Memo: Five-minute UX guide from Squarespace and MailChimp
From the translator: this is a short (literally - a five-minute) story about what the main directions, goals and objectives of the UX are, which will be of interest to those who are just starting to get acquainted with this topic. At the end of the article we decided to provide a list of interesting publications on the topic, which can continue the process of studying the design of interfaces and usability.
The task of the UX designer is to make the work of users more efficient, increase their satisfaction with the process and, as a result, ensure the company's commercial success. But keeping the balance between user needs and your business goals is not easy. The editorial office of FastCompany asked Michael Heilemann, director of interfaces at Squarespace, and Aaron Walter (Aarron Walter), director of UX in the MailChimp email distribution service, to share their knowledge of the topic.
')
User experience and interface design are completely different things. To create and improve user experience, Photoshop is not needed, and, of course, this process does not take place at the last step of the work on the product. To design UX, you need to deal with a [corporate] user-oriented strategy, engage in analysis and audience research, and understand the physiological aspects of design. In order to understand all this, there are a number of methods:
- Learning about devices: what are the strengths and weaknesses of specific devices, and what impact does this have on your product? For example, the user experience of working on a device with a touch-interface and on a traditional device with a monitor will be completely different.
- Character creation: what does your average user look like? How can this information affect your product?
- Design patterns [behavior]: how often does the checkout procedure occur in electronic stores?
- In large projects, work on UX can be completely separated from the processes of interface design, information architecture, and interactions. Although in reality this happens infrequently, and in most agencies and start-ups, these aspects of the work on a project are usually combined in one post.
“Our goal is to make the software functional, reliable, and ready to use so that people can accomplish their tasks with it,” says Aaron Walter. “But we believe that developing software that is simply ready for use is like cooking a meal that is“ just edible ”by a chef. To attract people, you need to go beyond basic practicality. We want things with which we interact to evoke emotions in us. ”
UX is what you can definitely feel. It is curious that this is not just a common opinion - this is confirmed at the level of physiology and understanding of how people interact and behave. Interfaces can cause both enthusiasm and frustration. The way the object looks, and how well thought out its interface, directly affects our perception of the product.
“We carefully assess the emotional state of our clients at different stages of their work so as to create a product that demonstrates at the right time that it is both functional and not boring to use it,” says Walter. By creating a truly superior user experience, you attract your customers from different angles. You can use the user’s gaze tracking tools to better understand the needs of your audience and improve your products. In most cases, excellent user experience is achieved by working in a number of disciplines:
- Physiology : What motivates the user? For example, did you know that so-called. "Power users", "leaders" among users, make up only a couple of percent of the total volume of customers using your product? In other words, when developing your product, do not focus only on this narrow group.
- Usability : What gives the user inconvenience? Designed navigation is also part of usability. Consider how to organize your website sections more effectively: using a flat or hierarchical structure?
- Design : Why doesn't the user trust us? Contrast and colors are important and have a deep meaning for people. Therefore, it is necessary to think about design before applying it “in action”.
- Content : What should the user show more often: the “Save” or “Continue” button? The clarity of the presentation of information here is of paramount importance and often leads to an increase in conversion. People really read the texts on the site, and their writing should be considered as part of the design [interface] process.
- Analytics : What should we say about the percentage of failures?
Walter believes in the power of analytics, but urges to be careful: “Some things are simple enough to measure: time to solve a problem, percentage completed registration, number of calls to the support service on a specific issue — here are examples of metrics that you can easily calculate. But not all important things can be quantified. How to measure how many smiles caused amusingly written text, how to calculate the attractiveness of the interface? It is impossible to do this, but this is why these things do not become less important. ”
What is the value of UX?
As a rule, it is useful to move away from the screen for a minute and think about what your product is in terms of conversion, usability, content and design - this helps you better understand the value of your project for customers.
Now the goal of UX is to improve these specific aspects of the business. As a result, it is possible to answer questions like: why did the values ​​for a number of our indicators begin to decrease? How can we improve the usability of our site?
Even in order to improve the CTA on the site, you need to think about UX. When you combine the goals of your users and your own, you are on your way to success.
How do companies use UX?
“Listen to your customers,” says Michael Helemann. This is the only thing that matters. We all listen to our customers ... and often use user feedback to understand what we lack, what we failed to do. And then we get to work again.
In the end, our entire business is built around user experience, which we learn to understand and improve. It is not so easy.
“No one gets everything at once and without effort. If you listen to users and improve your product to meet their needs, you are on the right path, ”says Walter.
UX is only part of the picture.
Yes, UX is an important element in creating great products, software and systems. But do not forget that exceptional user experience is directly related to the excellent quality of development and graphic design.
UX has long been a novelty to no one. This area is developing, and analytics confirms that having a UX designer in the team brings tangible benefits to the project.
“UX is not something that can be simply implemented, it is the basis of the basic value system,” says Walter.
We have prepared a small selection of useful sources on the topic:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/253549/
All Articles