Good knowledge of ux ui. UI, UX: Who does what? Designer's guide to the IT industry. Why did it have to be complicated
UX design - what is it? The UI industry is currently growing at a rapid pace, but UX design is still a whole new world for most executives and managers. This area aims to increase user satisfaction with the product, improve usability, accessibility and interaction. Combines traditional human-computer interaction design and considers all aspects of user interaction with a product or service.
UX designers take the lead in improving the basic needs of the end user and trying to create a product that makes the audience happy. This, in turn, leads to healthy investment returns and helps support a growing business or organization.
What does a UX Designer do?
UX designers study and evaluate how users feel about a system, looking at things like ease of use, perceived value of the system, usefulness, efficiency in completing tasks.
UX designers also consider subsystems and processes within a system. For example, they can look into the checkout process on an e-commerce website to see how easy and affordable it is to complete the process of purchasing products from the site. They can delve into the subsystem's components, such as seeing how efficient and enjoyable the user experience is when filling out input fields on a web form.
UX design - what is it? Technology concept
An important concept in UX design is the process by which users create experiences. When a consumer first encounters a product, an instant impression is formed that changes over time. In this process, perception, action, motivation, and cognition come together to form the user experience. This process elicits emotional responses that largely determine whether the experience is positive or negative.
UX designers aim to create process influencing factors intentionally. To do this, the UX designer considers three categories of questions: what, why, and how.
Why- implies the motivation of users to accept the product and desire to possess it.
What- concerns what people can do with the product and its functionality.
How refers to the design of functionality in an accessible and aesthetically pleasing way.
UX design starts with the why, then the what, and finally the how to create products that users can have meaningful experiences with.
Historical retrospective
Compared to many other disciplines, especially web systems, UX design is relatively new. The term "user experience" was coined by Dr. Donald Norman, a cognitive science researcher who was also the first to describe the importance of user-centered design, the notion that design decisions should be based on the needs of consumers. The history of UX design began with the publication of this concept.
Whether working for a startup or a large corporation, a UX designer is directly involved in making the product useful and enjoyable to use for the company's target market. The process of creating a product contains several important steps:
consumer research;
product design;
testing;
implementation.
Let's consider each of them in more detail.
Consumer research: where to start as an aspiring designer?
Analysis of the consumer audience and identification of needs involves communication with real users in the target market. If the subject of research exists only hypothetically and has not yet been created, similar products of competing firms, their advantages and disadvantages become the subject of discussion. If the product already exists, consumers are asked questions about how people feel when navigating the site with the current design, whether it is easy to find the information they need, how structured the pages are. The quality of written and graphic content and the overall visual impression of the site are evaluated separately. The following methods can be used for this part of the process:
prototyping.
project management;
effective communication with the team.
questionnaires;
focus group discussions;
online surveys;
task analysis.
It is important to note that if a product is a product of design thought and has nothing to do with user experience and feedback in its development and implementation, it is not the result of UX design.
Design
Design hypothesis development involves envisioning how a new product or service might adapt to how a customer is already behaving (this is revealed by user research). Product design focuses on functionality and usability, not how it looks. At this stage, the following are used:
information architecture;
Testing
Testing involves verifying that the changes made during the design phase work as intended and fit the purpose. This is a great way to get rid of problems or user difficulties that were not visible at the design stage before starting work at the implementation stage. There are various:
a/b testing;
usability;
remote user testing.
Implementation
Implementation involves working closely with web developers to achieve the end goal. Web development specialists work to turn design ideas into a real website. It is important that developers work as a team throughout the process to make this final step more efficient and optimal.
What is user experience?
Websites and apps are becoming more complex as technology advances. What used to be a one-way static environment has now evolved into a wide interactive experience.
But no matter how much the manufacturing process has changed, the success of a website still depends on only one thing: how users perceive it. “Is this site giving me value? Is it easy to use? Is it nice to be here?" are the questions that users ask themselves when they interact with the company's products, and it is on the basis of this experience that, as a rule, they make a purchase decision.
The user interface (UX for short) in design is how a person feels when interacting with a system. The system can be a website, web application, or desktop software. In a modern context, this is often referred to as human-computer interaction.
The concept of User experience covers all aspects of the interaction of the end user with the company, its services and products. It is important to distinguish the overall design of a project from the user interface, although the user experience is an extremely important part of the design.
It is also necessary to distinguish between UX and usability: according to the definition, the quality attribute of the user interface, which covers ease of learning, efficiency of use, pleasantness, visual acceptability, design aesthetics.
Professional competencies
The UX designer is responsible for all of the steps in the process described above and their implementation. There are a number of professional competencies that are given great attention when training a designer:
leadership;
These professional characteristics are very important for successful work.
What is the difference between UX and UI design?
User Interface (UI) designers focus on the layout and actual design of each element that the user interacts with, while User Experience (UX) designers focus on the user's interactions with that element as well as the overall product experience. UI and UX designers often work together as well as in teams with web developers to create a product that is both visually appealing and enjoyable to use.
What does a UX designer actually do?
UX designers perform different functions depending on the project and stage of development. In the early stages of a project, experts conduct preliminary user experience research, and then plan interactions through the framework and prototyping of their projects, which are then tested using various heuristic techniques.
During development, testing and development of the user interface continues to improve the product and user experience.
Once a project is launched, a UX designer can analyze user metrics to track the results of their work, go back, and keep iterating to improve design weaknesses.
Tasks and methods
UX designers perform different tasks at different points in the process. Below is the main list:
Assessment of the current system. If the system already exists, the UX professional will holistically assess its current state. Problems are identified and corrections are proposed based on the analysis of research data.
A/B testing. A specialist can develop a study to compare the effectiveness and quality of experience of different user interfaces. This is done by hypothesizing (e.g. "a green button is more attractive than a red one"). It then proposes multiple versions of the design and determines the "best experience" in order of testing (e.g. "The green button is better because users clicked on it more often.").
Polls. The UX designer conducts a survey of existing and potential users of the system to get an idea of what was the most effective design decision. Since the experience of an individual user is subjective, the best way to get immediate information is to study and interact with group opinion.
Frameworks and prototypes. Based on their findings, UX specialists can develop wireframes of various layouts and higher fidelity prototypes.
User flows. Designing how users should navigate the system is another popular tool.
Design patterns
Templates provide consistency and a way to find the most efficient "tool" for the job. For example, when designing user interface templates, choosing the right elements (e.g. module tabs, slideshows) for certain tasks based on their effectiveness leads to the best solution. Not only do UX developers come up with design patterns that are used on other websites, but they also develop their own patterns for the current project.
Programs
There are several popular and easily accessible UX design software for work and study. The tools are not just for UX designers. Programmers and webmasters also use them.
UX design courses use prototyping tools - initially they can be done with pen and paper. This inexpensive and accessible tool for training a designer in practice allows you to quickly prototype and move on to design.
Some wireframe and prototyping software tools:
Teaching the basics of UX design uses A/B testing, also known as split testing or multivariate testing. This tool compares different versions of a page. Testing can be done with any of several programs.
Basically A/B testing software splits website traffic into two equal segments. One group sees version A and the other sees version B. Statistics such as conversion rate and bounce rate are tracked for each version. Split testing determines which version is better, and this decision is based on statistical data. One of the most popular A/B testing apps is Google's Website Optimizer.
Content Management
When teaching UX design from scratch, there are many methods of content inventory. Using an in-place server application (which will require you to access a web server) is best suited for production sites. Being closer to the source than third party software, these applications are more accurate and efficient. A simple Excel tool for creating and managing a content inventory, such as the GetUXIndex() template, can be used for this purpose.
Websites built with content management systems like WordPress and Drupal typically have built-in tools that show a map of the existing website.
Polls and feedback
User surveys are another popular UX design challenge. The most efficient and cost-effective way to do this is with a survey and feedback application or remote user testing.
Common survey tools such as PollDaddy are flexible solutions that can be used for other tasks as well. There are usability feedback tools such as Usability and remote user testing services such as Usability Hub that administer the testing system.
Examples
An example of UX design - what is it? User interface design is the process of creating products that provide a meaningful and experiential experience. This implies careful design and usability of the product, aesthetic pleasure of use and extensive functionality.
Thus, products that provide a great user experience (for example, the iPhone is the best example of UX design) are designed not only for the consumption or use of the product, but for the entire process of acquiring, owning, and even troubleshooting.
Working with user interaction helps to take a product or business to the next level, because the UX designer thinks through the logic of the product and helps clients achieve their goals.
To start learning UX design, you need to understand how work on any digital project is built and what exactly such a designer is responsible for during development.
Who is a UX designer, what does he do
A UX designer is a designer who makes digital products understandable and logical. It studies the experience of user interaction with a product - a website, an application, a program. The goal of a UX designer is to help the user achieve their goal. To do this, the project is divided into stages and each of them is worked out.
First, designers analyze the audience of the product, explore its goals and fears. Then they conduct interviews with real people, observe the sites and applications of competitors. After that, they create prototypes, show them to users and transfer files to developers.
If you look at each of these stages in detail, it is easy to understand where to start learning UX design.
Who can become a UX designer
Often, web designers come to UX who have decided to delve into the field of user interaction. They have already worked with users, they know the basic principles and are able to visualize information.
However, you don't have to be a web designer to work in UX. All processes in this area are primarily based on logic, the ability to think critically, communication with people and the ability to analyze.
One of the Google designers, Fiona Yong, said that in her team there are only a few specialists with a design education. The rest used to work in related fields or in other industries. Someone was engaged in cognitive sciences, and someone in psychobiology.
Therefore, architects, engineers, and programmers can become good designers. The main thing is to understand the basics of interaction design and understand how the logic of work in UX is built. This can be done on your own or in special UI / UX design courses.
Where to begin
You can start learning UX design with courses, books, and articles. The main thing is to draw up the right training plan, formulate goals and move from the general to the particular.
The product development process consists of several stages. On each of them, the UX designer does different things. To understand what knowledge is needed for work, you need to consider each of the stages in detail:
- study,
- data analysis,
- design,
- design,
- metrics analysis.
Study
A UX designer makes sure that the future site or application performs a useful action - sells, advertises, helps users.
But it is difficult to create a good project if you do not understand the problem. Therefore, first the designer collects data about the future product. Researches competitors, plans functions, thinks over the logic of work.
A good research method is talking to real users. When creating a service for buying tickets, it is better to go to the station and interview passengers. Find out whether it will be easier for them to purchase tickets via the Internet, whether it is convenient to pay with a card, how they want to choose seats in the car.
During the research phase, a UX designer should actively talk to potential users and ask what they need.
Data analysis
When the objectives of the product are clear, the designer thinks through the logic of interaction.
The brightest representatives are selected from the target audience and they are told about them. They try to imagine what is important for this person in the product. What tasks will he solve, in what way. This stage, creating personas, helps the designer to imagine specific people and work for them.
It will not work to satisfy the requirements of the entire target audience, but you can work on the desires of the brightest representatives. Then the chance increases that others will also be comfortable using the product.
For each of the personas, the designer creates use cases. Here it is important to imagine how a particular person could interact with the product. What functionality is needed, and what can be abandoned at the first stage.
Scripting helps you think through the structure of your app or site, as well as the basic elements.
Design
At this stage, all collected data is visualized. They build the structure of the application, arrange elements for each screen.
Design is not the creation of a finished design. These are quick sketches that are shown to users. They test and find out if the product in this form will solve the problem.
Layouts at this stage can be completely different - low detail and black and white or bright and interactive. Someone works with paper and pen, someone uses special programs. Some designers immediately work in graphic editors.
The design phase saves a lot of time. It's faster to show the sketch to the user and ask for their opinion than to draw and code the product from scratch and then fix the bugs.
Design
The UI designer is responsible for creating the final version. But often you have to draw the final version yourself. Therefore, it is useful to get basic skills and learn UI design.
At the stage, prototypes and wireframes are used to create a visualization, work with color, composition and typography, design content.
Graphic editors in which designers work are suitable for this:
- Adobe Photoshop,
- Adobe XD,
- Sketch,
- Figma.
The task for a UX designer is to monitor the usability of individual elements and pages as a whole. Make sure that when adding visual effects, the main meaning of the product is not lost.
Metrics analysis
After the first working version of the product is published, the UX designer monitors the actual behavior of users. For this, analytics systems and various metrics are used.
Work on the product - conduct usability and A / B tests. Improve user experience, add new features.
How to learn UX design
UX design is made up of different branches and disciplines. This is visual design, and work with users, and testing results. Some UX professionals work in one direction, some in all.
To learn UX design, you need to imagine the entire product development journey and improve the skills required for each stage.
When studying theory, do not forget about practical skills. Create a website layout or come up with a mobile application. Divide the project into parts and work carefully on each part: do research and analysis, then move on to design and design. Only practice helps a designer to become a good specialist.
UX design is built around knowledge of human psychology, and over the years of studying users, there are many laws of the psyche that you need to know when designing an interface.
UX Design: Fitts' Law
The time to reach the target is a function of the distance to the target and its size. In 1954, psychologist Paul Fitts, who studied the human motor system, showed that the time it takes to hit a target depends on the distance to the target, and is also inversely related to the size of the target. According to this law, fast movements and small targets lead to more errors. Fitts' Law is widely applied in UI and UX. For example, according to this law, interactive buttons should be made large because small buttons are harder to click and take longer.
Hick's Law
Decision time increases with the number and complexity of choices. The greater the number of stimuli, the longer the user will have to choose which one to interact with. If users are bombarded with choices, they will have to take the time to interpret and decide what they don't want to do.
Jacob's Law
Users spend more time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work just like the sites they already know. Jakob's Law was invented by Jakob Nielsen, co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, who has made huge contributions to UX, such as inventing the heuristic evaluation method.
law of pregnancy
Humans will perceive and interpret ambiguous or complex images in the simplest possible way, because this interpretation requires the least amount of cognitive effort from us. This law was discovered in 1910 by psychologist Max Wertheimer when he saw lights near a railroad crossing. It was like turning lights on and off around the stage. To the observer, it appears to be the same light that goes from light bulb to light bulb, when in fact it is just a series of light bulbs that turn on and off in turn.
UX Design: The Law of Proximity
Objects close to each other are perceived as a group. This law is also one of the fundamental ones in Gestalt psychology and was discovered by Wertheimer. He observed that a rapid series of events created the illusion of movement. Movies, for example, are fast moving frames that are perceived as a continuous visual experience.
Miller's law
On average, a person can retain 7 ± 2 items in their working memory. In 1956 George Miller that the range of immediate memory and absolute judgment was limited to about 7 pieces of information. The basic unit of information is the bit, the amount of data required to choose between two equally likely alternatives. That is, 4 bits of information is a decision between 16 paired alternatives (4 consecutive binary decisions). The point at which the confusion causes misjudgment is the bandwidth of the link.
Parkinson's law
Any task takes all the time allotted for it. According to this law, restrictions in time, space or budget lead to increased productivity and efficiency.
Serial Arrangement Effect
Users remember best the first and last objects in a series. Serial placement manipulation to create a better user experience is used in many popular designs by successful companies like Apple, Electronic Arts and Nike.
UX Design: Tesler's Law
Tesler's Law, or the Law of Conservation of Complexity, states that for any system there is a certain value that cannot be reduced. In the mid-1980s, Larry Tesler realized that user interaction with applications was as important as the applications themselves. He says that in many cases, an engineer should spend an extra week simplifying an application, rather than having millions of users spend an extra minute using a complex program. However, Bruce Tognazzini argues that people resist simplifying their lives. Therefore, if the application is simple, users begin to strive for more complex tasks.
UX Design: The Von Restorff Effect
There are a lot of areas related to design in the IT industry. The most common of these are designers, hidden behind the acronyms UX and UI. Well, some people manage to enroll even front-end developers as designers. Let's try to figure out who designers are in the IT world, what is the difference between UI and UX, and how front-end designers are related to design.
Designers
Developing the interface of applications, websites or games is a rather complicated process and requires the application of knowledge from different areas: engineering, psychology and design. User interface designers (in English - User Interface or UI) focus on the way the functionality of the site (search, tabs, menus) is displayed and the details of the interaction between the client and the interface. The goal of a UI designer is an aesthetically acceptable modern product design.. UX stands for User Experience, which means “user experience”. A UX designer is more focused on the usability and understanding of the interface by the potential user. Such a specialist often conducts research and surveys that will form the basis for creating a design concept, and also tests concepts during development and after it. It usually focuses on structure, content, navigation, and how the user interacts with those elements.It produces sitemaps, prototypes, which are the basic structure for creating software. The goal of a UX designer is to ensure that the user quickly and painlessly gets from the site what he comes here for. However, today it is very common to see these two specializations spelled with a slash. That is, the tasks of both directions are performed by one specialist. A UX/UI designer designs the user's interaction with the interface, decides what exactly he needs to do, and is responsible for how this interface will look as a result.
What a UX/UI Designer Needs to Know
Graphic editor. The most popular tools on the market are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, as well as Sketch, Figma. Choose an editor that is convenient for you and first try to draw screenshots of the site or application by modernizing them a bit.
Prototyping tools (Mockplus, Axure). The prototyping tool is the link between an idea and its implementation. It doesn't matter what tool you use. You can try a few and decide on the one that suits your style and preferences.
User psychology. Already at the layout development stage, it is worth considering whether it will be convenient for you or someone else to use this interface. Put yourself in the client's shoes, build a strong bond with them, and be attentive to their needs. After all, the product will be successful if there is a demand for it.
You will also need knowledge color theory. Something we know from childhood, especially those who went to art school. However, there are certain specifics regarding the work of designers. Basic knowledge can be obtained from books or articles on the Internet.
It is desirable to have an idea about typography, a means of combining text and visual components.
Website composition and usability.
Depending on the specifics of the job, it may be necessary to understand HTML and CSS or (a little) programming languages (links to resources can be found below, in the section “What a Front-end developer should know”).
Front end developer
The main task of the front-end developer is to develop the client side of the interface. That is, such a specialist “revives” what the designers have designed. He is responsible for the operation and operation of the interface and less for visual content. The front-end developer often has to find a good solution for the user interface at the development stage, so he often interacts with the UX / UI designer. The code written by the front-end developer is executed in the user's browser (as they say, "on the client side"). Also, one of the most important tasks is to check that the site or web application looks the same on all platforms and browsers.What a Front End Developer Should Know
As a rule, the front-end stands on three pillars: the HTML page markup language, CSS style sheets, and the JavaScript programming language. In addition, the front-end developer must understand the principles of the HTTP protocol, servers and browsers, the features of displaying the interface on various devices that are currently on the market. Tools and methods for creating web interfaces are constantly evolving and changing, so the developer must constantly monitor this.HTML and CSS (layout)
This is the layout, the very bricks from which the site is built. The HTML markup language dictates the organization of the site, the content, and all the interaction between them. It allows you to designate the top of the page, bottom, side blocks with content, headings, text display and multimedia elements. CSS style sheets are used to decorate HTML elements. They determine how exactly each graphic element that is located on the page is displayed. With the latest versions of HTML5 and CSS3, you can place video and audio components on a page, create 2D images and animations, and even write simple games. No need to try to remember all the tags and styles at once. It will be helpful to learn the basics and put them into action right away. A very good site where you can learn the basics of HTML and CSS is W3School. But only if you have at least basic knowledge of English. Also, the front-end developer should understand cross-browser and cross-platform development, adaptive and responsive layout.Bootstrap
It is a framework for HTML, CSS and JavaScript. That is, certain templates, from which, as from a constructor, you can assemble sites much faster than without them. But, of course, you need to sharpen it to your needs yourself. If you know English, we recommend the getbootstrap site and the same w3schools.JavaScript
Javascript is the core of front-end development. It is the first and most widely used interface programming language. He is able to add a lot of features to the site. At a basic level, this language allows you to add interactive elements to a page. It is used to create maps that update in real time, interactive online games and movies. In our senior JavaRush courses, we learn JavaScript a little. You can also study it at the same W3School or read about it in Russian, on the site javascript.ru.jQuery
jQuery is a Javascript library that contains plugins and extensions that can make development even easier and faster. Instead of writing code from scratch, libraries allow you to add ready-made components, which can then be customized for a specific project. You can use the search form autocomplete features, rearrange and resize the grid, and set up countdown timers. jQuery practical course at w3schoolJavascript frameworks
There are different types of frameworks, but you can choose the one that suits you best. The most famous are Angular, Backbone, Ember, and React. They are a ready-made structure for code. They help speed up development. And in combination with libraries, they can minimize the development of a site or application from scratch. Overview of the 5 Most Popular JavaScript Frameworks and Libraries of 2017Git version control system
Version control systems are able to track changes that are made to code over time. It also allows you to revert to a previous version of the project. Git is the most widely used version control system. Knowing how to work with Git is an essential skill for every developer.Brief conclusions
UI stands for User Interface, which means "user interface" in translation. That is, UI designer is primarily responsible for how the product is presented to the user. He develops buttons, icons, selects fonts, prepares the layout. UX stands for User Experience. So UX designer designs the design of the site, application - yes, anything - so that the user is comfortable and understandable what's what, and he can get from the site what he needs with minimal effort. Very often, both types of work are performed by one person-orchestra: UI / UX designer. The Front-end developer brings the work of designers to life, bringing dynamics into it: buttons start to be pressed, and the picture changes. He must know programming languages flavored with frameworks, preprocessors and libraries.The term "design" can seem deceptively simple. At the same time, it is very vague, and if you ask different people to explain this concept to you, their answers will be strikingly different.
For example, when someone says, "Oh, I'm a designer," most people may not understand what is meant. And all because behind such a seemingly simple word lies a huge number of meanings.
Today, the market is seeing a growth in the tech enterprise sector, which tends to focus on producing a variety of screen interfaces, which in turn leads to new design features.
Such a profession as a UX designer may seem at first glance strange and even a little complicated, for those who have not encountered it before - moreover, some experienced developers do not understand what is meant by it and may wonder: Who are UX designers and what do they do it at all?
However, the UX industry is growing fast right now. You just need to look at how much the number of UX (or “User Experience”) specialists has grown.
Not all of them are new experts, if only because the job market in this field ranges from complete newbies to people who have always been UX specialists but never knew it.
The above circumstances can create certain problems, for example, not everyone who calls himself a UX designer is actually a UX specialist. Because this is a special kind of profession that cannot be clearly defined, as if we were talking about dentists or nurses, moreover, in UX it is quite difficult to distinguish a good specialist from a bad one.
Who is a UX designer?
The work of a UX designer is usually associated with the perception of a product or service, so the design problems in this case are not always obvious.
They are subjective, and may have more than one solution. In essence, it is the responsibility of the UX designer to make sure that each step of the product design process flows from the previous one.
This can be achieved through the use of face-to-face user testing in order to evaluate the actions taken. If users can complete both verbal and non-verbal tests, then the conditions for effective ux have been created. For example, creating a convenient adaptation for new users would be a good solution.
What does a UX designer do?
A good UX specialist can combine all aspects of a great user experience into one product.
This can only be done if you are convinced that these aspects work well together, and not separately. The professional we are considering is solely responsible for future results and in particular for ux itself.
But still, this is only the beginning of a career for a qualified UX specialist, because in the future various methods can be used to do this job well.
To be a really good UX designer, you need great communication skills, passion, a love of innovation, a penchant for creativity, and the initiative to know when to experiment and when to stick to established boundaries. However, all UX professionals should start at the bottom of their careers if they want to be marketable in the future.
In order to become a successful UX designer, you must be able to not only describe, but also competently use communication mechanisms, task completion algorithms, and interface requirements.
You must be able to explain to investors the user experience from start to finish, as well as the characteristics and context involved. With the support of a strong team, a UX designer can transform the characteristics of any well-known platform, such as Facebook, into a valuable and accessible toolkit.
Wireframes and sketches are just a small part of the work
Wireframes and visual plans are the result of the careful preparation that goes into creating a product. It is really important to present the preparation process in a visual form, for example in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, for further use of such materials by designers and programmers.
It's easy enough to get data on product prototypes during usability tests, or even create screencasts. These tools can be just as important as wireframes.
UX designers can also be recognized by the way they focus on a carefully crafted plan to improve product design in order to make it more effective.
However, there is no proven method for selecting a good UX specialist because their responsibilities may vary. The latter have a very wide spread, and cover interaction with individuals, legal entities, as well as with new technical developments.
Conducting user testing
UX design is much more than just having to sit with customers at your online platform or app, periodically asking them for their opinion on a particular feature.
In fact, the evaluation process should include observing the client's ability to carry out the activities that have been designed for them. So they can provide you with their own unedited response about their own user experience.
For this type of evaluation, the amount of customer evaluations, individual evaluations, and the selection of test takers mostly depends on how much money you are willing to invest in conducting it in the early stages of product development.
Luckily, customer-centric testing is actually as reliable and easy as observing user interactions with your product online.
Definition and creation of "personas"
The term "persona" is used to refer to a fictional character that represents one of the categories of users for whom you are developing a product. This type of personality assessment can be the object of careful study, if it is of course appropriate.
While it might be tempting to create a character entirely, if your "persona" isn't based on statistics about your real users, it's unfortunately useless. Creating a character will also make no difference if it has nothing to do with your business.
The best way to create a character is to use various types of research, such as user tests, surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, and other methods as well.
When You Can't Call Yourself a UX Designer
You can't become a truly skilled UX designer if you don't learn how to interact with the people who should be helping you shape your strategies.
The name of this profession includes the phrase "user experience", but if the user does not exist, then your activity has no value. If you're designing based on little more than an interesting idea, without taking into account the actual user needs, then you're definitely not a UX designer.
The same can be said for those UX professionals who cannot define their target audience. If you think your online platform is perfect for one and all, you are not only making your job impossible, you are also neglecting the true principles of web design - there should always be a target audience.
Another disadvantage is trying to fix the problem right away, instead of making sure that it really exists and then finding its cause.
If your boss asks you to design an online platform, and you don't even ask why you need to do it, then you are most likely a regular (and not necessarily talented) web designer, not a UX specialist.
Making decisions based only on personal experience is also a bad idea. If your boss asks, “Why did you choose to use label fields instead of another alternative feedback option in your last survey?”, you should say something better than “I chose them because I like them.” This definitely doesn't work in UX design.
If you want to become a successful and skilled UX designer, it is very important to use all the design tools - from interviewing clients to usability tests, creating personas, contextual assessments, concept models, sitemaps, product prototypes, wirefreys, A/V evaluations and much more. .
For skilled UX designers, it is necessary not only to figure out the characteristics of their target audience, but also to have the ability to demonstrate this information to their team.
The product must always evolve
The first thing to take for granted is that your product will never really be finished. In addition, a product should not be considered only in terms of its intrinsic value, for the methods necessary for its development are also important.
For many UX professionals, it can be difficult to stick to a rigid box or follow a plan, but most companies stick to this path. However, the only thing that remains constant is change, and it will always be so.
If you are trying to design a product, you must strive to improve the methods required to produce it, as well as constantly improve the end result.
In fact, it can be helpful for UX designers to periodically look back at their past projects (successes and failures) to find out what they have learned and how it can be applied to their future work.
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