UX Cheat Sheet: Common sign-up patterns

OMG guys, it's happened! A user has clicked our SIGN UP button. But, sh*t, now what? Well, I’ll tell you what — it's sign-up time baby (and I can hear your stakeholders cheering from the boardroom).

But how does sign-up work, you ask? Well friend, let me show you. In this article, we will cover:

1. Terminology: Sign-up vs. sign up
2. Generic registration flow
3. What’s single sign-on (SSO)?
4. Sign-up screen approaches
5. Activate email address
6. Page layout
7. Common sign-up fields
8. Accessibility
9. Do you need to redo your current registration process?
10. Tips to shorten your registration form
11. Case studies
12. Closing thoughts
13. Resources

This article was written in conjunction with UX Cheat Sheet: Common login patterns.

1. Terminology: Sign-up vs. sign up

My lil’ old dyslexic brain always gets this confused, and I have no doubt that I have made this mistake in this article somewhere, but sign-up and sign up are not the same thing, despite being only a ‘-’ different.

Sign up is a verb phrase e.g., “Please sign up for the extreme ironing competition.”

Sign-up is a noun or adjective e.g., “Please hand out the sign-up forms for the extreme ironing competition.”

Twitter and Facebook use the verb, sign up, on their buttons, and many sites do the same.

You can learn more about when to use sign-up vs. sign up here: https://inkforall.com/copy-editing/grammar-checker/sign-up-or-sign-up/

2. Generic registration flow

Below I have outlined a generic registration flow. Observe how much quicker the SSO (Single Sign-on) flow is compared to the email registration flow.