More and more people are talking about User Experience (UX) and how it can be a differentiator in a crowded marketplace or a selling point for B2B digital services. At its core, UX is about considering the needs of the people who will be using the product (website, app, etc.) you are designing and then going a step further and placing your users—not yourself or the CEO—at the center of the design process. It’s a fairly abstract concept, so let’s take a look at what good UX Design looks like through some concrete examples. The following 10 sites are handpicked to illustrate specific principles of good UX Design, from simplicity to gamification.

Websites & Apps that Understand Humans
1. Rover: Using Reviews to Build Trust

Rover

For many people, dogs are not just pets but members of the family. So when you need leave town without Fido, who can you trust to take good care of the family dog? That’s where Rover comes in and not only makes it simple to pick out a sitter and book them, but also makes you feel good about your choice through online reviews and photo updates while you're gone. What Rover understands about their users is how important trust is, particularly when it comes to leaving your furbaby with a stranger for the weekend.

2. Duolingo: Tearing Down Roadblocks
Duolingo

Duolingo wants to help you learn a new language, which is a challenging task that can feel overwhelming. After three easy questions, users are already starting to learn a new language and have set a goal for their learning. This frictionless approach is contrary to many competitors. Rosetta Stone makes their users decide on a plan, pay and sign up for an account before getting started. Each of these steps adds friction which can cause users to drop out of the process usability testing.

3. Paypal: Letting Simplicity Rule
Paypal

Before Paypal rolled out their redesigned website in 2014, the site was overly complex. Since then, Paypal has been in the process of simplifying their website and mobile app experience. Several of John Maeda’s Laws of Simplicity are at play here: reducing, organizing, positioning, creating context, adding meaning and saving time.

4. Poncho: Humanizing Technology
Poncho
Poncho, the local weather cat app, is humanizing technology and delighting users with humor and conversation rather than using more conventional (and sterile) user interface elements and tone. One of the most promising new technologies that has the potential to make interfaces easier and more fulfilling to use is chatbots. While chatbots still have a long way to go, Poncho makes good use of the humanizing principal by giving the app a face, personality, and of course, humor. This infuses a sense of emotion into what is actually just ones and zeros of web design.

5. Starbucks: Making it Personal
Starbucks

Starbucks uses smart personalization in their mobile app for online ordering by understanding users’ purchase histories and patterns. Humans are creatures of habit and often repeatedly order the same thing or rotate from a short list of things. Therefore, for most people, it is easier to pick what you want from a list of your previously ordered items than from a full menu. I use the Starbucks app at least once a week, and rarely do I use the option for the full menu, I look at the “Featured” tab to see if there is anything new and then I select what I want from the “Recents” tab. I love the Starbucks app, especially when I compare it to the Panera app, where I have to sort through the full menu every time. Both apps allow adding items to a favorites list, but that requires an extra step and is never a complete list of what I am likely to want.