UX design - what is it? The UI industry is currently growing at a rapid pace, but UX design is still a whole new world for most executives and managers. This area aims to increase user satisfaction with the product, improve usability, accessibility and interaction. Combines traditional human-computer interaction design and considers all aspects of user interaction with a product or service.
UX designers take the lead in improving the basic needs of the end user and trying to create a product that makes the audience happy. This, in turn, results in he althy investment returns and helps support a growing business or organization.
What does a UX Designer do?
UX designers study and evaluate how users feel about a system, looking at things like ease of use, perceived value of the system, usefulness, efficiency in completing tasks.
UX designers also consider subsystems and processes within a system. For example, they might look into the checkout process on an e-commerce website to see how easy and affordable it is to complete the process of purchasing products from the site. They can delve into the components of the subsystem, such as how efficient and enjoyable the user experience is when filling out input fields on a web form.
UX design - what is it? Technology Concept
An important concept in UX design is the process by which users create experiences. When a consumer first encounters a product, an instant impression is formed that changes over time. In this process, perception, action, motivation, and cognition come together to form the user experience. This process triggers emotional responses that largely determine whether the experience is positive or negative.
UX designers aim to create process influencing factors intentionally. To do this, the UX designer considers three categories of questions: what, why, and how.
Why - implies the motivation of users to accept the product and desire to own it.
What - regarding what people can do with the product and itsfunctionality.
How - refers to designing functionality in an accessible and aesthetically pleasing way.
UX design starts with the why, then the what, and finally the how to create products that users can have meaningful experiences with.
Historical retrospective
Compared to many other disciplines, especially web systems, UX design is relatively new. The term "user experience" was coined by Dr. Donald Norman, a cognitive science researcher who was also the first to describe the importance of user-centered design, the notion that design decisions should be based on consumer needs. The history of UX design began with the publication of this concept.
Whether working for a startup or a large corporation, a UX designer is directly involved in making the product useful and enjoyable to use for the company's target market. The process of creating a product contains several important steps:
- consumer research;
- product design;
- testing;
- implementation.
Let's consider each of them in more detail.
Consumer research: where does a beginner designer start?
Analyzing the consumer audience and identifying needs involves communicating with real users in the target market. Where to start as an aspiring designer? If the subject of research exists onlyhypothetically and not yet created, the subject of discussion are similar products of competing firms, their advantages and disadvantages. If the product already exists, consumers are asked questions about how people feel when navigating the site with the current design, whether it is easy to find the information they need, how structured the pages are. The quality of written and graphic content and the overall visual impression of the site are evaluated separately. The following methods can be used for this part of the process:
- questionnaires;
- focus group discussions;
- online surveys;
- task analysis.
It is important to note that if a product is a product of design thought and has nothing to do with user experience and feedback in its development and implementation, it is not the result of UX design.
Design
Developing a design hypothesis involves imagining how a new product or service might adapt to how the customer is already behaving (as identified by user research). Product design focuses on functionality and usability, not how it looks. At this stage, the following design methods are used:
- information architecture;
- framework;
- prototyping.
Testing
Testing involves verifying that the changes made during the design phase work properly and fit the purpose. ita great way to get rid of user problems or difficulties that were not visible at the design stage before starting work at the implementation stage. There are various testing methods:
- testing a/b;
- usability;
- remote user testing.
Implementation
Implementation involves working closely with web developers to achieve the end goal. Web development specialists work to turn design ideas into a real website. It is important that developers work as a team throughout the process to make this final step more efficient and optimal.
What is user experience?
Websites and apps are becoming more complex as technology advances. What used to be a one-way static environment has now evolved into a wide interactive experience.
But no matter how much the manufacturing process has changed, the success of a website still depends on one thing only: how users perceive it. “Is this site giving me value? Is it easy to use? Is it nice to be here? are questions that users ask themselves when they interact with the company's products, and it is on the basis of this experience that they usually make a purchase decision.
User Interface (UX) in design - what is it? It is how a person feels when interacting with the system. The system can be a website,web application or desktop software. In today's context, this is often referred to as human-computer interaction.
The concept of User experience covers all aspects of the interaction of the end user with the company, its services and products. It is important to distinguish the overall design of a project from the user interface, although the user experience is an extremely important part of the design.
It is also necessary to distinguish between UX and usability: according to the definition of usability, it is an attribute of user interface quality that encompasses ease of learning, efficiency of use, pleasantness, visual acceptability, design aesthetics.
Professional competencies
The UX designer is responsible for all of the above steps in the process and their implementation. There are a number of professional competencies that are given great attention when training a designer:
- leadership;
- communication;
- project management;
- effective communication with the team.
These professional characteristics are very important for successful work.
What is the difference between UX and UI design?
User Interface (UI) designers focus on the layout and actual design of each element that the user interacts with, while User Experience (UX) designers focus on the user's interactions with that element as well as the overall product experience. UI and UX designers often work together as well as in teams with web developers to create a product that is both visually appealing and enjoyable to use.
What does a UX designer really do?
UX designers perform different functions depending on the project and stage of development. In the early stages of a project, experts conduct preliminary user experience research, and then plan interactions through the wireframe and prototyping of their projects, which are then tested using various heuristics.
During development, testing and development of the user interface continues to improve the product and user experience.
After a project is launched, a UX designer can analyze user metrics to track the results of their work, backtrack, and keep iterating to improve design weaknesses.
Tasks and methods
UX designers perform different tasks at different points in the process. Below is the main list:
- Evaluation of the current system. If the system already exists, the UX professional will holistically assess its current state. Problems are identified and corrections are proposed based on analysis of research data.
- A/B TESTING. A specialist can develop a study to compare the effectiveness and quality of experience of different user interfaces. This is done by hypothesizing (for example, "greenthe button is more attractive than the red one). It then proposes multiple versions of the design and determines the "best experience" in testing order (e.g. "Green button is better because users clicked on it more".)
- Polls. The UX designer conducts a survey of existing and potential users of the system to get an idea of what was the most effective design decision. Since the experience of an individual user is subjective, the best way to get immediate information is to study and interact with group opinion.
- Frames and prototypes. Based on their findings, UX professionals can design different layout wireframes and higher fidelity prototypes.
- User threads. Designing how users should navigate the system is another popular tool.
Design Patterns
UX design interface design patterns provide consistency and a way to find the most effective “tool” for the job. For example, when designing UI templates, choosing the right elements (e.g., module tabs, slideshows) for certain tasks based on their effectiveness leads to the best solution. UX developers not only provide design patterns that are used on other websites, but also develop their own patterns for the current project.
Programs
There are several popular and easily available UX design software to work withand learning. The tools are not just for UX designers. Programmers and webmasters also use them.
UX design courses use prototyping tools - initially they can be done with pen and paper. This inexpensive and accessible design training tool allows you to quickly prototype and move on to design.
Some wireframe and prototyping software:
- OmniGraffle.
- Balsamiq breadboard modules.
-
Mockingbird.
ux design courses
Teaching the basics of UX design uses A/B testing, also known as split testing or multivariate testing. This tool compares different versions of a page. Testing can be done with any of several programs.
Basically A/B testing software breaks website traffic into two equal segments. One group sees version A and the other sees version B. Statistics such as conversion rate and bounce rate are tracked for each version. Split testing determines which version is better, and this decision is based on statistical data. One of the most popular A/B testing apps is Google's Website Optimizer.
Content management
When teaching UX design from scratch, there are many methods of content inventory. Using an in-place server application (which will require you to access a web server) is bestsuitable for production sites. Being closer to the source than third party software, these applications are more accurate and efficient. A simple Excel tool for creating and managing a content inventory can be used for this purpose, such as the GetUXIndex () template).
Websites built with content management systems like WordPress and Drupal usually have built-in tools that show a map of the existing website.
Surveys and feedback
User surveys are another popular UX design challenge. The most efficient and cost effective way to do this is with a survey and feedback app or remote user testing.
Common polling tools like PollDaddy are flexible solutions that can also be used for other purposes. There are usability feedback tools like Usability and remote user testing services like usability hub that administer the testing system.
Examples
UX design example - what is it? User interface design is the process of creating products that provide a meaningful and experiential experience. This implies careful design and usability of the product, aesthetic pleasure of use and extensive functionality.
Thus, products that provide a great user experience (for example, the iPhone is the best example of UX design) are not designedonly for the consumption or use of the product, but for the entire process of purchasing, owning, and even troubleshooting.
