User Experience
User Experience or UX is one of those buzzwords you hear every once in a while. There are a lot of ambiguities and blurry definitions of what UX is (and isn’t).
Here’s the most inclusive and exclusive definition I could come up with:
User Experience (UX) is the experience a user has while interacting with a product.
Yours truly
- User
- A person who uses a product
- Product
- A good, service, system, feature, or thing
Sweet Spot
A great product is desirable, feasible, and viable.
Desirable
Solves a user’s problem
Viable
Financially beneficial for the business
Feasible
Technically possible to build
Here’s another way to look at it. UX is where technology, business and user needs come together.
User
Who are the users, and what are they trying to accomplish?
What needs do users have that aren’t being met?
What problems are users experiencing?
Business
What makes money, and what doesn’t?
Where is the business going, and how is it changing?
What insights do stakeholders have?
Technology
What is a big, what is a small addition?
What constraints does / will the system have?
What is going to change in the near future?
Areas
UX is a wide field which encapsulates numerous areas. Here’s an overview of the main categories.
User Research
Users, their behaviours, goals, motivations, and needs
Information Architecture
Making information findable and understandable
User Interface Design
How it looks and how humans and machines interact
Accessibility
Making sure all users are able to use the product
Usability
Measuring how effective, efficient, and satisfactory a user can use a product
Goals
User Experience Design is not about solving problems we assume users want solved. It’s about solving problems the users actually want solved.
In fact, in most of the cases, the user is very much unlike you.
Make sure you put the user front and center.
Usable
ls the product easy to use?
Equitable
ls the product equitable?
Enjoyable
Does the product delight the user?
Useful
Does the product solve the user’s problem?
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Simply said, User Experience Design is the conscious process of working on and making the experience of users better.
-
Without saying much:
UI
How it looks
UX
How it works and feels
This article is neither painting a complete picture of the topic nor is it trying to. It serves as a mnemonic and notebook for Marvin.
If you found a mistake, want to add something or found the article helpful, please get in touch.