How do you build the best user experience? What makes a website or an application easy to use? How do you measure the effectiveness of user experience design? What steps should you take to test the usability of your website or application? User experience (UX) encompasses several areas of design, including visual design, information architecture, and interaction design, as well as elements of programming and development. There are many aspects to consider when building great UX in any product, from websites and applications to games and hardware devices.
How do you build the best user experience?
- The basics of a great user experience
- Designing for different types of users
- Creating prototypes and testing
- User feedback and iteration
- roll-out and continual improvement
The basics of a great user experience
The most important thing to remember about UX is that a design should be usable, findable, understandable, and pleasurable. That doesn’t mean the design has to be beautiful (although it can be). It just needs to answer the basic questions of what, how, and why.
What am I looking for and how do I find it? How will I know if what I’m looking for is actually here? Why am I doing this in the first place? These are all critical points that make UX better.
UX is an ongoing process that requires not only a solid understanding of the user’s needs but also a constant reevaluation of those needs as new technologies emerge or market trends change.
If a user clicks on a button to start an upload, is there a progress indicator? If someone has to type in their email address, what if they make a typo? Those are only two examples of questions that can be answered by designing with usability in mind. The goal is to create an experience that users will enjoy using as much as they enjoy using your product or service.
Designing for different types of users
Design for all ages, genders and abilities Have a variety of features that cater to different needs Use bright colors and contrasting fonts Make it easy to switch between tasks on your screen Avoid using jargon or difficult language Incorporate animation and motion
is text-heavy: When reading on screens, users prefer more concise writing. Information should be broken up into small blocks with links to take users to another page. Choose shorter words. Include multimedia (images and videos). Start off with the most important information first. Finally, design interfaces so they can be used with a mouse or touchscreen as needed. Some actions are easier to complete with a mouse while others are better done with touch. You want to make sure you provide options for both types of input.
Creating prototypes and testing
When designing a product or service, it’s important to create prototypes and test them with users. Prototyping is an iterative process of creating early versions of the product that allow designers and developers to validate assumptions and improve designs. Prototypes can range from paper sketches to interactive simulations, or fully functional products. Allowing users to interact with prototypes during various stages of design allows for validation or invalidation of design ideas, which in turn helps create a better user experience.
You need not have a full-blown prototype before testing your idea with potential customers; however, having some sort of visual representation that communicates what is being built can be very beneficial for soliciting feedback from customers. For example, companies will often post wireframes (sketches of how the site layout might look) on their websites to get feedback. Early-stage startups often present their idea as a mockup (which may include sketches or renderings) or just as a verbal description so they can solicit feedback without too much time invested into developing something that may not work well.
Some tools are available online to help people quickly make and share prototypes: ProtoPie offers a drag-and-drop interface while Framer X has code editing capabilities. Many prototyping tools also offer support for animation so you can show changes over time such as adding items to the shopping cart, changing traffic light colors based on sensor input, etc.
User feedback and iteration
User feedback is absolutely key to building a successful application. It is important to understand what users expect, and then make improvements based on that feedback. In addition, it is important to continuously iterate on the product by adding new features and removing those that don’t work well. User research and iteration are also essential to understanding how users interact with your app or website and ultimately making it more useful for them. When implementing changes to an existing site, it’s important to find out if these changes help improve the user experience before releasing them into production. You can gather this information through a series of tests: online surveys; usability testing; A/B testing; etc.
The first step to creating a great user experience is finding out what users expect. Before releasing your application, send out surveys or talk to actual users to get a better understanding of how they interact with their current solution. Is there something missing? Something confusing? Are users able to accomplish tasks in an efficient manner? Based on your research and your own thoughts, decide what areas are most important and where improvements can be made. You should focus on key areas that give your application a competitive advantage over others available on marketplaces or portals. Be open-minded, because it may turn out that certain features users demand isn’t necessary or helpful at all. Gather feedback from actual customers while they’re using your product, not just when they’re filling out surveys before downloading it.
roll-out and continual improvement
First and foremost, ensure that your product has a clear and focused purpose. Who is it for? What need does it satisfy? – Your product should be designed in an intuitive way so that people know what to do without having to read instructions or watch tutorials. If they don’t understand the basic functionality of your product within a few seconds of using it, then something is wrong with how you’ve designed it. – Designing a great user experience starts with designing great products. Carefully think through all aspects of your business: what’s your story, who are you targeting, how will users find out about you, how will they purchase from you, etc.
Once you’ve got your core product designed and have started to roll it out, make sure that you listen to your users and continue to improve your offering. Conduct regular surveys focus groups or online questionnaires in order to get real feedback on how well your business is doing, what needs improving, what new features would they like, etc. Improve each aspect of your business based on these findings. For example Continual Improvement – Third Paragraph: While there are no guarantees when it comes to success (no matter how well-designed a product is), applying these principles of building great products and providing a top-notch customer experience should significantly increase your chances of success.
