What is UX design?
UX (User Experience) refers to all experiences a user feels and thinks while using a service or product. UX design is designing and executing the processes necessary to create products that deliver meaningful experiences to users. People use tools to achieve their goals, and companies provide better tools in many ways. It can be an intangible application or a tangible vehicle. Among many tools, smartphone applications are still one of the most important UX that has a great influence on people’s lives.
When designing UX, don’t think about what you can do as a supplier, but what kind of experience you can give to users. Define what users want (why) and find out what features they need to do so (what). And specifically design how users use the tool (how). There are various design methodologies, but in essence, you create, observe, and improve by yourself while constantly iterating why, what, how.
Designing an experience requires understanding the user. Humans are motivated to achieve goals, perceive information using the five senses, understand information through the brain, act to achieve goals, and feel emotions in all these processes. To understand these complex reaction steps, you can’t just think of your users as mere objects of scrutiny, you need to empathize deeply with them and want a better experience just as much as they do. Sometimes there are times when you understand the steps in detail analytically, and there are times when you intuitively sympathize with the overall thoughts and feelings. UX designers must understand people from both the big and small perspectives.
The goal of UX design is to develop and improve a product through strategic design to provide an environment where the target audience can have the best experience from the first step to the last step.
How are good user experiences created?
Successful UX design requires a deep understanding of your users’ wants, needs, and values. And as any designer knows, a good user experience cannot be defined in one single factor. The individual interaction between users and products is an area of unique potential, and every design has a different goal.
Research methods:
Before applying data to UX design, it is necessary to decide which data to use. This is because the characteristics of all data are different. Data can be largely classified into qualitative data and quantitative data according to their characteristics. Considering that the classification of qualitative and quantitative evaluation is generally determined by the type of data collected, its meaning is mixed with that of qualitative and quantitative data.
Qualitative data is collected through methodologies such as observation or interviews. It is easy to grasp areas such as motivation and emotion of users who use the interface. The collected data is structured and organized and analysed, which is greatly influenced by the experience and skill of the researcher. Qualitative data yields an understanding of the motivations, thoughts, and attitudes of people.
Quantitative data are measured through methodologies such as experiments or questionnaires. It can be expressed in numbers, such as the number of clicks, dwell time, and number of errors, and it is also possible to create new indicators through calculations. If there is a certain environment, it is not affected by who measures it. However, it involves the process of inferring the meaning of a number.
The key differences between quantitative and qualitative research are in the data they deal with and the questions they answer where quantitative research focuses on numbers and statistics to answer ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’, qualitative research broadly looks to words and meaning for the ‘why’.
About my major project:
My major project is to create a Korean homemade face masks website. First, when I came up with this topic, I created a mind map of all the topics I am interested in and anything that is related to me. As the weather is getting cold these days, people are stressed about their skin becoming increasingly/more rough these days. Also, people around me were worried about the fact that small spots appear on their face when they are stressed. Besides this, many people are concerned about their skin for various reasons. So, I thought it would be great to create a website of making Korean homemade face masks. How nice it would be if the audience could feel the preciousness of their facial skin and the joy of making face masks. So, user experience design can be incorporated into my project, which can help me to think better and design my web pages. My goal is to make it easy for all users to make Korean homemade face masks at home through the website I design.
UX methods on various stages of my design process
4 phases:
- Phase 1 – Discover
- Phase 2 -Define
- Phase 3- Test
- Phase 4 – Listen
Phase 1 – Discover
UX research is the process of observing and analysing customer attitudes and behaviours. Here, qualitative research is in the form of direct contact with each customer to ask and receive answers, and to grasp the context of ‘attitude’ about how and why they feel that way about a specific situation or problem. Quantitative research, on the other hand, surveys many customers or measures their log data to prove facts about the ‘behaviour’ of when, what, and how much real customers did.
I have been making various difference types of face mask packs for a long time, so I have no worries about how to make them. And since I didn’t keep making just one type, I have no problems or worries about the types of face masks. But as I don’t know what kind of website the users want and what to include on it, I’m going to collect some data.
Survey
Surveys a great way to collect important information. It allows to ask specific questions about what people are searching for or get feedback on a specific design and see if it meets the needs of the target audience. Surveys may collect certain information such as yes/no answers, ratings, and other definitive answers that may be combined and analysed. Also, it is used to obtain more qualitative information and these indicators. Some of the questions for the survey will be have you tried face masks before? Have you ever had concerns with your facial skin? What kind of facial skin problems do you have? and more other questions.
Target audience
From the first time I thought of this idea, I decided that my target audience would be all countries except South Korea, but I happened to see it in the media, and Europeans were curious about how Koreans take care of their skin, so I decided to set it to people who live in United Kingdom. I have decided the age at 20-30+ years old and both genders. The audience I want to attract first is people who are naturally interested in their skin. So, people who are stressed with their skins, people who usually takes care of their appearance.
Phase 2 – Define
Empathy map
From the results collected from the interviews, I am going to use empathy map to organize the results/contents gathered from the interview. An empathy map is an easy-to-understand chart that helps designers explain everything they’ve learned about user types. The empathy map is divided into four domains: says, thinks, does, and feels. It helps empathize and synthesize the observations obtained during the research phase and derive unexpected insights about user needs. In the says section, I am going to write what the user said during the interview to make sure that I don’t arbitrarily interrupt the content in the process of translating the user’s words. In the thinks section, I am going to write down the thought expressed by users. On the other hand, if the user didn’t say it, then you can write down the impression through the user’s gesture, tone, and other indicators. However, when you write down their thoughts, you should be wary of making premature assumptions about users. In the does section, I am going to write about the content that describes the actions a user goes through while using the website or what actions the user engages in an associated experience. Lastly, in the feels section, I am going to write down the emotions that users express, such as anger, frustration, and excitement.
User persona
A persona is a rough idea of a typical user based on user research. Their profile tells you who they are and what kind of travel products or services they are interested in. When it comes to building a persona, it doesn’t represent everyone’s average. It’s a subset of your target audience. For my project, I will create different variety of user personas to help me meet the needs of the users.
Phase 3 – Test
User flow
Before deciding on a website designer’s blueprint, it’s helpful to first decide what you want people to do and how you want them to be achieved. A user flow is a series of steps that a user goes through when visiting a website, from the landing page to other sections of the site. Understanding the path, you want your users to take will help you decide how to structure your design. Help with wireframe and prototype development. A user flow shows each step along this path. Configure user flows to show how someone can buy and check out a product or find more information about a specific topic. At this stage, I am planning to sketch the user flows of each stage, so it is easy to understand. It is a result that can easily explain the relationship of the designed solution.
Wireframe
A wireframe is a two-dimensional (2D) plan that represents the structure of each page with visual indicators such as lines, grids, and boxes that indicate where content, images, and other components will be placed. It can be high resolution, detailed or low resolution and minimalist for each page. First, I am going to sketch a 2D wireframe on paper first. I’m planning to sketch several different wireframes and I am going to look at empathy map and user personas when sketching the wireframe. After sketching wireframes on paper I will move on to creating wireframe on computer.
Prototype
A prototype is an almost complete representation of a design. It does everything from information architecture to navigation, interactivity, important visuals, and content blocks. You don’t have to have every little thing, but you should be able to access everything your users want to interact with and enjoy. Elements we want users to notice while interacting with the product are incorporated. Refers to features such as call-to-action buttons, animations, and other dynamic components. Prototypes allow you to get feedback and make changes before launch. High-fidelity prototypes are meant to be tested in the real world and to show how a product works in the real world. In contrast, low-fidelity prototypes focus more on function than shape.
Phase 4 – Listen
Usability testing
Once having a working prototype, it’s time to test it for usability. It’s about letting people new to design experience it for the first time. Usability testing is often conducted in person or remotely. Having other people in your exact location allows to observe how people are feeling while using the web. This allows to get unbiased feedback on your designs and decide what doesn’t work. While working with the project website I will ask people (friends, family etc.) for feedbacks about the content of the website pages I am working on and will use the feedbacks I have received as I progress. After I have finished the prototype of the project website, I will ask variety of different people (friends, classmates etc.) to use the final website to see if the website works well.
Conclusion
Overall, it is important to know what the users want and how they feel about the project. I am currently working on a project using the features of UXD as much as possible. So, I have chosen the methods to research the needs and goals of the target audience. As the project progresses, I will work my best to bring the ideal solution that meets the user expectations.
References:
UX process : https://miro.com/guides/ux-research/
https://maze.co/guides/ux-research/
https://www.eleken.co/blog-posts/ux-research-process
Research methods : https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods
https://maze.co/guides/ux-research/qualitative-ux-research-methods/
Persona : https://www.nngroup.com/articles/persona/
UX design : https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/ux-design
https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/career-tips/what-is-ux-design/