Relevant, Clean, Simple - 3 Very Very Important aspects in Web User Experience & UI design

"Its so difficult to make things simple"...so very true. Over the years in my experience in designing user friendly collateral (presentations, excel interfaces, GUIs, etc.), I have realized that white spaces can either make the UI look too disconnected or if used intelligently can give the UI a real classy look. I am a big big fan of Google for this reason. Beautiful, intelligent and user friendly use of white space. Of course that is a result of the massive efforts they must be taking on analyzing how users use the internet!

I think, every good web UI must focus on these 3 elements among others:

1. Relevance: Is the content displayed relevant to the user? This requires a detailed analysis of user requirements, understanding the user and the ability to literally place oneself in the users shoes. Show him only what is relevant to him. Customization plays an important part here. The more a user gets to see the content relevant to him / her the more they are likely to visit the website again.
2. Clean: Filter out everything else other than what you want to offer the user. Use of white space plays an important role here. Help the user focus on what is relevant and he will come to the website again and again and also recommend the website and become a fan.
3. Simple: Try and make things as simple as possible. Focus on giving the user what he wants through logical navigation and least number of clicks. If a single word conveys the meaning use that. Imagine as if we are talking to the user and use that tone. It helps to connect more with the users. Try and use bullet points instead of paragraphs. Of course, you will have to balance this by putting in content so that the SEO guys are satisfied also but follow the golden rule "Whatever is good for human users is good for search engines". At some places we will have to use paragraphs. However, for action points try and use bullet points.

User Experience & User interface is a very interesting subject where the designer has to think of the mental way in which the user thinks about the application also. The designer should always ask himself the question "How simply can I help the user to do what he wants?"