UX Design is all about solving the problems of your customers. But there isn’t any design manual available that can give you the easy and absolute solution to your customer’s problems.
Creating a product may seem simple once the idea strike, but designing it may be more complicated than you think.
Remember: when somebody’s giving birth, you don’t say “Congratulations, it’s a user!”. You have to be able to understand your customer and empathize with them in order to build something useful. So here are some handy tips when applying UX Design in building (or improving) your product:
1. Be easy to use.
When using UX Design to build your product, it’s important to make sure that it is easy to use. People lose interest easily, and often shift to the ones that provide them with the solution, with the least amount of effort possible.
Illustrating your customer’s journey using what is (very intuitively) called a Customer Journey Map, you can visualize how your customers interact with your product, and at what points they feel frustrated or confused by certain parts.
2. Be simple.
Aligned with the previous idea, being simple makes your product easier to use. Bear in mind that having minimalistic design and easy to navigate User Interface helps the customer identify each function. Rather than having to stop and process what each part of the product is supposed to mean.
Aside from this, it’s crucial that your customers are able to familiarize themselves with your product, within the first few seconds of use.
In the UX Design Process, you can use tools like Empathy Maps and Usability Tests in order to identify what parts are too complicated or what design works best with your customers.
3. Be consistent.
UX Design is basically for building or enhancing the experience of using your product, therefore, being consistent is important. It leverages brand awareness and gives a subconscious trademark into your customer’s minds.
So imagine if your company has multiple logos. Isn’t it confusing for you and your customers? Building your product is similar to that. You want to design something that isn’t confusing, and is easy to get used to. This allows your customers to create a bond with the product, since they understand it through-and-through.
4. Be recognizable.
It’s also crucial in UX Design to make sure that everything is recognizable. That’s why you associate the “person” icon for Profile pages, and “gears” icons for Settings. This means that your customers will know exactly what to do to your app or website just by recognizing the User Interface that are available to other similar channels.
Again, it’s good to stand out, but you should always make easy-peasy for your customers.
To achieve the ideal User Experience, look for simple yet distinct icons, words, or signals that definitively represent its function. Think about things like, “If they see a green light, what would they think?”, “What comes to mind when they hear a ring?”, or “How would they react to a vibration?”
Considering things like these will lift a lot of effort off of the users’ shoulders.
5. Be adaptable.
On one hand, using UX Design to build your product can help you gain a lot of information that will help you please your current customers. But on the other hand, you should be flexible to adapt to their constantly changing needs because chances are, as needs are provided for, more needs arise.
A good example is how Heinz Ketchup is packaged. Previously, it was sold only in glass bottles, but after over a hundred years of using it, they developed their plastic squeeze bottles to make pouring ketchup a lot easier to do. Pretty Smart.
6. Be transparent.
It’s also important to constantly keep your customers updated. Leaving them in the dark will restrict their relationship with your product. Good example of this is when your trusty printer warns you about low ink levels.
To cut it all short, just avoid making people worry to make the overall experience better.
7. Be ready to help.
Personally, I’ve had a lot of experiences with fill-out forms. I had to repeat it three or more times simply because I filled it up the way I usually do, just to find out at the end that I’ve been providing entries that don’t meet their guidelines.
80% of the time, customers ask for help or guide along the way. Things like red highlights on a fill-out form or any indicator to show that something isn’t being done right is always a plus. It guides the customer and prevents them from making a mistakes.
In UX Design, the main thing is to design for people, not users. They are human. They have problems that you want to solve, and sometimes you might think you know how to solve it, but it’s crucial that you adjust to their actual needs rather than to your assumptions.
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