The basics of user experience design
Hi again. Earlier we discussed how UX designers
help make technology easier to
understand and more enjoyable to use.
In this video, we'll define
user experience and UX design.
We'll review why UX design is
important for consumers and businesses. Let's get started.
The user experience is how a person, the user,
feels about interacting with
or experiencing a product.
A product is a good, service, or feature.
It might be a physical product,
like a video game controller
or a bag of potato chips,
or a technology product, like
an app, website, or smartwatch.
There are many things that can make
up a good user experience.
In this video, we'll highlight some of them.
For example, for a user to have a good experience,
the product needs to be usable,
equitable, enjoyable, and useful.
Let's break that down.
To begin, user experience is about improving
usability or making something easier to use.
This means that the design,
structure, and purpose of
the product are clear to everyone.
Play video starting at :1:16 and follow transcript1:16
Think about a ketchup bottle.
Historically, ketchup came in a glass bottle.
The user had to hit the bottom of
the glass to make ketchup come out.
Often, no ketchup or
too much ketchup would come out of the bottle.
Today, the ketchup bottle has been
redesigned into a plastic squeezable bottle,
which makes it easier to use and allows
users to control how much ketchup comes out.
UX designers need to think about
every person who uses the product.
This might include
people with disabilities, or people with
very different life experiences from your own.
For example, one user might find an app with a lot of text easy
to use.
On the other hand, a user with
a visual impairment might want different features like sound.
Play video starting at :2:6 and follow transcript2:06
Considering the unique needs of many different people is
important work and thinking
about equitable design is key.
Being equitable means your designs are useful
and marketable to people with diverse abilities and
backgrounds.
User experience is also
about making things enjoyable to use,
which creates a positive connection
between the user and the product.
UX designers foster that positive connection by taking
a user's thoughts and feelings into account when making
products.
Think about ordering takeout food online.
When you search for a restaurant in Google or Yelp,
you can see photos of dishes and
read reviews from other people who have eaten there.
This experience is enjoyable because you can
make a more informed choice about what to order,
leaving you feeling happier about the product.
So, how do we figure out what makes a user happy with the
product?
That's where research comes in.
To know how users feel,
we have to collect evidence on how they're experiencing
that product in real time and ask them about it, too.
We'll discuss this in a lot more detail later.
As humans, we want products that are useful,
meaning they solve our problems.
For example, if you're lost,
a map app telling you how to get home is useful.
But if the app can't find your current location,
it's not so useful anymore.
So now we know what it means for a user to have a good
experience.
Why is it important to business?
In 2018, the research firm McKinsey & Company
studied companies in three industries: medical technology,
consumer goods, and retail banking.
They found that, regardless of industry,
businesses that focused on good usability and
design performed better than their competitors.
Play video starting at :4:1 and follow transcript4:01
Basically, it comes down to this:
When people like a product,
they use that product a lot,
and they recommended it to their friends.
And more people using the product
means better business for the company.
Plus, when users have a good experience with the product,
they're more likely to have a positive opinion of the company
that made it.
A win-win for the user and the business.
Can you think of a product you loved so
much that you shared it with a friend?
If you did, that's
a great example of user experience design in action.
Despite all this, a lot of companies don't understand
the important role that UX design can play in improving their
business,
and that's where you as a UX designer come in.
So now you know how to describe
user experience and UX design.
And you understand why UX design is
important for consumers and businesses.
Next up, we'll learn more about what UX designers do.
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