Week 6

Design a 404 Page.

Urgh, a 404 page! No one likes that, right? But hold on a minute. 404 error pages don’t need to be a total nightmare. When designed to delight and direct users, 404 pages can transform from sources of frustration to opportunities for conversion and branding. Good UI design, a focus on user experience and a little human empathy can go a long way towards improving 404 page design.

Things to consider:

• Turn user error into UX opportunity: Allow users to progress to other parts of your site, commonly the home or features pages.
• Explain, don’t just error message: Good 404 messages should concisely explain what went wrong in plain language, and what to do next.
• Less clutter, higher user success rates: Best practice is to design a 404 page with a handful of key links, including a link to the Home page as an easy get-out for users who’re not sure what they’re looking for yet.
• Use 404 pages as branding opportunities: Make the brand’s look and feel serve the function of the page
• Add a little humor: A 404 page can be an opportunity to convert user frustration into satisfaction not through navigation success, but through laughter.