User Experience Design
In this article, I’m mentioning what I have learned from my UX workshops which I attended, and how I’m going to implement it in my project. I’m new to UX and beginning to work on my project, so all the process explained is a learning process itself. I may consider the strategies explained in this article for my project with some additional research. The research techniques will not help me only solve the problem of my targeted users, but also it will help me to design my website in a much better way, so users can have a good experience not only with the product but also with the website. My Major Project idea is to create a Clothing Brand Website for everyone in Pakistan, but especially for those people who have skin issues. A lot of people have skin conditions and finding friendly clothes is difficult for people who have skin issues. My idea is to create a clothing brand website where people will be able to find clothes that suit their skin condition. From the workshops, I learned that It’s considered best practice to plan before execution. To create such a clothing brand website, I’m starting with User Experience which will help me to establish such a clothing brand.
What is UX?
UX stands for User Experience. Experience is something a user can feel. Whenever a product, device, service, or anything is used by the user and the user finds it comfortable to use it, so it means the User Experience is good, and if the experience is bad then it’s a bad User Experience. In my Major Project Idea, I aim to manufacture clothes that will be pleasant for people with skin conditions, so it will be a good user experience for people who use it.
Difference between User Research and UX Research
A lot of people get confused while using these two terms, so I have tried here to specify the differentiation between them. User Research is about what are the needs of a user, their behaviors, and pain points. In User Research, a researcher uses different methods like surveys, interviews, usability testing, etc. to understand the behaviors of the users and their preferences which is not limited to the interaction with the product.
On the other hand, UX research is a process that helps understand the interaction of the users with a product or service to enhance their experience. UX research aims to improve the usability, accessibility, and satisfaction with a product or service.
What is User Experience Research and why do we use it?
UX Research stands for User Experience Research. Before diving into UX Research, the question is, why do we have to do UX Research? The need for UX research is very important because the problems that come after the design of the product don’t come. It is always considered best to plan before execution. UX research provides the needs of the users, their pain points, and their behaviors. UX research is done by methodologies like interviews, surveys, and usability testing. UX research also helps businesses to understand what the business thinks a user might need and what the user actually needs. For my MP Idea, I will be using one of the UX Research methods for now to identify the pain points of the user and their need.
Research Method
In the learning phase, first, it was very difficult to choose a research method for my major project, but soon I decided to choose Qualitative Research for my Major Project. The purpose of Qualitative Research is to find out What are we making and Why are we making. While using qualitative research doesn’t require a lot of people, it can be done by interviewing as less as 5 people, but the thing here is that those 5 people should be the right people. Those right people will help to understand the user’s needs, pain points, and behaviors. User interviews, surveys, usability testing, A/B testing, eye tracking Studies, and Focus Groups are part of the Qualitative Research. Qualitative Research helps in understanding both Attitudes and Behaviors. Attitudinal research is usually gathered through interviews, focus groups, and surveys. On the other hand, Behavioral research is gathered by usability testing, A/B testing and Eye Tracking studies. Qualitative research will help me in my project to create a website that not only with a good user experience but also addresses their specific concerns. One-on-one interviews will help me understand user needs, experiences, and behaviors while shopping online.
Now, what is Attitudinal and Behavioral Research?
Attitudinal Research and Behavioral Research
In attitudinal research, it is about that how people feel about a website, an application, or a product. In this research method interviews or surveys are taken to find out the opinions of the users, their preferences, and what are the emotions while using the product. For example, there is a website, so to find out how people feel about the website, what they like and what they dislike can be found by using attitudinal research. On the other hand, behavioral research, it’s about the behaviors of the users while using the product or a service. It helps to analyze and observe the users how they use the product or service and by watching their actions it becomes easy to find out the problems and how to solve them, so users can enjoy the product or service more. In short, behavioral research is like being a detective and finding out things to make the product better for everyone by observing their actions. By combining these two methods it will become easy to understand what the user thinks and what they do, so there will be much more space for improvements. In my major project, I’ll be using these two methods for designing my website to make it easy to use for everyone in an accessible way. These research methods will help me not only find out the pain points of the users and what features they enjoy the most while using the website but also with the product. I will initially do an online survey with multiple types of questions like open-ended, close-ended, etc to find out the pain points of the user and how can those be improved in the future while implementing. Then usability testing is to test the website as well as the product before launching in the market, so the space for improvement can be fulfilled. These methods will not only help me to improve the user experience, but also it will help me to succeed in my business plan in the future.
UX Design
UX Design stands for User Experience Design. In my understanding, UX design is a process of product design that is easy to use for the users. The purpose of the UX design is to create a journey for the users that makes them use the product happily and make them use the product or service again. The process of UX design takes place after the user research method. UX design involves processes like wireframing, prototyping, informational architecture, etc to develop the solutions. UX design helps to create the user interface based on the data gathered through research.
There are a lot of processes for design, but I’m choosing the double diamond for my major project idea.
Double Diamond is a design thinking process that shows that understanding the problem is as important as providing the solution, which means finding the right problem that needs to be solved. Double Diamond was popularized by the British Design Council in year 2005 which was adapted from the divergence-convergence model proposed by Bela H. Banathy in 1996. The reason for choosing the Double Diamond design process in my major project is because of its structured approach which helps with design challenges. Its multiple phases Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver help in understanding the problem as well as solution. It is like an iterative process that helps revisit and refine the ideas at each stage which will help design my major project website.
Phase 1: Discover
In the first phase of the Double Diamond, it is about discovery. In this phase, it is time to find what problems are present in the project. All the important information must be gathered, like who is this problem for and what they need. Discover phase is a “divergent thinking” step which will help to find multiple solutions. For the website this phase can be used to understand the target audience, their shopping behaviors and pain points which will help to create a user-friendly website which meets the needs of the users. The same goes for the product as well. I’ll be using open-ended questions to gather information.
Phase 2: Define
In define phase, it is about convergent thinking. Instead of giving as many solutions, the point here is to focus on as few potential solutions. In this stage, the data needs to be analyzed. Hopefully the gathered data will now make a designer move to the possible best solution on what problem to work on, but the beauty of the Double Diamond phases is a designer can go back to the previous phases if the solution is not as feasible as require. At this stage in my major project idea of the website I’ll be considering to solve pain points of the users like navigation on the website or checkout process. A detailed user persona or map user journey will be used at this stage.
Phase 3: Develop
Now at this stage after completing the left side of the Double Diamond, now moving to the right side, it’s time about to do divergent thinking again by thinking of the solutions. At this stage prototypes, wireframes and sketches are included to see what possible solutions looks like and which solution has more potential. On my website, I’ll be using this phase to showcase my products on the website in an innovative way or making a roadmap to give guides to the user about the website.
Phase 4: Deliver
Delivery is the last phase of the Double Diamond design process. Now it is time to choose one single solution which solves the problem of the user, fulfill their needs and cost-effective. Lastly, after choosing the right solution after all the design process, final research is conduct to check if the product or service fulfills the requirements, users’ needs and business goals.
User Persona
User persona is one of the most important part of the whole process. User persona is basically a representation of an ideal user of a product, service or a website. It specifies the details of a user including its behavior, characteristics and targeted user. User personas are created once the research is done by conducting interviews or other methods, so user needs can be explained in a single process. As gathering information through research is a lengthy and time taking process. For example, using qualitative research face to face interview is conducted using multiple types of the questions to learn about what is assumed a user need and what actually the user needs, so I will be giving information here hypothetically that how it can be used in my major project. User persona contain demographics, background, goals, pain points, behaviors and motivations. At this stage defining user persona without research is difficult, but in my major project I’ll be categorizing my users by their age groups, qualifications and genders. It will help me to create my website by prioritizing the needs of the users, how it can be made easy to use and what points are there which a targeted user feels difficult to use on a website. Not all users have the same difficulties, so by creating a user persona will help gather information in a space where all the needs of the user will be met and the goal of the research can be achieved.
Conclusion
After finishing with the user experience research and user experience design process, my major project will be at its final phase. It will help me throughout to create a website to solve user’s problems and meet their needs. It will help make me ready for the implementation stage. The iterative approach will help me throughout my journey to improve and refine at different stages.
Resources
https://blog.hubspot.com/website/double-diamond-design-process
https://blog.fluidui.com/how-user-personas-will-make-your-prototypes-better/
https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-resources/the-double-diamond/