User experience design is a vast, fascinating field with a lot of diversity. It needs knowledge and expertise in multiple disciplines.
It is fundamental in shaping up the services and products we use regularly. Effective execution can make a brand successful.
A UX UI designer’s work is fast and dynamic. User experience and user interface designing is a challenge that requires vast knowledge and skill-set of all the sub-processes.
This article will give details to everything about UX UI design and a designer’s role in it.
Let’s get into the details.
What is UX design?
UX or user interaction is any interaction users have with a brand, product, or service. Every element of interactions are considered by UX designs and used to craft the experience of the users.
It considers everything from how a product feels to cart management and checkout in case of an online purchase.
The primary target of UX designing is the creation of an efficient, easy-to-use, relevant, and provide an all-around pleasant experience for the user.
All the interactions related to a brand, product, or service are considered in the process of designing the UX while going through its sub-processes.
A UX designer will need to combine product development, market research, and business strategy among others to create a user experience without any hiccups for a memorable experience with their products or services.
An efficient design will build a bridge with the customer which will help the business to understand and fulfill their expectations and meet or exceed their needs.
Difference between UX and UI
UX and UI are different however are very much interlinked. Though they are used to refer to the same thing and often used interchangeably UX and UI are very much different.
While UX (User Experience) focuses on the user’s interactions and journey, UI (User Interface) is how the products or services look, function, and feel.
The visual designs of the screen or buttons they use in navigation of a website are its UI.
It concerns all the visual and interactive elements of the interface like fonts, colors, navigational points like links, buttons, and scroll bars.
When we say UX and UI are interlinked, we say that because the design of the website has a huge impact on the user experience.
UX designs are everywhere from the layout of a mall or a supermarket to the interiors of a vehicle or the ease of use of a mobile app.
How to design an effective UX using the quadrant model?
Designing UX needs a lot of expertise in its sub-functions. A UX designer needs to be an expert in four major disciplines namely Interaction Design (IxD), Experience Strategy (ExS), Information Architecture (IA), and User Research (UR).
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Interaction Design
This is how a user interacts with the system. This encompasses interactive elements like buttons, page transitions, and animations.
Interaction designers craft intuitive designs which allow users to complete other major tasks and actions.
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Experience Strategy
UX design not only builds a positive experience for the user but also brings value to the business providing the product or service.
Experience strategy is all about creating an apt business strategy. ExS is about incorporating the customer’s and the business’ needs together via one unified solution.
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Information Architecture
This is about the practice of organizing content and information in a way that is accessible and portrays a meaning.
This is important in assisting users to navigate around a product or service. Information architects take into account the relationship between content sets to determine the IA of a product or a service.
They make sure the language used in the content is consistent across the variety of content used for the website.
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User Research
UX design requires exhaustive research and takes into account the feedback from the customers.
While researching UX designers conduct interviews, surveys and test the usability. They also create user personas to understand and measure users’ objectives and needs.
Their design decisions are based on inferences from the information from quantitative and qualitative data.
Within these areas, there are a lot of sub-processes and disciplines. User experience design considers a lot more than just sketching and wire-framing.
It uses elements of science, communication design, psychology, engineering, computer science, and usability.
UX UI designers attempt to make products accessible and easy to use for daily products, services, and technology.
They use their expertise in design thinking to meet the user’s desires with technically feasible and viable business measures.
UX designers not only provide resolutions to problems faced by users. As a broader and proactive objective, they need to present their designs and ideas to the stakeholders.
Their day-to-day operations demand the above from a broad perspective.
Larger organizations may hire a team of people as the tasks and needs are as per the size of the organizations, for requirements of smaller companies it is not uncommon for a talented UX designer to wear many hats and be a one-stop solution handling the full variety of tasks.
Sanjay Dey