5 myths of UX design

UX, CX, UI, IA, A/B, MVP, RWD, Lean, Personas, Prototype, Sprint, UCD, Sitemap, Wireframe... the list goes on... but

First - What even is UX?

UX stands for User Experience. In digital terms, it relates to the way that a real customer, user or client of a company, feels and reacts to the experience they have when using its product or service.

Experiences drive customer decisions

Users make or break your product. They are advocates, or they are not. They will buy again or they will not. These decisions, no matter what product or service you offer, are fundamentally driven by their experience.

#1 - UX is only done at the start of a project

No!

UX is iterative!

Users change. People change. Digital and devices change. Make sure you change with them!

Don't get left behind by only looking at UX research once and thinking that it will do. It's vital that UX is embedded into everything you do online. We work closely every month with a handful of our clients on UX reviews, prototype development, usability testing, A/B tests and content and analytics reviews to assess where we can incrementally improve the experience for their customers.

#2 We've already done market research so we don't need UX research

Market Research and UX research are completely different things. Don't fall into trying to cover all bases with one part of the insight to your research. Market research will uncover things like competitors, busy periods, market activity and an overview of demographics and high level insight on your customers. This helps to inform what we call 'personas'.

Personas are the descriptions of your users - what their interests are, and what they are like, what sort of services or products they might buy from you.

UX research gathers a whole different and deeper layer of content and insight into your user personas. UX research surfaces the details of stories and user behaviour, reactions and preferences and engages directly with users in how and why not just the what - providing valuable insight to build design decisions around.

#3 Usability testing is expensive

No. No. No.

And No.

Many companies still believe usability testing is a luxury that requires expensive equipment and takes an age to do. However usability testing can be both fast and relatively cheap.

You don’t need expensive prototypes; low-tech paper prototype tests can also bring valuable results. You can (if budgets are super tight) also run tests yourself with our guidance. You don’t need a lot of participants either, we would always suggest starting with 5 users. This can be enough people to test for specific tasks.

Real tangible feedback on prototypes or designs is super rich insight. So don't get put off if your digital agency puts 'usability testing' in your project - it's vital. In fact - question it if they don't put it in the project!

#4 Your homepage is the most important page

Nope. Sorry.

It *might* be - but it all depends. On so many things, but namely - your users, your user habits, how you market your website, and how your website content is served on search engines.

Your homepage is important. But understanding the importance and priority order to your users' needs around your website content, is what will determine where in the 'importance' list your homepage appears!

#5 Accessibility means basic design

Nope. This is just not true.

Sadly the majority of websites that push for meeting accessibility standards are public sector websites that have to meet AA or AAA standards from WCAG. Unfortunately for too long the web industry has not pulled accessibility standards out the bag as an ongoing standard - especially since the rise of devices and mobile. This has led to some beautiful websites across the globe, but they all fail miserably at accessibility standards.

In terms of public sector, sadly the majority of NHS and Council websites are, well, basic design. They're boring. Not pretty. However, they often do meet excellent UX and accessibility standards. Take .gov - it's the most boring site visually (unless you like forms and legal government jargon) - but its flipping awesome UX.

We're designing our new website at the moment, and are passionate that it meets as many accessibility standards as is possible, yet we want it to be flipping sexy. Watch this space!

On a side note - accessibility should not be the focus anymore. It should be about inclusive design - a brilliant angle from Robin Christopherson from Ability Net. People of all areas of life are affected by poor design, not just those with visual or physical impairments.

UX design is not a part of a project. It should be an ongoing asset to your business growth.

Red Bullet is a creative UX agency working with some of the countries leading brands, corporates and charities, improving experiences online every month.

www.redbullet.co.uk