Any developer’s North Star for designing a smartphone app or website is the right combination of style and substance.

Good user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) rely on creating something with good visual appeal backed by robust functionality.

Both are essential because creativity attracts a user, and functionality keeps them returning for more.

The problem?

Integrating creativity and functionality in the design process is challenging. Developers have wild and vivid imaginations that they want to bring to life–they’re just not always practical from a user’s perspective.

This blog will discuss six ways to let your creativity blossom while delivering an end product people actually want to use.

Identify the Problem

As a developer of any digital product, the first question you need to reflect on is: “What problem am I solving for the user?”

Your answer to the above question becomes your blueprint. It becomes your guide when making design decisions. It ensures you’re creating functional designs and not getting too carried away with bells and whistles.

The only way to identify the problem is to speak to your potential users.

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Airbnb was going to go out of business. The only thing that turned their fortunes was listening to their users.

This story is taken from an e-book called The Way to Design.

It highlights how Joe Gebbia, Airbnb’s co-founder, mistakenly thought the key to solving user’s needs was to “code our way through problems.”

Only when Joe and his partner visited their users did they gain priceless insights into their users’ experience. And the rest is history.

If you want to read the full story, go to page 48 of the book.

User research is a non-negotiable. Do not write a line of code (or use a no-code app) until you’ve spoken to your would-be users.

Prioritize Functionality Before Creativity

This is Design 101.

When constructors build houses, they build the foundations and the structure first. They make sure everything works as it should before bringing in the painters.

The same applies to apps and websites.

Make a bullet point list of every function your product is supposed to perform. For example, if you’re building an e-commerce app, some of the core functions will include:

• Being able to register for an account.
• Purchasing a product.
• Contacting support.
• Managing your order.

Before you start to think about creativity, make sure your code permits a user to complete the essential actions. Once things work as they should, you can start to coat the functions with a lick of creativity.

Form Health’s Wegovy page is a good example of how to balance creativity and functionality in UI/UX design. The design is clean, simple, professional, and easy to navigate. It uses visual cues like color, typography, and spacing to guide users’ attention and help them navigate the page easily.

Due to the sensitive nature of the topic and the need to project medical authority, it prioritizes functionality and trustworthiness over highly creative or flashy design, effectively communicates key information, and provides clear calls to action like “Get Started,” which redirects to the onboarding 3-minute quiz. The focus is on building trust and providing reliable information, which is crucial in the healthcare space.

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It’s now possible to create fantastic forms, like Wegovy’s, using an artificial intelligence (AI) form generator.

Prioritize Performance and Responsiveness

There is little value in a visually stunning UI that slows down the app or website.

While implementing features like dark mode should be fine, other forms of creativity can hamper functionality.

We live in impatient times. Users want things yesterday. They are not likely to hang around if a page takes too long to load or if their interactions with the app are clunky.

Creative design elements that come at the cost of usability are too high of a price to pay.

To hit the perfect balance and sweet spot in your visual elements, avoid the following:

• Excessive animations that slow things down.
• Using uncompressed images that increase load times. Compress them and opt for SVG files as they’re lightweight compared to the commonly used PNG and JPEG formats.
• Using different fonts. Too many fonts hurt your branding and slow down page rendering because each font loads an extra request onto the server.
• Combine CSS and JavaScript files to, again, reduce the number of requests.

One key optimization every app and website needs is lazy loading. This is where you load only what is visible on the screen instead of everything on the page.

For example, an e-commerce site displaying product images should load images as users scroll, rather than preloading all images at the start.

Prioritize Mobile

This one is specifically for websites. Most of us use our phones to browse the Internet. As a result, it is essential to optimize for mobile. Google also likes mobile-friendly websites, so it can help your search engine optimization (SEO).

If you’re using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Shopify, many of their templates and styles are already mobile-friendly.

Of course, the designer in you wants to tinker. Just don’t inadvertently make the site difficult to use on mobile.

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One core thing to remember is that mobile users click with their fingers, not a mouse pointer.

Buttons should be large enough to tap without misclicking. A form with small checkboxes works fine on a desktop but is difficult to tap on mobile, which leads to poor mobile responsiveness. 

At the same time, make sure text and images adjust to different orientations.

Security Considerations

A visually striking interface can draw users in, but if it’s not functional and secure, it won’t keep them there. The real challenge in UI/UX design is blending creativity with practicality—making an interface engaging without introducing usability issues or security risks. This becomes even more critical in cloud-based applications, where cloud security assessments ensure that a seamless user experience doesn’t come at the cost of data protection.

Too often, designers push the boundaries of aesthetics while security takes a backseat.

But a well-designed product isn’t just about how it looks—it’s about how it performs under real-world conditions. Cloud security assessments help identify potential vulnerabilities early, so security is integrated into the design rather than patched in later.

User Testing

Finally, you should create a culture of testing. Whether you’re at the pre-design, prototype, or post-launch phase, invite users to test and create that open feedback loop.

Usability testing is a non-negotiable that ensures your app/website remains fit for purpose.

Final Thoughts

Any app or website’s ultimate goal is to help someone use it for its intended purpose in a way that delivers an enjoyable experience without any frustration or hair-pulling.

If you keep this idea in mind and follow the principles outlined in this blog, you are most likely to create something that balances creativity and functionality.

Featured image by Ilham Malik on Unsplash