Key principles of user experience design
This is a list based on my own professional experience with certain projects in which I have learned a lot by doing it right but also doing it (obviously) wrong.
Everything in life is a path, and we have to learn from both triumphs and defeats. But mainly about defeats in order to not make the same mistakes again.
Forget users, think people.
Leaving the ego aside, we cannot assume in a project that we are the users. We are not. We have to listen, observe and learn from their behaviors. Many times we assume that users will do X interaction because it is the “reasonable” thing to do. Well, this doesn’t always happen. Rather, almost never. We have to understand who they are, how they act and above all, how they reason under X circunstances. That is the key to providing effective solutions to our projects.
Who they are? (persona)
What they do, when and where? (context)
Why they do it? (pain points, gains, jobs)
How they do it? (behaviour)
What they like/dislike? (frustration)
Build Empathy map.
Case example:
I remember a loyalty project that had an online platform in which users (entrepreneurs) had to validate their operations and, through a form, put their postal address in the last step to receive the physical gifts they had exchanged. Well, the customer service department spent a lot of weeks during months because contacting users because they were not putting the correct address.
In the form itself there was a small disclaimer that communicated it, however after a small observation in the use of the tool with some users we realized that the average user was so used to entering data in an almost robotized way that they did not notice that message.
Therefore, we changed the mechanics of the form to ensure that the user correctly understood the exact type of data that they had to implement on the platform. This saved days and weeks of work for the customer service department and in turn made everything better and much more fluid. Listening, observing and learning about what was happening were the key to solve the problem.
Solve real problems.
We always have to choose the problem to solve. In many cases we enter into a dichotomy about which problem to solve. We have to make a balance between what is most critical and what can be fixed in the short or long term future.
Going back to the example from before, that was a very serious problem for us because it practically blocked another department (customer service) for days, but for the user it went unnoticed. The user complained of problems such as “my profile photo does not update when I upload a new image.”
For the user, this was one of the platform’s biggest problems. And yes, it was on our to-do list, but we couldn’t prioritize IT with this. We had to understand and solve what really mattered at the time: blocking customer service with wrongly entered addresses. Therefore, updating the profile photo could take a backseat.
Does the problem really exist?
Will users care enough?
Is your solution a Must Have or Nice to Have?
How the solution is going to help the users?
Will users recommend your solution to others?
Research is the key.
Understanding all the areas where your product operates is vital in order to be competitive and provide effective solutions.
Understand Users (Interviews, Surveys, Observations).
Understand the Market Condition (5Cs Analysis: company, context, customers, competitors, collaborators).
Understand the Competition (SWoOT Analysis).
Understand your assumptions and validate them soon.
Fill the gap between Value proposition and Value Delivery.
Iterate, iterate, iterate...
Your product never ends. There will always be something to update, to improve. You just have to be up to date and track your users, the market … the 5Cs.
Keep testing and modify (User Testing, Analytics, Heat Maps).
Adapt with trending needs, desires, and wants.
Take feedback seriously.
The Learner mindset is your secret.
And finally….
Follow best practices.
You always have to be alert about all the new movements and trends in our sector. What we believe we are doing well today, we may be able to improve tomorrow. Being up to date and following the leading brands is key to providing a better service.
Users already established mental models with some types of
products, break that wisely.Familiarity within products improves adoption rate.
Following best practices improve learnability, hence, Usability.
Innovate, but within your user’s level of knowledge.
