Muniza AshrafBefore diving into the design guidelines and tips for the UX designers, there is a dire need of placing the doubts regarding UX design to rest, once and for all. The field is often confused with other non-related aspects, which place unnecessary expectations from the employers and clients on the shoulders of UX designers.
What exactly is UX design?
A UX design focuses on the interaction that takes place between the end-user and tech products like websites, apps, services, and even machines like the copy machine. How a user feels when he interacts with a product is coined as ‘user experience’ or UX.
UX design encompasses many elements alongside technology and those are: psychology, business, market research, and last but not the least, the design itself. A UX designer has many roles to fill to create a seamless UX design. They are what we call multi-dimensional thinkers. They have to wear the shoes of many roles to best provide the experience to the target persona/audience.
UX design has evolved to be a synonym of ‘good business’ that caters to impeccable user experience in terms of the user-friendly eLearning design of the product, its easy-to-understand design, and even simpler navigation. Those products and services that provide a top-notch user experience succeed within the saturated market.
This is why the demand for UX designers is becoming higher and it reflects well in the average UX Designer salary too.
What does a UX designer do?
They do many things to achieve one goal. This is the thing about UX, it is applicable for all technologies that allow user interaction. So you will find them designing websites, mobile applications, software, AR/VR devices, and even for various service designs. These service designs could be the overall experience of using cab services.
An important point to note is that a UX design role may differ from company to company. However, there are certain generic roles that a UX designer is expected to perform:
- User research
- Creating user personas
- Outlining information architecture of a product
- Designing wireframes and prototypes
- Conducting user testing
UX Vs UI
One of the biggest confusions that lie with UX designers is the fact they also design the visuals or the elements that the user interacts with, as well. This could be true in the case of a UI/UX designer – as they are responsible for the interface and user experience design. However, that is usually not the case; as they focus on the user journey and how the product can assist it best.
In order to understand the difference well, you need to know about what UI really is.
What does UI stand for?
It is anything a user may interact with to use a product or service. This includes anything from touchscreens, keyboards, buttons, icons, and sounds. These interactive elements, their placement, functionalities and more define user experience as bad or pleasant. This is where the UX designer comes in making sure the entire journey is good. So in a nutshell, UI developers and UX designers work in unison to create the ultimate experience.
Now that our confusion has been laid to rest. We can move on to the best UX design practices.
5 Design Tips for UX Designers
Apart from the integral user research, here are the following check-list you can keep for a successful UX design.
1. Test with Real Users
Yes, UX designers have to assume personas. But, since assumptions aren’t the most accurate way to design experience; this is why UX designers need real people to test out their prototypes.
Usability testing is best when performed with real target users, preferably of mixed backgrounds, mindsets, and goals regarding the usage of your product. Yes, it is time-consuming but also provides accurate and authentic insights to any flaw or missing functionality.
2. Design for Short Attention Spans
Let’s face it, even you as a reader don’t stick around too long using a single app – bet it web or mobile. However, what is worse is losing interest and moving on to something else. This is why you need to make sure that it doesn’t take too much of users’ time to complete or perform tasks. Otherwise, they will lose interest quickly and move on to the next best solution available at the App Store or online.
Moreover, the content and elements in the surrounding should not be distracting the user from the main task. So make sure you are not crowding the page with unnecessary content. The information should be concise, on-point, and valuable.
3. Avoid Lorem Ipsum and Use Real Content
Content and elements are the main drivers of your user experience, so make sure what you are providing isn’t dummy placeholders but real content; be it text, images, or videos. The designers so often forget that Lorem Ipsum and placeholders may do the job on the artboard. However, when the actual images are placed, the design may completely differ from what was intended.
So even in the design phase, make sure you are portraying real experience, and not something abstract or to be thought in mind.
4. Create Usable Designs
Usability is the most important factor in a great UX. However, designers often get caught up in visual details that might appeal to the audience. Aesthetics are important as much as the placement of content and various elements (buttons, banners, icons, images, etc). But, how easily usable is the product trumps all.
The software product is being developed to solve an important pain point(s) of the users. If it can be achieved with an accessible design that every user can easily understand – then you are a winner.
A well-designed product caters to all users with varying special needs that include hearing or vision impairments, motor impairments, and more.
5. Avoid Significant Design Changes
According to research, products that went through a dramatic re-design were disliked by the existing user-base. ‘Familiarity’ is a concept that works best with users, and if you do not cater to that, you are bound to lose them to your competitor. So make sure whatever design changes you make are subtle and encourages them to embrace it.
6. Tap Into Human Recognition Ability
Memory doesn’t serve well to everyone and not every user will remember how to use the product. This is why designers should make sure that users will easily or immediately recognize how to interact with some of the features of the product. This can be done by making the interface easily accessible and not hard to use.
Conclusion
In order for any business to succeed with its product, its UX/UI design should be on-point, and a great software development firm that houses talented UI/UX designers can achieve that. If you are a budding designer yourself then make sure you are well-versed with the changing design dynamics and best practices.
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