4 Questions every UX Designer should ask himself
UX design is an unexplored mythic world for former UI designers who now have to specialise in UX as well to get more opportunities and (whispers) money. Even though the world of design now has many UX experts yet UX is still undermined. A large number of designers still consider UI to be more important than UX. Comparing UI and UX is a deep and quite controversial topic so I am not going to discuss it in depth but would dedicate an entire article to it. This article is not like the stereotypical ‘After reading this, you will master UX design’ but a set of tips from a designer to help others who are planning on diving into the depths of the trench of design. Here are the 4 UX Questions, every designer should ask themselves:
- Am I making the users feel they’re Dumb?
Smartphones and mobile applications have been here for quite a while now. Major amount of the world population has access to the internet and smartphones. Gone are the days when the people were confused on how to open or delete an app. People now know the basic functionality of every app like the magnifying glass icon is related to searching/browsing. You should not overload your app/design with hundreds of tutorials teaching the simplest things. These tutorials will divert the user from the core function of the app and would go on to hurt their pride. We all know that humans are furious when someone hurts their pride. Eventually you will end up losing a large number of customers due to a piece of tutorial text that kept on popping on the screen now and then. Show users tutorials when they need it rather than teaching them a lot of things at once.
2.What is the user using my app for?
To explain this point I would like to take an example of a taxi app. Imagine that you are late for work and are in a hurry. You download the taxi app and the first thing you see is a terms and conditions document that goes on forever. Even though App Store and Play Store guidelines say that the user is already agreeing to them if he/she downloads the app. After the terms and conditions screen you see 10 screens back to back teaching you how to book a taxi and set up your profile. This will definitely annoy the user since the main purpose of the app is to allow him to book a cab and the app is clearly deviating from it which will again lead to a large number of customers being lost.
3. Am I being creative or just confusing the user?
When it comes to UX Design, DON’T be unique. Users already have a basic understanding of apps and trying to interfere with that basic functionality to introduce some creative functionality is something that you should always avoid. For example a note taking app used the map-pin icon i.e. usually associated with location to show the users the notes they had pinned previously. Users know that that icon is associated with location and using it for any other purpose will create confusion for new users and they would try avoiding your app
4. Am I being Simple?
Never forget that it only takes 3 clicks for a user to delete your app and all the hard work goes in vain. Don’t make complex designs, navigating in which is very difficult. Try to help the user achieve certain goals in the simplest way possible. Easier the functionality, happier the user. If you have a good idea, somebody has already built it but never forget Google was never the first search engine nor was the iPhone the first smartphone. What made these products successful was their easy functionality which was a lot more efficient than other products at that time
UX is something that can’t be mastered in a month or two. Understanding of it comes from as the X stands for experience and criticism. Continue building products, continue testing them and after some time, you will be sitting in your room writing an article to be published on Medium!