Users love errors.. if they don’t appear, but the reality is there are many times when the error message has to display for a better understanding of the user about the situation happening, and as designers, we have to make that situation as easy as possible that users don’t even remember that happen.

“The best error message is the one that never shows up” — Thomas Fuchs

For learning to design better error messages, I have put together some of the points that you should focus on which creating an error message for your app.

1. Be Clear

when writing an error message, keep in mind that you have to make the message as simple as possible because it helps the user to easily understand the message which helps the user to take necessary action based on the message you have listed.

By Making the message clear I mean that it should be in simple language and basically explains the cause of the error in a single sentence if possible. clarity is something that helps designers to design anything great.

Airbnb is one of the very popular apps on the app store, and it has many designers around the world and if you can gain knowledge from them It might be the best case for you. and in this point when the error occurs inside the Airbnb app, it uses to provide the clean message, sometimes small but if it requires something more to explain then they try to explain it inside few lines.

2. Be Short and Meaningful

the message has to be clear as well as short and meaningful. We as user also hate to read the whole paragraph of error message just to see that they are saying that “you aren’t connected to the internet” and to make it simple you don’t have to do a lot of work just think about the line that fits best for the error message and use it.

for example, when you click the next button without entering the password which is required, the app can show an error message with just a simple text on it saying that “Password is Required. Short and Meaningful.

3. Be Humble, Don’t Blame the User

be humble to the user don’t command and blame the user, don’t be his dad. be the humble app and say the three words to them, “We are Sorry” for any error and provide the things they can do.

many apps use the sorry page if they have mistakenly done something that can lead the user to this page, be polite and humble to your user.

“A good way to incorporate more human tone to your error messages is to think about explaining it out loud to someone. How does it sound when you speak it in conversation.” — Sonia Gregory

Users don’t feel good while reading some shameful message that can hurt their pride and feeling and as designers, we don’t want our users to feel like that, so be humble to every user and accept your mistake.

4. Don’t Use Technical Jargon

Using (ERROR 14XV78S90) instead of writing your password is wrong looks very scary and useless. many times users don’t want to see the technical stuff they want the simple message that if my network is not connected to the PC it can just say that “You’re not connected to the network” Instead of writing a long useless technical code that I’ve to copy and paste on the google to find the real meaning of it.

Disney app uses the best case which includes both problem and the code if the user can understand it easily, every time use this case if you’re really wanted to write the code for some technical stuff because sometimes the error message with code founded useful for hardware and software connection.

5. Provide Information

Provide the information why are showing the error, without it user will live inside the inception of error messages. many apps are doing it greatly but few of the websites are still missing this, they might want to save some time in coding the error but the end result is quite worse than that.

I’m not saying that information means a long paragraph in which you explain the error the best thing is to just show an error message in a single line.

6. Provide Direction

whenever users find a problem they wanted to solve the problem as fast as possible and to help them you have to provide them a direction.

A good error message has three parts: problem identification, cause details if helpful, and a solution if possible.

if you can’t explain all the things right there you can direct the user to somewhere he can find the solution.

Many designers use the error message as the direction provider which means they add a single line that helps in solving the problem easily.

7. Be Specific and Relevant

Try to be as specific and relevant as you can because it helps the user to solve the error very easily. wherever you create the account the password error message points out the exact requirement and things they accept which is one of the best ways to specifically point out the solution.

if you instead use the “Something went wrong” aka useless error message that will do nothing useful, instead confuses the users which in return make the user experience bad and the user might leave the app.

8. Avoid Upper Case

Upper Case text is harmful when you want to be humble because it makes the effect of shouting in front of the users.

as well as the upper text is hard to read which makes the error message much weaker and useless. instead use the sentence case and

9. Provide Appropriate Actions

Don’t show the error message only, instead provide some actions that can solve the problem right there just like instead of showing the file already exist try to add the overwrite button to it which helps the user to solve the problem.

Instead of ordering something, try to provide the solution below the error which helps in saving the time and efforts of the user.

10. Place Error Message Properly.

It is very important to place an error message closer to the area from where it belongs to. Users should not have to look here and there after reading the message that what it talks about.

When you design the form try to add an error message below every field which makes the user understand which field required which thing. instead of just showing the red dot or showing all the errors in one place using this approach. this might help the user in filling the form accurately.

Error Messages are not that hard if you learn and understand the users.

Thanks for reading, I hope you find out something useful. if yes then share it with others and keep supporting and loving.