What is a Design Audit? How to conduct an effective Audit?

Why is the registration rate low despite having many visits? Why do users usually just view a product and then suddenly exit the app? Why don't users use the new features I just developed? And why is the Cart Abandonment Rate so high?

Have you ever faced a series of "Why" questions like this? Such questions arise when the results of a website or application do not meet expectations, even after it has been launched. One of the core reasons is often due to imperfect designs. 

The Design Audit process was created to identify those gaps and provide improvement solutions, helping to optimize the user experience and improve the product's performance.

So, what is a Design Audit? Why do businesses need to perform a Design Audit? How to do a design audit? Let's explore the answers to the questions above in the following article.

What is a Design Audit?

A Design Audit is the process of thoroughly examining and evaluating a Website or App product using various methods such as Heuristic Evaluation and User Testing. This provides an objective assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in the design, allowing for adjustments to improve the product.

The Design Audit process helps businesses address a series of questions across multiple aspects:

• Relevance: Does the Website/App solve the user's problem? Is there any discrepancy between the user's expectations and the actual experience of the product?
• Value proposition: Has the value proposition of the Website/App convinced users and encouraged them to continue using the product?
• Usability: Are there any ambiguous or confusing elements in the product interface? Can customers easily understand how to use the product?
• Call-to-Action (CTA): Are the contents displayed on the CTAs appropriate and effective in driving users to take the desired action?

Why do businesses need to conduct a Design Audit?

Optimize user experience (UX)

The Design Audit process provides a comprehensive overview of the limitations and pain points in the Website or App Design. This identifies areas for improvement to deliver a more enjoyable and seamless user experience.

Enhance brand recognition

Evaluating the brand's visual identity and messaging through the Design Audit helps businesses identify any inconsistencies across their digital designs. Maintaining consistency in the brand's look and feel creates a smoother interactive experience, ultimately strengthening the brand's recognition among users.

Increase conversion rate

By addressing the identified design gaps, businesses can make it easier for users to complete their desired tasks on the Website or App. This forms the foundation for optimizing conversion rates and driving increased revenue through digital channels.

How to conduct a Design Audit?

Step 1: Understand the business

The Design Audit process starts with a meeting between the UI UX design team and key stakeholders to align on the primary goals of the Audit. These objectives may include Increasing conversions, Improving Website or App user experience, or Strengthening brand identity.

Beyond identifying the key objectives, the Audit team must also discuss and comprehend other important factors, such as Brand characteristics, Tone of voice, and Desired user journey that the business wants to convey through the digital platforms. 

This information helps the UX team plan the necessary tasks, identify the required resources (time and budget), and determine the metrics to measure the results, ensuring the timely completion and effectiveness of the Audit process.

Furthermore, the UI UX team should review the Product Requirement Document (PRD) - A document that consolidates the information shared between the Development, Testing, and Design teams during product development. Revisiting the previous PRDs will help the team better understand the underlying rationale behind the design decisions, enabling them to provide more suitable improvement recommendations.

Step 2: Conduct a product design audit

In this step, the design team will begin applying the standards to identify potential issues in the current Website/App design. Some of the common UI UX design audit standards include:

Usability Heuristics

Usability Heuristics is a set of 10 principles for evaluating the usability of a user interface and identifying UX design flaws. This UX framework was developed by renowned website usability experts Jakob Nielsen and Rolf Molich in 1990.

However, a study on Usability Heuristics found that 43% of the UX problems identified through the Usability Heuristics standard are not actually errors. To address this limitation, designers often combine the application of the 10 Usability Heuristics principles with Usability Testing, a method that involves observing users interacting with the digital product and noting their behavior, interaction time, and direct feedback.

By combining the Usability Heuristics evaluation with Usability Testing, the Audit team can validate which identified issues are genuine problems, allowing them to optimize their resources and focus on the most critical areas.

Design Principle

Design principles are a set of guidelines that help designers create aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly digital experiences. These principles consider various elements of user interface (UI) design, such as color, shape, balance, contrast, and more. These guidelines are often the result of accumulated observation and practical experience in the field of design.

It's important to note that there is no single, universal set of design principles that can be applied to all design problems. The effectiveness of these principles can vary depending on the specific context and the design challenge at hand. This requires designers to be flexible and adaptable in their approach, allowing them to select and apply the appropriate design solutions for each unique scenario.

Step 3: Report findings and make recommendations

After completing the detailed evaluation, expert team will consolidate the results into a thorough design audit report (or assessment report), which not only outlines the identified issues but also proposes solutions, roadmaps, and design strategies to improve the overall product quality.

In the report, the issues will be identified, with violations of Usability Heuristics marked as H1, H2, H3, and violations of Design Principles marked as D1, D2, D3. Additionally, the identified issues will be classified based on their impact on the user experience, ranging from "Lowest" to "Low - Moderate - High" and the highest impact "Critical." This classification of issue severity helps the designers and stakeholders prioritize the improvement proposals and allocate resources and timelines accordingly.

Check out more: The Power of the UX Pyramid in User-Centered Design

Final thought

In conclusion, this article has provided a comprehensive overview of Design Audit, covering its definition, benefits, and the steps involved in its implementation.

The Design Audit can be considered akin to an annual health check-up for a website or application, ensuring that the digital product is well-equipped to compete in the highly competitive online landscape and provide a seamless user experience.

On the journey of maintaining the "health" of your website or app, the Lollypop team is always ready to accompany you. Lollypop Design Studio is a leading UI UX design company on a global scale, providing Design Services ranging from UX audit to UI Design audit , ensuring your digital product is optimized for the best user experience.

Connect with Lollypop to get a free consultation on the Design Audit process, which can help optimize user experience and increase conversions for your business.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What aspects can a Design Audit cover?

The Design Audit can cover various assessment aspects, including Brand Design Audit, Website Design Audit, or UX Audit. These assessments help ensure consistency across the design of the website, brand, and user experience.

1. Which businesses need to implement a Design Audit?

Any business with an existing design version can benefit from implementing a Design Audit, regardless of the industry or size of the organization.

1. When should a Design Audit be implemented?

The Design Audit is typically conducted in two main stages. First, in the Pre-development stage, after the design is completed, to ensure it meets business requirements and minimizes risks during development. Secondly, in the Post-Launch stage, usually 1-2 years after the product's release, to evaluate its real-world performance, improve the user experience, and maintain product quality.

1. How long does the Design Audit process usually take?

The duration of the Design Audit process varies depending on factors such as the product being audited and the available project resources. Generally, a Website Design Audit takes less time compared to a Mobile App Audit, as the user interaction flows on apps are usually more complex. Additionally, having a larger Audit team can significantly shorten the overall process.

1. Who will directly carry out the Design Audit?

The Design Audit process should be carried out by a team with extensive expertise and experience in design standards, to avoid the impact of personal bias on the Audit results. If an In-house design team is not available, collaborating with Freelancers or professional Design Audit agencies is an effective solution to ensure the objectivity and quality of the Audit process.