The basics of Product Design (UX/UI, Information Architecture, Design Thinking and some surprises )

The history of UX design

The history of UI UX design services is interesting. In 1993, an expert named Don Norman created the term “UX” to describe everything a person experiences when interacting with a product. Before that, similar terms like “human interface” and “usability” were too narrow to encompass everything Don Norman wanted to include.

But in reality, the idea of focusing on the user and making their experience efficient and enjoyable is not new. The ancient Greeks were already taking this approach, and in the 1940s, companies like Toyota and Bell Labs were using it to solve problems and benefit customers.

An American industrial designer named Henry Dreyfuss published the book “Designing for People” in 1955, where he established the fundamental principles to make the user experience efficient and pleasant.

Although the term “UX” is relatively new, the idea behind it has been around for a long time.

UX Design vs UI Design

It is common to confuse UX design and UI design, but in reality they have different approaches.

UI design takes care of the tangible elements of an interface, such as typography, color, icons, animations, and navigation. Basically, it focuses on how an interface looks.

For its part, UX design focuses on the overall experience that users have with a product, including the visual components. Focuses on how it feels to use a product

For example, a “pretty” website is not enough if it is difficult to use. If a website is difficult to use, people will get frustrated and abandon it. But if a website is easy to use and makes people feel good, then it will be successful.

It is important to note that although they are different, UI design and UX design work together to create a successful and enjoyable user experience.

Basics of User Experience (UX) design

In the design world, we talk a lot about “user experience” or “UX.” This term encompasses all aspects related to the way in which people interact with the products and services offered by an organization. It includes your thoughts, feelings, and actions before, during, and after using a product.

In other words, UX design is concerned with the entire user journey, from beginning to end. This includes everything from users' emotional responses to their physical and psychological reactions. By taking a holistic approach to UX design, we can create products that truly meet the needs and wants of our users.

UX design focuses on the interests and needs of users, and follows the fundamental principles of UX design to develop products or services that are accessible, practical, enjoyable, and easy to use.

As the famous German industrial designer Dieter Rams said: “Good design requires understanding people.”

UX design should encompass all aspects of product development, including corporate identity, user interface design, usability, functionality, and much more.

What is a UX designer?

The responsibilities of a UX designer can vary considerably depending on the company they work for. In small companies or startups, it is common to hire generalist designers who can address all UX design needs. Instead, larger companies prefer to hire UX specialists, such as UX researchers, UX strategists, or UX architects.

UX designers are user advocates and have the responsibility of optimizing the interaction between humans and products. Therefore, the general responsibilities of a UX designer include:

• Plan and carry out user research.
• Work with stakeholders and acquire knowledge about the specific domain.
• View data.
• Map the user journey and user flows.
• Interpret and analyze research results and user comments.
• Create user stories, personas and storyboards.
• Define the information architecture.
• Create prototypes and wireframes.
• Perform usability tests.
• Facilitate workshops.

Empathy is one of the most important traits of a UX designer.

What is information architecture?

Information Architecture (AI) is a key process for organizing information so that users can easily find what they are looking for, consume, manipulate and complete their tasks in one interface.

AI is fundamental to the success of any digital product, and the authors of the book “Information Architecture”, Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville, identified three pillars for its development: content, context and users.

• Content includes all the data (visual, text, code) that the information architect organizes into a system.
• Context refers to the goals, resources, needs, and expectations of a specific business and design project .
• Users represent the target audience of a product.

The information architecture consists of 4 major systems :

• Organization systems define how information is categorized and structured
• Labeling systems are responsible for representing information using text or visual labels.
• Search systems allow users to search for information
• Navigation systems determine how users move through the system.

It is impossible to create a unique, useful and enjoyable product without a solid AI foundation. That is why UX designers must learn to balance the needs of the business and the target audience and organize content effectively.

The Design thinking methodology

The Design Thinking methodology has its origins in engineering education at Stanford University, where it was first introduced in 1959 as a new approach to approaching problems creatively. Over the years, the methodology has evolved and adapted to different contexts, but always maintaining the focus on the user. In the 1990s, the design consultancy IDEO popularized the methodology, applying it to product and service design projects for companies. Since then, Design Thinking has become a widely used methodology in the design industry and beyond, as it can be applied to any problem that requires a creative solution.

The Design Thinking process is a problem-solving approach that is based on the idea that you should look at the problem from the users' perspective and then think like a designer. With the growth of human-centered design, Design Thinking found its way into the UX industry.

Design Thinking is based on five stages of problem solving: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.

• Empathize : Research your audience and learn about their problems, expectations, frustrations and needs.
• Define : Define a human problem to specify the challenge your team will address.
• Ideate : Generate ideas (even bad ideas) that could be a solution.
• Prototype : Visualize the strongest ideas, creating prototypes of the screens you want to test.
• Test : Validate assumptions and use user feedback to improve solutions before your team spends time and money developing and implementing ideas.

Design Thinking is not a sequential process, in fact, it is more of a chaos. This approach should be built into a project from the earliest possible stage to avoid starting from scratch when assumptions fail.

Bonus: The $300 million button

A great user experience is crucial to achieving satisfied and happy users, which in turn benefits businesses. I'll tell you a story that shows how changing one button on a website increased annual revenue by $300 million.

An e-commerce site was experiencing high cart abandonment rates during checkout. Users seemed to abandon their carts when presented with a simple registration form: an input field, two buttons (Login and Register), and a link (Forgot your password?) at the beginning of the checkout process.

The team assumed that users would appreciate the registration form as a way to speed up the checkout process on subsequent purchases, since they would be able to create an account once and not have to re-enter information later. However, usability studies show that new users do not want to register and will leave a site before doing so. They simply want to complete their purchase and not enter into a long-term relationship that will make them a target for marketing emails.

Even regular customers had problems with the form, as they often couldn't remember their credentials. 75% of customers who requested a password reset never completed their purchase because they couldn't remember the exact email they used to register.

When designers made registration optional and allowed users to pay as guests, annual revenue increased by $300,000,000. The number of customers who purchased increased by 45% simply by following

I hope this introduction to UI UX design services? was useful to you and you learned something new! Remember that UX is an exciting and always evolving field, so let's continue learning and exploring this wonderful field!