How to create the Best User Experiences

At Web Usability, we believe that digital services should be easy to use for everyone. Our work with the British Museum exemplifies this belief, demonstrating how accessibility improvements can create a seamless, enjoyable user experience while advancing inclusion, corporate responsibility, and sustainability. 

So what makes for the “Best User Experience” and how can you create them? 

The global standard ISO 9241-11 defines user experience (UX) as: 

“a person’s perceptions and responses resulting from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system, or service”. 

In other words, UX isn’t just about interfaces – it’s about how people feel and what they can achieve when they interact with your digital service. 

But what should you be asking yourself as you design and build?

Key questions when designing a digital experience

Is it usable?

This is the foundation. Can people: 

• find what they need? 
• understand what’s happening? 
• complete key tasks without confusion or frustration? 

Usability is about clarity, consistency and reducing cognitive load. For UX designers, this means: 

• clear information architecture 
• intuitive interaction patterns 
• legible typography and sensible spacing 
• meaningful feedback (error messages, success states, progress indicators) 

If people cannot easily complete tasks, nothing else about the experience really matters.

Is it useful and usable for a wide range of humans? 

The “best” experiences are designed for the real variety of users, not a single idealised persona. 

Ask yourself: 

• Does this journey still work when users are tired, distracted or under time pressure? 
• Is the content clear for people with different levels of digital literacy or language proficiency? 
• Does it still make sense on different devices, in different contexts and environments? 

Practical ways to get there: 

• Test early and often: Usability testing with real users – not just colleagues – helps uncover issues before they’re baked in. 
• Diversify your participants: Include people with a range of abilities, assistive technologies, backgrounds and confidence levels. 
• Design around tasks, not pages: Start with what users are trying to do (e.g. “book tickets”, “find opening times”, “update my details”) and make those journeys as simple as possible.

Is it accessible and inclusive?

Accessibility is not a “nice to have”. It’s a legal requirement, a moral obligation and a powerful way to improve experiences for everyone. Start by undertaking an honest assessment of where you stand so you can identify the improvements that can be made. 

Assess current offerings

Conduct a comprehensive review of your existing products and services to identify accessibility issues. This could include: 

• accessibility audits 
• usability testing with disabled users 
• code and content reviews 

Implement necessary changes

Develop and execute a plan to address what you’ve found. This may involve: 

• redesigning key journeys 
• updating content for clarity and structure 
• improving code to better meet standards like WCAG 
• enhancing customer service processes around support and alternative formats 

Stay informed

Standards and best practice evolve. Regularly monitor updates to accessibility guidance and regulations to ensure ongoing compliance. (Top tip: Web Usability can help do this on a rolling basis if you’d like ongoing support.) 

Why accessibility should be a priority 

Making digital services accessible: 

• expands your customer base – By meeting disabled users’ needs, you open your service to a broader audience and increase potential market share. 
• improves user experience for all – Clearer content, better navigation, good contrast and keyboard support benefit everyone, not just those with recognised impairments. 
• builds trust and loyalty – When people experience a service that considers their needs, they’re more likely to trust your organisation and come back.

Is it sustainable?

By “sustainable” we mean an experience that can be: 

• maintained and improved over time 
• kept compliant with legal standards 
• aligned with your organisation’s wider social and environmental responsibilities 

Accessibility and UX should not be one-off projects that get forgotten after launch. 

Consider: 

• Embedding accessibility into processes: Bake accessibility and UX checks into your design, development and content workflows, rather than relying on one-off audits. 
• Looking beyond digital: Physical spaces are important too.

“If I arrived here in a wheelchair, can I comfortably access the building and use all the facilities?”

Improvements to the physical experience, then ensuring those facilities and journeys are clearly communicated via your website, creates a cohesive and inclusive experience across channels. 

How Web Usability can help 

At Web Usability we bring 23 years’ experience in: 

• usability testing 
• accessibility auditing 
• strategy-led UX research and insights 

Whether you’re building a new digital service or improving an existing one, we can help you: 

• Understand real users and their accessibility needs 
• Audit existing services for usability and accessibility risks 
• Communicate UX insights to stakeholders clearly and compellingly 
• Embed UX and accessibility into your organisation’s culture and processes 

Final thoughts 

Creating the best digital user experience isn’t a one-time project – it’s a commitment. 

It means: 

• continuously stepping into your users’ shoes 
• measuring how well you meet their needs (including accessibility needs) 
• iterating and aligning improvements with your strategic goals 

If you base your website or app on guesswork, you will almost certainly fall short of users’ expectations. But by: 

• placing users – including those with diverse needs – at the heart of your design 
• linking UX with business value and organisational responsibility 

…you can create digital experiences that really deliver. 

If you’d like to speak to someone about your UX or accessibility needs, we’d love to hear from you.