The redesign is an extremely thin ice Plato, where every step should be made accurately. Why is it so complicated? Changing an interface always requires changing UX as well. At the same time, changing UX greatly may decrease your traffic. Although making small changes in UX only will break a wow effect and the whole purpose of the redesign will be broken. Like balancing on the rope between two skyscrapers redesign requires having a bigger picture in your mind. Here are some common mistakes your bigger picture may have, check out to make sure you are not making them.

Being Focused on Competitors

Usually, people come up with a redesign idea after looking at competitors websites. It is good to be in trend and look outstanding from your competitors. However, the focus on competitors can close your imagination from better ideas.

For example, you’re working on the travel website and your competitor has implemented a cool form to fill-in traveller details. You want the same form. But have you thought, that this form may not look like form at all, but be a quiz-type? You will miss a great chance of making a website more user-focused if competitors are everything you see.

An easy tip to avoid being focused on competitors only is to analyse best practices as well. They may not be from your niche exactly, but they can have cool solutions you could implement as well.

Changing Flows One by One

Do you think making a whole redesign is more expensive, than changing flows one by one? Do you believe, that it will be easier for users to get used to the partially changed interface, than to the whole new interface? Do you still insist on changing your interface in parts because it is a more agile approach? Welcome to the list of top-mistakes made by redesigns!

First of all, making flow-by-flow redesign, in the end, will require one more full app redesign, so it is not cheaper. Why? While making UX it is important to understand, that interface is one whole thing — like a human body. You can’t define a perfect hand length not seeing the height of the body. The same is with the interface design. You can’t make a great subscription flow, not being settings, profile, feed and home.

Secondly, users will be more irritated if the interface is always changing slowly. Yes, the great redesign is stress and some users will be gone after it. But you will receive the same amount of users gone after the flow by flow redesign. Moreover, other users won’t be feeling app is developing and more likely will leave for the better apps until you’re in time with the redesign.

To avoid these mistakes, simply compare the price for a partial and full redesign and analyze the state of your current interface: how many users are not satisfied with it currently, how many negative reviews are you getting? Make it all or wait for the right time.

Being Afraid of Losing Users

Users will leave you right once the redesign is done! How often this idea is popping up in your mind? You need to deal with it once and forever. Yes, some per cent of users always leaves you after the redesign. Bot this per cent is not everyone. Moreover, let’s look at the main goal of the redesign: attracting new users to the product.

Making the current solution interesting for new people, who were not interested in the previous version is impossible saving all the features as they are and not losing fans of the old version. If this will comfort you, recall that users will anyway leave the app because new, more attractive competitors are appearing on the scene. So you have not that wide choice: either to lose users after the redesign or use them naturally.

Making Slight Redesign

The same thing goes for “please change only my UI design” or “I want to change just a few screens, the rest are fine”. It will never work as a redesign, that can improve a user experience overall and save your project. Why?

Changing only UI design without UX touch will make no sense, as the mistakes will remain all same. Users won’t feel much difference between the interface versions and still won’t be satisfied with the result.

Changing a few screens only leads to an even worse scenario when the user gets a “broken” experience. Moreover, leaving the UI design as it is also will break the “wow” effect, so people will simply notice that something has changed. But users won’t be able to tell what exactly was changed and if it was for the good.

Leaving Old Branding

There are always people who simply want to economy or who are afraid of big changes. They usually ask to keep fonts, colours and logo the same as it was on the old website (or interface). Why is it a mistake?

First of all, the colour may simply not fit your business. Secondly, you have made branding for the previous website version or it simply was aligned with the first version of the website. A new direction, especially if we’re changing the mood, will require new colours, fonts and logotype.