What do you need to know about the UX design process?
Application design is not only about how an app looks, but also how it works. The total satisfaction from using an app, software, or website is called user experience (UX). A properly designed UX is very important for the brand’s success, especially if the company is functioning mostly on the Internet, like in e-commerce or entertainment applications. Learn how the UX design process looks like.
The application design process includes creating graphic elements, user interface, and designing a user experience. Carefully going through all those steps, you can develop an amazing web or mobile application. All you have to remember is that the main goal is to create an application that is attractive and easy to use for the end-user. Do you wonder how the entire UX design process looks like?
What is UX design?
User experience (UX) refers to the user’s feelings about our platform or application. User experience is a reaction to the digital product performance, visual design, animations, interactive elements, and navigation. In short, UX is the sum of all feelings and thoughts regarding your application. Furthermore, the term UX can also be used when talking about all aspects of a user’s interactions with the company as well as with the application or service.
A great user experience design means that the digital product is:
- useful — serves some specific purpose,
- usable — it is functioning properly,
- satisfying — brings the user joy while using it.
Ensuring those three attributes is very important in the process of UX design.
User interface design process – is it different from UX designing?
User experience design is very often mentioned just next to user interface (UI) design, as those are both parts of the application design process. You should understand that UX is a process more focused on creating general ideas and solutions that will ensure the high satisfaction of the users. UI design, on the other hand, is the process of choosing the best images, buttons, and typography that will be used for a specific project. The main goal of UI design is to select visual elements that will make the user interface easier and more comfortable to use.
Why is a good UX design so important?
A good user experience affects not only your product popularity but also your company’s image. Customers pleased with your product’s UX will admire not only the product itself but also your organization. They will be more eager to use your services in the future or recommend it to their friends and family.
Increased conversions
If you see two products, very similar when it comes to characteristics, functions, price, and quality, which one will you buy? Probably the one that will be easier to get. Good UX design of websites and applications allows the end-user to find all the necessary information about the products or to order them in no time. That is why an application with well-designed UX can have a higher conversion rate than the one with poor UX.
Improved retention
It is not easy to gain a loyal customer. You need to ensure the best quality of products, services, and an amazing user experience. Yet it is worth trying, as loyal clients are not only regular buyers of your goods but also ambassadors of your brand. By eliminating potential errors on the website, making it fully functional and simple, you will certainly encourage users to visit your platform again in the future.
Reduced costs
Careless user experience design can result in many problems while using the basic features of the application or website. Mostly, when users are incapable of using the platform according to its purpose, they contact the company’s customer support to receive answers to their questions. By designing UX properly, you make sure that users will easily understand how your platform works. They will not have any problems to discuss with the customer support employees, so you will be able to reduce your customer support team and save money.
Better SEO optimization
Good user experience has some influence over the web page’s visibility in the Google ranking. Google ranks highly websites that are characterized by good speed, high traffic, retention, long enough session time, and which are responsive, as those are signs that the platform is attractive for Internet users.
UX design process: steps
Designing the user experience of the website or application is not easy. It requires creative design thinking, knowledge of user behaviors in the Internet environment, and experience in creating business solutions for digital products. The whole user experience design process consists of several stages.
Workshops and planning
The first step is understanding the project. Each website, web, or mobile application is different. So before designers start working on solutions and graphic elements, they should learn more about the idea behind the digital product. Your UX design team needs to gather and analyze requirements for the project and go through a brainstorming session with the client. Create personas — profiles of your potential customers. They will be useful when you’ll be discussing virtual users’ needs and behaviors.
Research
No mind can store all ideas and solutions for web and mobile user experience design that were invented. That is why, after gathering information on the requirements and understanding the point of view of future users, designers need some time to look for inspiration. It is also very important to be aware of the competition, advanced solutions it leverages, and the newest UX design trends for the industry you operate in. During this process, designers usually already think about the best UX solutions and designs that would suit the particular company’s needs.
Designing
When user expectations and product requirements are clear and research has been performed, UX, UI, and graphic designers start to work on the actual designs. It is a complex process as it involves creating information architecture, designing how users will interact with various elements of the application or website and how the UI should look like. This stage usually consists of:
- wireframing — wireframes represent the paths between pages, by connecting the site’s information architecture and visual design by showing.
- prototyping — prototypes are focused on the interaction experience,
- sketching — presenting design ideas in the form of sketches.
The entire process of designing UX includes close collaboration between UX designers in the team, as they have to provide the end-user with consistent UX.
Testing
Once designs are ready, it is important to test them to make sure that they are of the highest quality possible. Usually, there are several series of user testing sessions, and the UX designers validate the product with both stakeholders and end-users. It is very important to check how potential users react to your digital product and if they have any problems with using it. There are many tools (such as analytics systems, surveys, etc.) that can be used at that stage.
Evaluating
After releasing your product, don’t forget to regularly collect feedback from your customers. Some UX problems are difficult to spot before release, but it is never too late to improve your application by modifying it or adding new solutions.
How to create the best UX design?
You can’t design a great user experience without creative and talented UX designers. Don’t worry if you don’t hire the right specialists yet. You can cooperate with a software house experienced in those types of projects, or enhance your current development team with skilled UX designers by leveraging staff augmentation. You have many options! Contact us, if you need support on your next project.