We’re introducing our first guest post on Hearts and Laserbeams this morning from Marcela De Vivo, a tech savvy gal with some tips for creating a user-friendly web app interface. Enjoy! (Wanna get in on the guest blogging game? Check out our guest blog posts guidelines and submit something already!)

When you’re talking about web apps, functionality is always going to take precedence over the user-interface (UI), simply because the purpose of a web app is to do something and solve a problem.

However, that doesn’t mean that you can ignore the design aspect of the app, because it’s certainly possible that you can ruin great functionality with poor aesthetics and a confusing UI.

In fact, the user’s experience and satisfaction, with the app as a product, is going to be every bit as dependent on what they’re seeing as what they’re doing, therefore, a well-designed web app comes full circle: you’ve got to have great functionality, complemented by a great design. Thus, it’s safe to say that neither one works without the other.

UI design is probably the easier and more straightforward of the two processes. When you’re talking about designing an interface, there are certain trends and web conventions that you can use as templates to come up with your design.

For example, in 2013, you’ve probably noticed that minimal designs andsubtle patterns are fairly popular. In 1997, that wasn’t the case.

Front-end web design follows these trends closely, so you’ll want keep your creative energy within the confines that it provides.

1. Gentle color scheme — Bright, neon colors were once thought to attract people because of their flashy appeal, but in reality, they just distract, annoy and end up taking away from the substance of your app. Remember, functionality is what’s bringing people to the app in the first place, so anything that distracts or takes away from that functionality is going to be counterproductive.

Go with a lot of subtle whites and grays, and use more splashy color (orange, blue, red) to accent sparingly. Color is tough, and it can take a lot of trial and error to get it right, but it’s worth taking the time to make the UI appealing.

2. Minimal visual stimulation — The user is already going to be putting mental energy into figuring out how to use the app, so don’t add needless visual stimulation. Graphics, bright colors, pop-up menus and whatever else would fall into the category of “bells and whistles” are, for the most part, going to be off limits, or at best, unnecessary.

3. Mistake friendly — Creating a layout that helps a user make fewer mistakes is the first line of defense, but at the same time, even a great design doesn’t eliminate at least the remote possibility of mistakes being made.

Users will always click on things accidentally, fail to read on-screen instruction or just do things without thinking, so you need elements of you design that allow users to correct their mistakes and take a step back.

The most conventional ways to make this available in your design would be the following:

• Undo rear endons
• “Are you sure?” dialogue box
• Back rear endons

The location of these rear endons or boxes should be unobtrusive, yet readily available and easy to access for any user.

4. Intuitive layout — As a UI designer, you’ve got to have a healthy understanding of the user’s needs, habits and tendencies. In addition, you will need to know what the user expects and do your best to design a layout that will be conducive to those expectations, thereby intuitive to the user.

Depending on what your web app is for, most functionality (takeGoogle Docs for example) will read from left to right and will reside in the top, left-hand corner, while a workspace (if required) will stay right in front of the user’s eyes. If a menu bar is necessary, that should stay consistent and in the same spot throughout the app, usually right above the workspace.

Since layout is app specific, it’s difficult to say what will work universally. Yet, if you consider your user, what they’ll be thinking and doing while using your app, you’ll have a good idea of how to structure your layout to optimize their experience.

Complementing Functionality

Whatever your app does should be complemented by its surroundings. Every nuance of what the user sees should improve upon what that user is doing, whether it’s creating a document, sending an email or playing a game.

Consider the app’s functionality and try your best to get into the mind of the user when coming up with your design. If you keep things easy on the eyes and don’t distract from the app’s main goals, chances are you’re on the right track.

Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer and online marketing professional from Los Angeles whose writing covers everything from social media marketing, to content development and web hosting. She often shares her own knowledge of web and app design with other companies so that they may expand their business as well.

You can join her online at Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.