to Drive Product Adoption

You are constantly improving your software, battling the competition, and listening to your users’ needs. Great! But it’s only worth it when you communicate it properly. A feature without an effective announcement and user onboarding strategy is just wasted dev time and a layer of complexity for your users. You’re more likely to get a user to engage with a feature if it's discoverable, easy to try, and can demonstrate clear value. Using the best practices and frameworks from this article can help you wow your users and make your product stick. Read more

How to Design an Icon Set: Simple Checklist for Graphic Designers

Design trends may change, but icon design sticks to the old principles of consistency, legibility, and clarity. Therefore, the process of designing an icon is simple enough if you follow a short list of rules. But keeping all the rules in mind while drawing an icon set can be challenging. Anna Golde, a graphic designer for Icons8, together with her team shares their working process details on how to do it right. Read more

If You Leave Me Now: The Microcopy of Saying Goodbye

What to say (and what not to say) to users who’ve decided to leave or declined your incredible offer? How do you respond to their refusal? Do you respect them? Understand where it is coming from? Or do you go about a convincing campaign, full of crocodile tears and empty in value? You should ask yourself a couple of questions first and look to improve your product. But most of all you should offer leaving users a simple and nice goodbye, that will make them feel that whenever they wish to come back ,  they have a good place to do it. Read more

UX Trends I Observed at Google as a Mobile UX Lead

Ryan Warrender shares a list of insights from partnering with over 150 web development teams when he was working in the Mobile Transformation Team at Google. Improving your mobile site takes patience, analysis, and cross-functional commitment, and there is no magic bullet to resolve all of your UX issues. But there are certain rules you should and some you definitely shouldn’t follow. Take a look at the learnings, observations, and pitfalls he gathered after seeing literally hundreds of websites. Read more