A Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Responsive Website with Webflow

Nowadays, having a company website is as essential as having an office, domain or telephone number. By 2020, approximately 4.5 billion people, or more than half of the world’s population, are connected in some way to the World Wide Web in order to satisfy their entertainment, education, research and consumer needs.

If your business does not have a website, we provide a number of benefits to you:

1.  It sets the first impression

When your audience visits your website, it gives them their first impression of your business. They will judge your business within seconds. In these first few seconds, you can make a positive or negative impact on your audience. The impression you make on them can either get them to remain on your page and learn about your business, or leave your page and turn to a competitor.

2.  Cost-Effective

Use your website to sell goods and services directly to consumers without various forms such as printed media, radio, television, etc. Having the website will make promoting much easier and less expensive.

3. Online 24/7

Anyone, anywhere and anytime, has access to your website and gets business information and details about your products and services.

4. Advertising and Increase Sales

SEO and online advertising are a great way to be the first company that a potential new customer sees when searching for a product or service online. An effective website with great content can attract many more people and increase sales.

5. Customer Service Online

Websites provide an easier way to handle customer service. In the modern world, people buy products and services using mobile phones to browse the internet.  So, it might help customers find your location while they are on the move. This is especially important for restaurants, cafes, and other eateries, but is also relevant for other businesses.

However, there are a few disadvantages of having a website for your business:

1. Reliability

The information on your website might be updated on a regular basis. Otherwise, you will lose some part of potential customers due to unreliable information on the website.

2. Bad Publicity

If customers are unhappy with your products or services, they may feel the need to reference your website in their reviews or comments. This could potentially be damaging, hurting your reputation and your search engine ranking. Of course, not having a website won’t prevent such things from happening, but it might allow you to monitor and be aware of it.

3. Right development team

It is no secret that there are lots of companies that can design and develop a website. Among the sea of designers and developers, you need to find a team that will understand your business goals and the needs of your customers and convert them into a beautiful website.

Having read that, you might come to the conclusion that having a website is a crucial thing in the digital world, and it is a great opportunity to raise your sales.

Darly team understands this fact, and we are going to show how we can provide your business and your potential customers with a great experience.

At Darly Solutions, we offer two main approaches to creating a website:

Creating a website from scratch

Required knowledge and tools:

1. HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)

HTML is the basic structure of web pages and web applications, which makes the content semantic to the web browser. Every web page you see on the Internet is written using one version of HTML code or another.

2. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

CSS is the language for describing the presentation of Web pages, including colors, layout, and fonts. Without CSS, a web page would look like a large white page with some unordered text and image on it. CSS is the thing that makes it all look pretty.

3. Scripting Languages

HTML and CSS cannot be interactive without scripting languages. To make a dynamic web page that will respond to user actions, you need languages like JavaScript and jQuery. Server-side languages like PHP, Python and Ruby might also be needed over time.

4. Database Management

Database Management allows to organize, store and retrieve data from a computer. Database Management Systems like MySQL, MongoDB and PostgreSQL are used on the server-side to do this job efficiently.

5. FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

FTP is a standard Internet protocol for transmitting files between computers on the Internet over TCP/IP connections. FTP is used to transfer a website’s source files to its hosted server more easily.

Creating a website with CMS

WordPress is extremely powerful and can run most types of websites. Statistics show that WordPress is currently the most popular CMS (Content Management System) in the world. It powers 27.8% of all sites on the web, with about 50,000 new sites being created daily. With more and more people viewing sites on their smartphones and other mobile devices, it’s really important to have a site that is responsive to these digital demands. With WordPress, most themes come mobile friendly by default. Usually, WordPress is used for creating blogs where you have to work with a big amount of texts and need to edit them all the time.

Design

The success of any website entirely depends on how good its web design is. It is important so much that 38% of the visitors will leave a website if they find the design unattractive. When your audience visits your website, it gives them their first impression of your business. They will judge your business within seconds. In these first few seconds, you want to make a positive impact on your audience.

You can think of web design like selling a car – it could have the most incredible engine, but if the appearance is hideous, people will not be interested in buying it.

Good website design needs a wide range of professionals having expertise in different areas.

Here in this article, we’ll outline the 5 steps to create the perfect design.

1. Set your goal and strategy

2. Research the latest web design trends

3. Select a team for cooperation

4. Decide on your branding

5. Think about positioning and optimization of your content

We’ll run through all the steps in detail below.

Set your goal and strategy

Before you jump head-first into designing your website, you need to be clear on its purpose. Keep in mind that your visitors want to understand what your business is all about in the blink of an eye. Having multiple main objectives is likely to result in confusion.

Once your purpose is clear, the focus shifts towards what action you want visitors to take when they land on your website. Is your site there just to display information? To sell products? To get sign-ups? The answer to this will ultimately dictate how your website looks and feels. Using E-Commerce as an example, one crucial element of your design is your landing page.

Research the latest web design trends

It’s important to note that just because a web trend is current, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily right for you. You can look at what competitors are doing and analyze the things and features that you like and dislike. Each sector will have different styles, so it’s important to consider this fact.

Select a team for cooperation

Design of your website plays a vital role in your online marketing campaign’s success. If you want to drive the best results for your business, you must invest in designing a website that encourages people to learn more about your business. At Darly Solutions, we have over 4 years of experience designing websites.

We are a full-service IT company that specializes in web development, mobile app development, UI/UX design and so on. Our team of experts will bring their knowledge and expertise to your campaign. We know the importance of web design and can help you create a website you’ll love.

Wireframes, prototypes and mockups form three of the earlier steps of product design. The great way to explain them is to imagine a parallel between them and the human body. The wireframe is the skeleton or the structure of the product. The prototype is the brain or the organ that decides how the human should move and interact with something. The mockup is the skin, hair, and facial features, or brand, that make the human instantly recognizable.

Decide on your branding

Color is one of the brand’s biggest communication tools. In fact, according to Color Matters, a signature color can boost brand recognition by 80%. There’s a lot of psychology behind people’s perception of color, so it’s important to understand how it’s used in relation to your industry.

Most brands have one dominant color, then two or three secondary colors. Blue is the most popular color, with one third of the top 100 brands using it in their logo.

There are many factors that should be considered like colors, font style, imagery etc. In this case, a professional designer can help and suggest a solution based on your business and your requirements.

Think about positioning and optimization of your content

There are two things that you need to consider: positioning and optimization.

Recent research shows that website users scan a page in a shape that resembles an ‘F’. This is why navigation bars on websites are nearly always displayed across the top of the page. It’s the first thing people are drawn to when landing on the site.

Optimization is the process that helps content rank higher on search engines (primary example being Google). Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can increase the quality or quantity of people landing on your pages.

Conclusion

After all of that, congratulations! Your website is now live. You can publish it, but it’s time to check if everything works before you go live! Ask your family, friends, and colleagues to test the site in preview mode (all website builders and E-Commerce platforms will have this), and see if they find anything wrong. You can even get members of the public to test it too. Always take the time to properly check your website. After that, you’re ready: publish your site!

Now, you’re the owner of a live website. But, if you think that you can kick back and relax now, you are quite wrong. Regularly checking the growth and performance of the site will be your responsibility.

However, you can connect your website to tracking tools or at least have an analytic app to install. Alternatively, you can connect your site to Google Analytics.

The truth is, a web designer’s job is never truly done. If you just sit back and admire your work, others will overtake you. So, you need to keep on top of your site’s performance and check for design trends updates.

From long patient wait times to inefficient manual processes and risky paper records, the healthcare sector has faced numerous challenges historically. This has created a fertile ground for doctor appointment apps. According to Verified Market Reports, in 2023 alone, the market was valued at an estimated $318.49M, projecting a surge to $862.16 million by 2030 (15.29% CAGR). 

Given the growth of AI-based solutions in telemedicine tech and the modernization of the healthcare system, we can now highlight the importance of such solutions and dive deep into the specifics of healthcare appointment apps.

What is a doctor appointment system?

A doctor appointment application — is a digital solution that automates the registration of patients for an appointment with medical specialists. However, modern solutions imply more than just scheduling online appointments. They give patients useful information about a healthcare institution's services and specialists. Also, they connect patients with doctors and give access to their records in the comfort of their homes.

Why is this system gaining traction in the healthcare sector? Let’s break it down into factors:

• The widespread digitalization of the healthcare sector.
  Healthcare is moving beyond in-person consultations in the facility. Now, it includes remote consultations, app-based therapies, and remote health tracking for timely interventions.
• The development of modern technologies.
  Various mobile applications and the affordability of smartphones make this format of interaction with patients desired and preferable.
• Reducing the workload on administrators.
  To prevent personnel burnout, medical institutions can use healthcare scheduling software systems to reduce the number of routine tasks assigned to administrators and the number of errors associated with the human factor.
• Increased patient satisfaction.
  Transparent access to doctors' schedules and the ability to choose a suitable time — increase customer loyalty.
• Increased occupancy of doctors' schedules.
  With a doctor appointment system, healthcare organizations can minimize empty appointment slots since it will be easier for patients to choose the optimal date and time for a visit.

Key doctor appointment app features

Since the Apple App Store boasts approximately 35,019 healthcare and medical apps, among which are approximately 10 to 20 types of doctor appointment apps, features might hugely range from app to app. Let's examine the main features of the doctor appointment app.

Online appointment booking

The system should have filters for doctors by specialization, review patient feedback, and book appointment availability by date and time. Additionally, patients should be able to receive reminders for upcoming appointments (e.g., push notifications, email, or SMS).

Telemedicine

For routine follow-ups, an online medical appointment system is essential. It's not a choice but an inevitability. Both patients and healthcare providers save travel time and can schedule appointments just in the app via online consultations, video conferencing, or text chat.

Integration with EMR and billing system

Integration with electronic health records provides access to the patient's medical data directly from the application, allowing doctors to update and review these records directly from the platform. As for the billing system, the PCI DSS-compliant payment gateway will be the core element of the online payment process. In addition, it provides an option for generating bills and receipts.

Feedback and ratings

Usually, this is a window where patients can rate their experiences and write reviews for specific providers using a simple scoring system. For usability, this feature must remain unobtrusive within the app interface.

FAQ and educational materials sections

The app should include a FAQ section covering usage and privacy. It should also have an educational section with information about specialists, a map of the institution, and service costs.

Monetization strategies for doctor appointment apps

The ideal monetization strategy for a doctor appointment system depends on the target audience and the organization's business model. Let's look at the most popular types of monetization in this niche:

• Subscription-based.
  According to this model, after paying for a monthly or annual subscription, patients get access to advanced features, such as priority appointments or online consultations. 
• Pay-per-booking.
  This model involves charging a fixed fee or a percentage of the service's cost (usually 5-10%) for each appointment.
• Advertising.
  Based on this model, you can publish advertisements for medical services, pharmacies, insurance companies, and other partner organizations. This can be contextual advertising, static banners, or affiliate programs (for example, you can recommend pharmacies for buying drugs).
• Payments for telemedicine services.
  This approach to monetization involves charging a fee (either a percentage of the service cost or a fixed amount) for online consultations implemented within the application.
• Patient data monetization.
  This type of monetization involves selling anonymized patient data to global healthcare corporations. They can be used in the future for both clinical research and to improve the quality of services of partner organizations (for example, insurance companies, laboratories, etc.).
• White-label solution.
  Finally, you can develop a customizable solution and sell it to other companies under their brand. In this case, you must provide a settings panel where each organization can set individual configurations.

Benefits of doctor appointment booking app development

To understand the benefits of the doctor appointment booking system, we first need to figure out the main pain points such software can solve. Previously, we’ve mentioned some, but for the sake of completeness, let's consider each of them:

• Simplification of the procedure for making an appointment with a doctor.
  Earlier, patients had to call the clinic, wait for the admin to answer, and adjust to the schedule. With the app, they can choose the best time and date within a few moments on their smartphone.
• Drop in missed sessions and treatment gaps.

With appointment alerts or medication reminders, patients won’t forget about upcoming visits to the doctor and taking medications, which ultimately saves the clinic's resources.

• Transparency of pricing.
  Some patients find it difficult to understand the cost of the services; in turn, with the application, they will have access to all the price information before making an appointment.
• Comprehensive information about doctors and services.

To prevent patients from choosing doctors blindly, the application can offer them a convenient rating system, reviews, and descriptions of services; thanks to this, they will make a more conscious decision about choosing a particular doctor/service.

• Minimization of paperwork.
  Without a doctor appointment application at hand, medical personnel often had to work with paper journals. An app that integrates with the CRM, EHR, and other software will reduce reliance on paper docs.
• Higher revenue.
  You can sell additional services through the application; moreover, its convenience and transparency increase the likelihood of repeat visits.
• Reduced need for human resources.
  The application’s launch will help reduce the need for a large administrative staff, allowing existing employees to focus less on routine tasks and more on value-driven activities.
• Greater return on marketing efforts.
  The patient's behavior analytics can help you craft more targeted offers. With insights into patient habits and preferences, you can create highly targeted offers that resonate with your audience, optimizing both campaign success and budget efficiency while increasing engagement and retention.
• Increased competitive advantage.
  Modern clinics that offer convenient digital solutions win more patients, improve operational efficiency, reduce no-show rates, and enhance patient satisfaction, all of which contribute to a stronger competitive position in the overall healthcare market.

Steps to build a doctor appointment app

Let’s check the steps included in the medical software development services that our doctor appointment app development company provides.

Market research

At this stage, our doctor appointment app development team defines the application's target audience (the patients' age, smartphone proficiency level, etc.). Next, we analyze the institution's business model for which it’s being created while researching competitors and identifying their strengths and weaknesse

Based on the insights received, we determine the app's basic and advanced features. For example, we want real-time patient monitoring through wearables. We also need to agree on the OS, which can be Android and/or iOS. Lastly, we must choose the best monetization model. Finally, we determine the necessary integrations with third-party solutions and the requirements that must be met (usually GDPR, HIPAA, etc.).

Prototyping and UX/UI design

At this point, our experts create user stories to guide the development of prototypes (first lo-fi, and when agreed upon with all stakeholders, hi-fi). Once the prototypes are finalized, our team starts working on the full-fledged doctor appointment app design. We aim to create user-friendly navigation that cuts off the input needed from the user to complete tasks. At the same time, the team works on the UI, optimizing it for mobile platforms and obtaining WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines.

Architecture development

This stage involves choosing an architectural approach (for example, microservices for better scalability, REST or GraphQL for API, and so on). It is also important to plan the processes that will be implemented on the server side (in particular, record management, authorization, etc.). On the client side (usually, this is the patient and administrator interface) and on the database side (as a rule, flows for transactions and caching are separated). We also select specific solutions for implementing the necessary integrations.

Coding

Now, we have everything ready to define the technology stack for the backend and frontend. This decision is based on whether native or cross-platform development will be utilized for the doctor appointment app. Once individual program modules are ready, we proceed with coding and testing each component.

Testing

Since the entire code base is ready, our doctor scheduling app development team ensures that it is fully covered with test cases to perform integration, load, and other types of testing. If there are any bugs, we will fix them immediately and then test the product again. Repeat this process until we meet all the specifications.

Launch and deployment

Finally, our doctor app development experts set up the server infrastructure (optionally, they also introduce CI/CD practices). Ensures data security (through encryption and regular security audits) and carries out a test launch of the software. If there are no critical bugs in the beta version of the application, we release it in the App Store and/or Google Play.

Post-release support and development of updates

This stage includes maintaining app stability, fixing failures, adding new features, optimizing existing ones, updating the design, and scaling with the growing user base.

Doctor appointment app design: Best practices

When it comes to the UI design of a doctor appointment app, we prioritize WCAG 2.1 guidelines. This section details and provides practical examples of their effective implementation for an optimal user experience.

• Readability of information.
  Maintain a color contrast ratio between text and background (at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text). Also, include doctor avatars and icons, ensure text scalability up to 200% (without loss of functionality), and add subtitles and text transcripts for videos (if any).
• Ease of navigation.
  All UI elements should be keyboard-accessible and have a minimum clickable size of 44x44 pixels. Ensure there’s extra space around buttons or links to prevent accidental clicks and include breadcrumbs for easier navigation.
• Clarity of the interface.
  Use simple language in the interface, label all form fields, provide input format examples (like "dd.mm.yyyy"), highlight errors, and offer step-by-step instructions for complex tasks, including a progress indicator.
• Interface reliability.
  Ensure that your application is compatible with assistive technologies (for all functional elements, use ARIA labels). Test your app on various devices and ensure it uses standardized data formats like JSON and XML for smooth communication with integrated third-party servic

Of course, this is only a small part of the best practices you can implement in the doctor consultation app development process. To maximize the loyalty of your audience and better understand what the design should be — read the WCAG 2.1 guidelines directly.

Doctor scheduling app development: Overcoming key challenges

Generally speaking, everyone who is going to develop a doctor appointment app faces challenges to one degree or another. To overcome them effectively, it's crucial to understand them in advance. Let's explore them in detail:

• Integration with software solutions that you already use.
  Your application may require integration with systems and services that are either legacy or support non-standard data exchange protocols (i.e., different from HL7 and FHIR). In this case, you may need additional middleware development to ensure seamless data transfer.
• Data security.
  Medical information must be protected with particular care, as its leakage can lead to large fines and loss of reputation for your organization. To minimize risks, consider data encryption at rest and in transit, implement two-factor authentication and role-based access control. After all, try to regularly conduct pen-tests.
• Performance and scalability.
  High server load during peak hours can lead to failures in the operation of your application. To prevent this, you can initially choose cloud platforms that support autoscaling for hosting and implement data caching.
• Testing complex scenarios.
  During testing, your QA specialists risk missing complex interaction scenarios with the application. For example, when several patients simultaneously make an appointment for the same doctor or when the selected order of visits to several doctors is conflicting. To ensure comprehensive coverage of test cases, use automated testing tools.
• Accessibility.
  A confusing interface can drive users away, leading to fewer interactions with your app. To prevent this, conduct thorough UX research with real users before launch. Based on their feedback, make necessary adjustments to the app's functionality and design.
• The unwillingness of personnel to switch to new digital solutions.
  Adjusting to new rules might be hard, especially within historically established healthcare practices. You might consider providing training for your staff on how to manage new progressive software.

Beyond technical challenges, there are many business-related obstacles, from USP's definition to the choice of an effective monetization model. This is why, besides carefully selecting the right doctor appointment app development team, consider hiring skilled marketing experts, too.

Doctor appointment app development cost

From our experience of doctor appointment mobile app development, it is impossible to determine the accurate cost of such a project without understanding its functionality and the platforms it is intended for. However, based on the average cost for app development, we can give an approximate cost guide. Here’s a breakdown:

Complexity of projects:

• Simple apps typically range from $20K – $30K, and their implementation takes 4 – 6 months. These apps usually include basic functionalities like appointment scheduling and doctor search features.
• For medium apps like telemedicine integration and electronic health records (EHR), costs can rise from $30K to $45K with an approximate 6 – 9 months timeline. This includes both web and mobile platforms with a broader range of functionalities.
• Highly complex applications with real-time video consultations, comprehensive analytics dashboards, and AI-driven functionalities may exceed $45K+ and take 9 – 12 months.

Geographical variations

The cost can also vary by region:

• North America: Because of advanced technological capabilities, on average, it has the highest cost, ranging from $30K – $150K+. 
• Europe: Cost ranges from $20K – $150K, influenced by economic conditions from country to country.
• Asia: Development costs are generally lower, ranging from $20K – $100K.

Have a thriving idea for a doctor appointment app and are curious about a budget estimate for its deployment? Simply fill out this form, and we will swiftly calculate your project and contact you back.

Top 5 successful doctor appointment apps

Now, let’s explore some top-tier doctor appointment apps that excel in every aspect. These examples might inspire you to build a doctor appointment app for your healthcare organization.

Zocdoc

Zocdoc is praised for its intuitive interface and powerful search tools. The platform has an intuitive interface and powerful search tools. The platform streamlines appointments and has instant confirmation features, reminders, a feedback system, and seamless integration with insurance providers and document uploads.

Practo

Popular in India, Practo gives patients access to doctor appointments, telemedicine services, ordering medicines for delivery, and storing medical records. Patients can view individual doctor profiles, including their education, experience, and certifications, allowing them to choose the best specialists for their treatment.

Doctolib

The Doctolib application simplifies making appointments with doctors and provides the option to cancel a visit. This application is integrated with doctors' calendars, automatically sends notifications, and provides rich functionality for doctors (including scheduling management and provision of telemedicine services).

Healthgrades

As for alternatives for the US market, we cannot help but mention Healthgrades. This application helps users find doctors and medical institutions based on location, specialization, and rating. Plus, it allows patients to make appointments and get detailed information about particular specialists and organizations.

MyChart

MyChart — is a top charted app in the US and Canada. Designed to manage medical information and schedule appointments, it allows patients to communicate with doctors online and get family access.

Darly Solutions' expertise in online booking and enhanced customer engagement

The most relevant case for online doctor scheduling app development was Glamezy, a B2C solution for the beauty industry. Our client sought to create an online platform to help small and medium businesses in the beauty sector expand their reach, especially after the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The goal was to develop a website that allowed customers to book beauty services online based on location easily. Also, the platform must have an easy and encouraging interface to communicate with potential partners while boosting sales and driving customer engagement. Ten experts worked on this project; and for the tech stack, we used React and Node.js.

As a result, we created a solution for easily searching and booking top beauty professionals. Now, the platform lets users add salons to a shortlist with one click, view nearby salons on an interactive map, and earn points for every transaction on the platform.

If you’d like to explore this case further, please visit our portfolio.

Final thoughts

It’s fair to say that at the heart of every design lies a larger goal for the benefit of humanity. A well-designed doctor appointment app boosts access and patient satisfaction while helping small and medium healthcare organizations and businesses thrive in the tech sector.

After you’ve read all the details about ideas and challenges for developing a doctor appointment app, it's time to find the right team to turn your vision into reality. 

For now, don’t settle for less. Darly Solution is here to help! Contact us today to discuss your project in detail.

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In terms of IT, design means much more than just creating visuals for a digital solution. Specifically, while the concepts of UX and UI design have long been familiar to anyone who is at least a little involved in software product development, the "product design" term is a relatively new one. Based on its name, we can already make a preliminary conclusion that the work of product designers involves something more than creating a visual for a product, but what exactly? Let's figure it out right now.

What Is UX Design?

UX design is everything that is aimed at the end user getting a certain experience/impression from interacting with the interface of your solution. Its quality can be measured by whether the user manages to achieve the specific goal, and how easy and pleasant it is for him/her.

Usually, the UX design process includes the following stages:

• End-user research;
• Building information architecture;
• User flow creation;
• Creating visuals;
• Ensuring the convenience and accessibility of the created solution.

Let's dwell on these stages in more detail.

Key Elements of UX Design

So, below we will consider the above stages (elements).

• End-user research. It all starts with a survey of the target audience representatives to understand their needs, desires, and pain points. Then they are provided with raw prototypes for testing so that specialists can identify typical problems and imperfections in their concepts.
• Building information architecture. The next step of UX product development is to build low-fidelity wireframes that demonstrate the hierarchy of the product’s elements and functions. After that, designers build an information architecture, which implies dividing the content into categories that simplify the search for information.
• User flow creation. Now, everything is ready to recreate the sequence of steps that the user must take to achieve the goal with the help of a specific product. After the main steps are reproduced, microinteractions have to be implemented – we mean system feedback that improves the quality of the user experience. Additionally, the product is analyzed in accordance with the WCAG 2.0 guidelines – this is necessary for its accessibility for people with disabilities.
• Creating visuals. At this stage, specialists create the visual part of the user interface including the color palette, icons, typography, etc., and also ensure consistency with the previously created templates.
• Ensuring the convenience and accessibility of the created solution. To assess the convenience of the created solution, designers usually use a heuristic approach. Also, they check compliance with the required WCAF 2.0 level. If significant deficiencies are detected, the product is returned for optimization.

Why Is UX Design Important?

UX design services are primarily focused on ensuring end-user satisfaction with the product – that is, it means that the product is comfortable to use and intuitive, and, in general, allows users to quickly complete the tasks assigned to it. In the long term, a properly created UX design can provide a boost in business revenue, an expansion of its consumer base, an increase in competitive advantage, a reduction in the expenses on regular business operations, and many other things. Ultimately, it is important to understand that all this is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the product success.

UX vs. UI Design

Many people don’t understand the user experience vs design difference. However, while UX product design is aimed at creating a positive user experience when interacting with a product, the UI design is about creating a certain, aesthetically attractive appearance and conveying specific feelings to the end user through it.

What Is Product Design?

Now, let's talk about product design: it is a much more comprehensive term than UX and UI design. It ensures that users do not just enjoy dealing with a specific software solution – instead, they should help the owner of this solution achieve specific business goals through this interaction.

Key Elements of Product Design

To better understand the product design vs UX design difference, we suggest, as in the previous case, to consider the key stages of the first term.

• Planning. It starts with comprehensive market research: analyzing its trends, identifying competitors’ advantages and disadvantages, defining the target audience, etc. After that, specialists must align the client's business goals with the collected information and develop a product roadmap (this is performed in collaboration with other project team members).
• Ensuring end-user focus. Now, having information about the target audience at hand, specialists can create user personas by using their demographics, behavioral patterns, pain points, needs, etc. After that, they begin to build user flows and optimize them through testing.
• Interface design. This stage of the product design process involves creating medium-fidelity prototypes that not only describe user interactions with individual interface components but also contain microinteractions and visual detailing.
• Interaction with the project team. Typically, product designers work in teams that work according to the cross-functional methodology – here, they are encouraged to work closely with specialists from other areas. This allows them to reach alignment on goals and their achievement. At this stage, they use prototypes, which, as their details are agreed upon, specialists optimize into a full-fledged product design.
• User feedback analysis and optimization. Finally, the completed solution is presented to end users (depending on the stage of development, these can be representatives of a focus group or real users) to obtain and process their feedback. After that, the obtained insights are gradually implemented through optimization of the presented version.

Why Is Product Design Important?

Its importance is hard to overestimate: product designers collaborate with other members of the project team throughout its life cycle, thereby ensuring the joint achievement of the goals set by its owner. Even though, as in UX design, the convenience of the user’s interaction with the product also plays an important role, it is perceived as something more global – something that is aimed at solving specific problems within one business.

UX Design vs. Product Design: the Differences

From all of the above, we can conclude that the main goal of product design services is to create a comprehensively successful product: that is, one that surpasses its competitors in some way and satisfies the client's business needs, the specifics of their business niche, the needs of the target audience, market trends, etc. This, in turn, imposes on product designers the need to participate in all stages of product development.

As for UX design, its task is to make the product user-oriented, without covering or only partially covering the business aspects declared by the product owner. Thus, without thinking about the need for product design and implementing the UX design stage only, you can lose sight of the factors that hinder the long-term product’s viability on the market (in particular, this often happens with startups and projects with a non-standard approach to solving ordinary problems). 

Conclusion

Now, knowing the difference between the two above concepts, you can understand who exactly your team needs – a UX/UI service provider or a product designer. Whichever option is closer to you, you can always contact us, and we will select a specialist according to your project requirements or assemble a team that will accompany you from collecting project requirements to its launch and optimization.