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This research is carried out by a whole team that brings together various specialisations: conversion optimisation, brand optimisation, online persuasion (behaviour on the web from a psychological approach, just read how profound and interesting that is!), usability and user testing. This integrated collaboration ensures a strong and multifaceted research process. The results are well-founded design choices in which as much as possible is based on rock-hard data.

This article is written by Tilt Amsterdam, Creative Studio in Amsterdam.

Visual design
People remember 80 percent of what they see, but only 20 percent of what they read. When people hear ‘visual design’, they often immediately think of end products: web pages, page elements, complete websites, apps, banners, and so on. However, in a visual design process, there are often also many intermediate products. Think of the storyboards, moodboards, flow charts, mockups, prototypes, and of course… wireframes (yes, there you have ‘em!). 

In this article we limit ourselves to web design, but the design principles largely correspond to the principles of any other design process. The most important ones:

Functionality first, because no one benefits from a design that doesn’t work (properly) or that is misunderstood by the user.
Standard conventions & design patterns: users have learned certain patterns that you don’t want to deviate from. A company logo is always somewhere at the top of the web page so that it is immediately visible. For the user it is weird if we suddenly only show it at the bottom, out of sight.
Data for the win: where you can draw firm conclusions on the basis of data (because an A/B test has been carried out, for example), the data should be leading for design choices.

This article is written by tiltamsterdam.com. Creative Studio in Amsterdam.

Ethical design: I’ve never heard a user honestly say that he would benefit from a pre-selected checkbox placed out of sight when ordering online. This means that he – without knowing it – orders extra mumbo jumbo that he doesn’t want to pay for. As a designer, your job is to produce designs that do not run counter to the user’s morale.
The brand aspect: companies, brands and branded campaigns often have their own house style, colours, logos, shapes, etc. Unless otherwise requested, you design as close as possible to the brand aspect. This is important for the recognisability and built-up associations with the brand.
The aesthetic value: in a project there is often room for aesthetics, which means that your design is considered ‘beautiful’. However, finding something ‘beautiful’ is subjective and therefore always of secondary importance under the functionality first principle.
Interaction Design & UI
UX design is often confused with ‘interaction design’ and the abbreviation UX is often confused with UI (User Interface). Even though they have a lot to do with each other, they still describe different things. With Interaction & UI, the main question is what the user does and with UX, mainly how the user experiences it.

In interaction design, the term ‘interaction’ actually says it all; it’s about the interaction between people and systems. The key question here is how communication takes place. When it comes to designing for the web, the interaction designer focuses on it:

Textual content: headers, paragraph texts and texts in call to actions such as buttons.
Visual presentation: is everything easy to find and does it work intuitively?
Methods of interaction: we all know how to click, tap, swipe and scroll. But with the expansion of today’s devices on the market – Apple Watch, Virtual Reality – also think of gestures and new methods.
Timing: when and after which interaction do you present certain information? This is often important when using animations, using video and feedback about the time your users spend in an app or on a website.
The term user interface (abbreviated to UI), on the other hand, describes an interface: a medium through which a person and a system either communicate with each other or with two systems. However, an interface does not necessarily have to be an interface on a computer screen or mobile device, such as a website or an app, but also the buttons in an elevator form an interface with each other. Just like the controller of your XBOX, a USB port, a pin device and the voice control on your phone.

The interfaces with online marketing
Both UX design and online marketing are strongly driven by research. Research creates reference points, identifies pain points and provides insight into where the ‘wins’ lie. Brand optimization research is an example of research in which both disciplines are closely involved. Psychology in general also plays an important role in both. Last but not least is the data: data resulting from online marketing is very useful for UX design and vice versa.

The difference between them is in the focus. In online marketing the