In a mobile and internet dominant age, people are constantly exposed to many different websites, apps and software products. It’s obvious that every digital product has its unique aspects, but other than the service itself, what makes them different? Enter (UX) User Experience and (UI) User Interface design.
In case you were wondering what User Experience (UX) is, it’s how people interact with a digital goods via a User Interface (UI). The entire user experience for a technology design falls under the larger umbrella of customer experience, as a company may have traditional brick and mortar outlets or other business models still as well. Here are a few things to remember when designing a great UX and trying to get on top:
Know What You Are
One thing is obvious. Every UX should vary with the product offered and its specific market. You’re going to want to consider the technical complexity of the UX, insert your company ethos, reach your desired branding goal, meet budget and maximize overall customer experience in your UX design. Neglect these aspects at your own risk and you may end up way off the mark of what you were looking for out of the product. It is important to know that UX design is not a one size fits all strategy.
How do we design an attractive UI?
A good UX is an art form. You want to start out with a broad sense of what you are trying to do, and keep on narrowing it down. In a technological sense, your needs will become defined visually, and handed off to developers who will in turn produce your end product. This method of producing a UX is the traditional waterfall method. Other methods such as agile and lean development processes are different in that there are frequent project changes, there’s initial developer input and minimum product viability in terms of cost. Most projects try and combine all three styles of design, but the lack of ability to centralize all of the teams involved may not work in the latter mentioned process types.
What are the different aspects of a UX?
Visual Interface:
First off, the designer of a user interface is someone who knows about both the engineering factors at play as well as the visual interface needs. The visual interface is what the end- user sees and uses as your digital product. Depending on your UI, they navigate your products design by clicking on buttons, watching video and scrolling through media. It contains your color scheme, logo, layout, looks and what you’re going for graphically. This is arguably the most important aspect of your product and provides the experience you are looking for.
Engineering:
This is the nuts and bolts of your design. It’s all the functions minus the style points. Picture a beautiful Ford Mustang Convertible. It looks great on the outside. It’s polished, has fresh paint and is gleaming in the sun. But, it really wouldn’t be too cool if it lacked the engine, headlights, spark-plugs or the other aspects that made it drive. Similar to an auto engineer, a computer engineer knows how to communicate with computers to make the hardware inside work correctly. They will create all the foundational aspects of your digital product including animation, content, coding, indexing, data and many other specific functions that interact with each other behind the scenes.