“Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.” — Robert L. Peters, designer, and author. In this article, we have shed some light on the key UX design concepts and their importance signifying why hiring UX designers is crucial for businesses with a digital presence. First, let’s start by understanding what UX design really is.
What is UX design
User experience (UX) design is the methodology design teams adopt to build products that provide valuable and appealing experiences to their users. This includes the design of the process of acquiring and integrating the product, keeping the aspects of branding, design, usability, and function in mind. To achieve the desired impact, UX designers follow ten UX design concepts.
Key UX design concepts
The following UX design concepts ensure that users can extract the desired value from the product fast while spending minimum resources and enjoying the usability of the product.
1. Accessibility
Making the website easily accessible to visitors with special needs so they can find the content they are looking for which will make their web experience better. Improving accessibility requires consistent efforts from the marketing team where regular feedback is collected from visitors. By making the website easily accessible to everyone irrespective of their capabilities, you make your site an inclusive place where all your visitors are treated fairly.
2. Usability
Usability refers to how easily a visitor or a user can navigate through your website and find value from your product. It is considered the bare minimum for UX in the sense that if they find it difficult to use, they won’t use it.
It has two main dimensions:
- Objective: It is measured in the same way for all the users and visitors. For instance, the time taken by a user to set up their account. This can be calculated by using tracking tools such as Mixpanel and Pendo.
- Subjective: It is calculated independently for each user. It depends on the satisfaction level of the user which depends on factors such as their perception and expectations. Measuring the net promoter score (NPS) is an easy way for assessing this.
3. Information Architecture (IA)
It is the framework of design that organizes, classifies, and structures content while keeping users’ requirements at heart. This is to ensure that the user finds the related information easily which will help them make a decision or solve their problem.
4. Wireframe
It is a technique used for building an information architecture. It helps the leadership of the design team to visualize how content will be structured on the site to ensure the best usability. You can use apps like Bubble and Lucidchart to create both low and high-fidelity wireframes.
5. Interaction Design
It is abbreviated as IxD and is closely related to IA. It focuses on the conceptualization, testing, and implementation of interactive elements on a website such as call-to-actions (CTAs), forms, free calculators, etc. Interaction design ensures your website has higher engagement levels which increases retention time and the quality and quantity of leads earned by you.
6. Agile UX and Lean UX
These two concepts are often used synonymously, but they vary greatly.
- Agile UX consists of the UX integration and development methodologies of agile software. “Agile Development” A term for a set of frameworks and practices based on the values and principles expressed in the Agile Manifesto.
- Lean UX offers a comprehensive view of why a feature exists in the first place, the investment required to implement it, and the value it delivers. Lean UX provides a closed-feedback-loop process for defining and measuring the value of a design.
7. Graphic Design
This concept deals with the visual aspects of a website such as the color palette, images, etc. This is arguably one of the most important concepts as it determines the brand appearance and is responsible for setting the first impression. Good graphic design enhances product expressiveness, making its visual identity part of the communication process.
8. Mobile-First
As nearly 60% of traffic comes from mobile devices, it will serve your business well to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. This UX concept focuses on just that. It prioritizes web design for mobile devices and builds your properties in a way that delivers a great web experience.
9. Target persona
This concept operates on the motto “give the users what they want” by researching about them, collecting their data, and building user personas. This involves:
- Understanding their pain points
- Asking them if there is a solution
- Helping them assess the impact
- Asking what would be an ideal solution
- Observing their behavior patterns
- Learning about their choices and motivations
By walking in the shoes of the user, UX designers can create a solution that is easy to use.
10. A/B Testing
A potential user is shown two versions of the same design and their feedback is taken on the basis of visual appeal, usability, etc. Based on the observations, UX designers iterate on the existing design until they reach a design that their target audience loves.
Importance of UX design for businesses
Putting all the above UX concepts into practice consumes a lot of resources in terms of labor, time, and money. UX designers put all that work in while keeping the prize in mind:
- Improved experience for existing users: The UX of current users is of utmost importance for any business that understands the importance of user retention.
- Better ratings and feedback: A happy user base means better ratings and an opportunity to get more users. Today’s digital world makes sure that the good (or bad) performance of any business reaches its target audience.
- Higher conversion rates: It is one thing to earn leads and another to convert them into loyal customers. This is where good UX makes all the difference. If users get to the value quickly, they are more likely to buy.
- Decreased debugging cost: A product or service created with the above UX concepts in mind makes the tasks of developers easy. In case of an issue, for instance, it is easier to identify it, get actionable feedback, and resolve it quickly.
- Boosted success ratio: Following proper UX practices ensures that a product is thoroughly tested before it reaches its users. This sets up any business for success as they will spend less time later on to correct their mistakes.
Wrapping up
UX design ensures that the product is easy to use and delivers the promised value without demanding too much effort from the user. Good UX design is important as it improves the experience of current users, gets better ratings, reduces dev costs, and boosts conversion rates.
It operates on ten key concepts (and their impacts on the product):
- Accessibility: Users with special needs can use it.
- Usability: A short learning curve.
- Information architecture: Focus on the arrangement of data.
- Wireframe: Outlining of the product’s flow.
- Interaction design: It should not overwhelm the user.
- Agile and lean UX: Adaptive, robust, and budget-friendly.
- Graphic design: Visually appealing.
- Mobile-first: Because most visitors are from here.
- Target persona: Keeping the user at the center.
- A/B testing: Ensuring the above concepts are put to practice accurately.
We hope that this article has helped you understand the importance of UX design and the key concepts.