WHY UX/UI?
User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) are important because they are directly tied to how users perceive your product. UX/UI is about creating memorable experiences that drive brand perception, recurring visits and conversions. Great UX is focused on helping users make good decisions to overcome challenges and accomplish their goals.
INCREASED SALES
Amazon increased sales by $300 million after changing their button text from “register” to “continue”
CUSTOMER LOYALTY
52% of online shoppers claim that quick page loading influences their loyalty to a site.
RECURRING VISITS
88% of users are less likely to return to a website after a bad user experience.
WHAT IS UX/UI?
User Experience (UX) design is the process of improving the overall user experience with a product (app or website). It keeps customers in mind to make interactions usable, enjoyable, and accessible. UX design involves empathizing with users, defining their pain points, coming up with ideas for design solutions, creating wireframes, prototypes, and mockups, and testing designs to get feedback. For examples, see my work on Bullseye and the Eco Shop.
User Interface (UI), on the other hand, is the process of improving the visual elements of an app or website. UI is the “look” whereas UX is the “feel” of your app or website.
“People ignore design that ignores people.” — Frank Chimero, Designer
THE PROCESS
The design thinking process is a user-centered approach to problem-solving. It helps designers create solutions that address real user problems. There are five phases in the design process:
Empathize - understand users’ needs and how users think and feel. This involves a lot of user research, such as conducting surveys, interviews, and observation sessions, so you can get a clear picture of who your users are and the challenges they are facing.
Define - create a clear problem statement, or a description of the user’s need that your designs will address, based on your research findings.
Ideate - come up with as many design solutions as possible.
Prototype - develop an early model of a product that demonstrates its functionality.
Test - users provide feedback about your designs, before the product is built.
Depending on the feedback from your testing phase, you might need to go back to the beginning of the design process, come up with new ideas for solutions, or develop new prototypes.