As businesses understand the importance of user experience, website designs that include user experience elements have become more popular. Website design is already an ever-evolving field, where trends from the previous year become outdated the next year. Finding the right balance between functionality and experience in a site designed in line with business goals is actually difficult.

If you want to become a user experience designer, you need to understand the importance of UX, why it exists, and what UX designers do before you start your career.

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User Experience – What is UX?

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User experience design is the term given to all approaches and methods used in the process of customizing and designing a website for the target market and user base. If an online platform is not suitable for use by its target audience, it will not be able to survive in the market.

The core of user experience is ensuring that users find value in anything you offer them.  

Peter Morville explains it simply with his “User Experience Honeycomb”:

He argues that for information to be a meaningful and valuable user experience, it must meet the following criteria.

• Useful: The content is original and meets a need.


• Usable: The site is easy to use.  


• Desirable - Attractive: Identity, visuals, brand and other design elements create a feeling and a sense of satisfaction.


• Findable: The content can be found both on the site and outside (search engines)


• Accessible - Accessible: Content is accessible to disabled users.


• Credible - Trustworthy: Users believe and trust the content

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The effectiveness of a website (platform, social network, corporate site, etc.) depends on user experience. Websites should be easy to navigate, content should be easy to consume, and it must be beneficial to the user.

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UX is not UI.

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If you ask what User Experience is not, our answer would be that it is not designing a user interface.

User Interface Design is not the same as User Experience.

UI - User Interface is an output of UX - User experience. UI - User interface determines how users interact with the product, what they see and how. UI - User interface is the result when effective UX - User experience is implemented. A good user interface design is a direct output of the research and brainstorming you do in the UX process.

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What Do User Experience Designers Do?

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So what do user experience designers actually do? There is no one definition for each, and no day is the same as the next. However, there are common techniques that every user experience designer uses at different stages of a project.

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Wireframes

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Wireframes are a rough sketch of a website or mobile app. It’s the output most commonly associated with being a UX designer.

Once the designers have prepared page by page, the wireframes are sent to interactive prototyping. Interactive prototyping is done these days without writing any code, with tools like Balsamiq Mockups and Axure RP.

Most UX designers say they do a lot more than just create wireframes. True, but every UX design starts with wireframing.

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User Testing

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Getting users to sit down on your website or use your mobile app and ask them to complete specific tasks, while also telling you what they think in the process, is the essence of user testing.

The number of people in the test group, how well the test users match your real user profile, and how many scenarios you will apply are all related to your budget and time limit.

Everyone should do and have user testing done at least once. The difficulties that the user in the test group will experience while using your product will force you to empathize. Maybe a function that you believe in very much is very difficult to use.

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Personas

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Personas are fictional identity cards of your target user group.

For personas to work, they need to be supported by research. You should use your observation skills to add the necessary details and make them believable and interesting. However, personas should reflect the habits of your users or potential users when using your product.

There is no easy way to uncover these habits. You can get them from user research: conducting interviews, conducting surveys, reviewing user tests, and investigating other user interactions will help.

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Scenarios and Storyboards

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The scenario describes a day in the personas’ lives, as you see them. Of course, you’ll talk about how your product positively contributes to their lives and what problem it solves.

If you have experience writing user stories, writing these scenarios will be easy for you. The focus here will be on regular use. Depending on your audience, a storyboard may be more useful for revealing where, how, and why your product will be used.

Storyboard is actually a study used in film productions. In this study, it is explained how a scene will be on paper step by step. We can also reveal how the user will communicate with the product in product interactions.

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User Experience Design is more than just the sum of research, analysis, and user insights.

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By working with Brainy for user experience and user interface design, you can increase your revenues and publish products that your audience will love. Click here to contact us or fill out the contact form below.