02.2 Design
UX flows.
01 / 04Users never read your sitemap. They wander.
02 / 04Every dead end, pop-up and login wall is a reason to leave.
03 / 04So we cut whatever does not help them finish.
04 / 04What is left is a flow: fewer steps, no surprises.
Scroll
What it is
Design the path, then the pixels.
UX design (user experience design) decides how a product works before anyone decides how it looks: what people are trying to do, which steps they take, where they hesitate and what makes them leave. User flows are the maps of those steps, screen by screen and decision by decision.
Most websites are designed as pages. People use them as paths: find, compare, decide, pay, come back. When the path has too many steps, hidden costs or a surprise login, beautiful pages do not save it. We wrote about this in why beautiful websites fail.
Our UX work comes before high-fidelity UI and development, so that what we build is already proven on paper.
A small example
Same checkout. Fewer reasons to quit.
Baymard Institute puts the average documented cart abandonment rate at around 70%. In its surveys, unexpected extra costs are the most common reason, with forced account creation close behind.
A forced account, a field nobody needs and a shipping cost hidden until the end. Each one looks small. Drag the line to see the same checkout without them.
Example checkout · illustrative
The maths of steps
Every step costs you people.
Losses multiply. Lose a few people at each step and, by the end, most of them are gone. That is why the cheapest growth is often a shorter path, not more traffic. Try it.
Checkout, booking, sign-up, quote request: every multi-step form is a funnel like this one. The steps are usually easier to remove than the visitors are to buy.
0finish
That is 0 of the people who started. Remove just two steps and it becomes 0, without a single extra visitor.
Simple model: the same share is lost at every step. Real funnels are messier, which is why we measure yours.
What we usually find
Eight problems we see in most audits.
None of them are exotic. They are just invisible to the people who built the site, because those people already know how it works.
- Hidden costs. Shipping, fees or the real price revealed only at the last step.
- Forced accounts. A sign-up wall before people can buy, book or even look.
- Too many fields. Questions the business does not need, asked at the worst moment.
- Vague buttons. “Submit”, “Next”, “Learn more”: labels that do not say what happens.
- Unhelpful errors. “Invalid input” with no hint about what is wrong or how to fix it.
- Small tap targets. Links and buttons that are hard to hit with a thumb on a phone.
- Dead-end search. No results, no suggestions, no way forward.
- Company language. Navigation named after internal departments instead of customer needs.
What you get
From guesswork to evidence.
User research
Interviews, analytics and session recordings to learn what people actually try to do, and where they struggle.
Journey map
The full journey from first visit to repeat customer, with the moments that matter and the ones that hurt.
User flows
Every key task drawn step by step: entry points, decisions, errors and the shortest path to done.
Information architecture
Navigation, page structure and naming that match how your customers think, not how your company is organised.
Wireframes
Low-fidelity layouts that settle content and hierarchy before visual design starts.
Clickable prototype
A prototype tested with real users, so problems are found on screen, not after launch.
How we work
Four steps to a clear path.
You get a clear timeline before we start.
Understand
We review your analytics, talk to customers and your team, and watch real sessions to find where people get stuck.
Map
Journeys and user flows for the tasks that matter most to the business and to the user.
Sketch
Wireframes and a clickable prototype of the new flow, with the steps that do not earn their place removed.
Test
Usability tests with real people. We fix what they trip on, then hand over a validated flow to design and build.
Principles
What good flows have in common.
Every screen has to earn its place. If a step does not help the user finish, it goes.
Costs, delivery times and requirements are visible early. Surprises at the end are the most expensive kind.
Clear errors, easy undo, nothing lost when someone goes back. People make mistakes; good flows expect them.
Most journeys start on a phone. We design for thumbs and small screens first, then scale up.
Flows that work with a keyboard and a screen reader, built on WCAG guidelines.
Every flow comes with the events to track it, so we can see whether it actually works after launch.
Who it's for
When UX pays off fastest.
People arrive, browse and leave. The problem is rarely the ads; it is usually the path after the click.
A new platform, app or booking system. Testing the flow on paper is far cheaper than fixing it in code.
If customers keep calling to ask how to do something, the interface is not telling them.
Next steps
A validated flow is a brief.
We design it, build it and measure it, in-house.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
What is the difference between UX and UI design?
UX design decides how a product works: the steps, structure and logic. UI design decides how it looks and feels: layout, type, colour and components. UX comes first, UI makes it real.
What is a user flow?
A diagram of the steps a user takes to complete a task, such as booking or checking out, including decisions, errors and alternative paths.
Do we need user research?
Some, yes. Even a few interviews and a look at your analytics change the design. We size the research to the budget and the risk.
How many users do you test with?
Small rounds of around five people per test usually reveal most of the serious problems. Several small rounds beat one big one.
Can you improve an existing website or app?
Yes. Most of our UX work starts with an audit of something that already exists, then focuses on the flows that cost the most.
What tools do you use?
Figma for flows, wireframes and prototypes, your analytics, and session recordings where you have them. You get access to everything.
How long does a UX project take?
It depends on how many flows and how much research. You get a clear timeline before we start.
How much does UX design cost?
It depends on scope. After a short call we send a transparent proposal with the cost broken down.
Make the path obvious.
Tell us where people drop off. One real reply within 24 hours.