What is UX and why should we use it?
User Experience Design, or UX, is a term that keeps popping up, so I decided to take a further look into the principles of UX, and why we should be using it.
So what exactly is UX?
User Experience Design is a process that enables the creation of a product or service that is meaningful and relevant to its users. It’s about ensuring the user has an enjoyable experience and can find value in what is being provided. UX can be applied to digital technologies, but ultimately applies to designing any product with a user at the end of it.
UX should not to be confused with User Interface, or UI, which is how the user interacts with a product or service. UI is however an important part of UX. By using UX, you can get a solution right the first time.
Foundations of UX design
The user is at the heart of UX, and you need to have a very good understanding of who the user is and what it is they need. Understanding the problem you are trying to solve for your customers is one of the most important things you will do as part of the UX design process. Maintaining a user-centred mind-set will help you to do this. It is important to keep the user at the centre of development, and remember that what works for you might not work for them. Continually ask questions (remembering the Five W’s and the How) and try not to be guided by any preconceptions you may have.
Most importantly, involve the user to create usable and accessible products and services, and to obtain feedback throughout the design process.
UX Design Process
UX Design can be broken down into 5 main steps.
1. Discover
Start with a high level concept and understanding of problems. You then need to work with the user(s) to understand who the users are, their needs and pain points. It is also useful to find out more about other relevant products in the market.
Methodologies to help with discovery include:
- Interviews/focus groups/workshops – facilitates initial contact and enables you to build rapport and get to know the users
- Surveys/questionnaires – useful when eliciting information from a large group or across a number of geographical locations
- Market research – increases knowledge of the current market and any any competing solutions
- Creating personas – describes types or groups of users, not every user. Helps us group and characterise different user groups and varying needs. When creating personas, consider including the following: Name, Photo or drawing of the persona, Characteristics, Ways of working, Points of views and attitudes, Key goals, Pain Points.
2. Describe
The next step is to describe. This includes defining goals, brainstorming ideas and defining requirements.
When brainstorming ideas, it is important not to criticise anyone’s input and to make sure ideas are not dismissed because they are less developed than other options. Even the smallest of ideas can move forward into your design.
Methodologies to help with the Describe stage include:
- Creating goals and ideas
- Brainstorming
- Mind mapping
- MOSCOW- when eliciting requirements, it is important to keep in mind the MOSCOW approach to prioritise requirements and split between must haves, should haves and could haves
3. Design
It is crucial that you consider the steps a user will take when using your solution, also known as Journey Mapping. This not only enables you to understand how the user will work, but also to look at any alternative steps. For example, a user wishing to purchase an item online would find the item, add to basket and check out. But what if the product is unavailable? An alternative step might be that they request to be notified when the item is back in stock.
Understanding good design principles will help to ensure that your solution works for the user you are targeting. So what indicates good UX?
- Simple and easy to understand
- Intuitive
- Engaging – user comes away feeling good
- Efficient
- User feels supported
- Easy to recover
- Consistent
4. Develop
At this stage, it is a good idea to create prototypes or wireframes for digital designs. Development should be an iterative process. Continual improvement is key and you should obtain feedback from the user throughout. This stage provides an opportunity to carry out testing based on real feedback from real users. User testing can help validate requirements but also provides an opportunity to update designs where needed.
5. Release
UX does not stop at release, it continues throughout the entire lifecycle of the user product or service and it’s important to monitor user behaviour after launch and continually analyse to help improve and evolve user experience. Useful activity to monitor includes:
- How are users getting to your webpage?
- How many users make a purchase (conversions)?
- Where are your users dropping out?
- How are your users navigating your site?
- How many of your users are bouncing?
- How much time is spent on each page?
So why bother with UX?
There are many benefits to using UX, but ultimately, UX design improves the experience for the user of that product, and good user experience increases the adoption of that product.
Continually analysing how the user uses the product after release is key and highlights changes that could be made to keep the product up to date and in line with the user’s expectations, and importantly keeps the product competitive.
How many times have you visited a webpage or downloaded an app and discarded it because it is too hard to navigate or difficult to use? If the user experience is poor, the user will simply look elsewhere to find a product that will fulfil their needs.
References:
- FutureLearn Course: Digital Skills: User Experience Supported by Accenture
- What is UX and why is it important?
- The Benefits of User Experience
- User Experience Design