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Overview
User experience design actually includes everything from research to visual design. In this portion of my portfolio, I'm referring to the foundational design work required before I can design a tangible product.
Once we have a good understanding of the problem we are trying to solve, the interests of all stakeholders and the needs of our end users, we can begin translating these needs into an experience.
The objective here is to design an experience that is intuitive, functional and of course, beautiful. When I use the term beauty, there is no cookie-cutter aesthetic that will work for all solutions.
We’re also not ready to flesh out the design of each button or page layout just yet… Defining a standard of beauty at this phase merely aligns a design aesthetic with the brand and intended message.
UX Architecture
Designing the core architecture of the user experience usually starts with defining one or more core functions. When a user begins using your product, what are they intending to use it for?
In most cases, we won’t use home screens or start menus at launch. Instead, we’ll create an optimal solution for the core functionality at the forefront and only build supporting screens or functions secondary to that key experience.
I usually start by designing core functions first. In some cases, the core functionality may be a singular activity satisfied by a single screen or interface. But isn’t always the case.
More complex solutions often involve more than one core function. Different audiences may interact with core functionality differently as well, creating additional disparity between unique experiences (imagine a marketplace where there are buyers and sellers--each party requiring unique experiences).
Once we have identified key functionality and sketched rough experiences of what this might look like, we can begin running through some test user flows to ensure these core functions are truly prominent. Failing to identify missed key functions early might result in an experience that is less-than-intuitive, or simple for most users but inefficient for some.
Performance Indicators & Goals
It might sound odd to place this part of the process here but it’s actually quite deliberate.
In the midst of designing the UX Architecture, we’ll want to set aside time to define and understand some key performance indicators. Designing with an end goal in mind helps plan specific user flows to drive the results we are looking for.
Rapid Prototyping
Rapid prototyping involves creating several iterations of design that just don’t feel quite right until we find and validate one that does.
Circles and rounded edges or squares?
Menus or
free-form?
Text or images?
Game-based
or gamified?
Private or
social?
Where many designers probably won’t invest in high quality designs at this phase, I think it’s sometimes difficult to get a strong idea of what the finished user experience will feel like without a beautiful first prototype.
Although wireframes might suffice for many prototypes, I usually invest in adding some style to early prototypes I feel most confident about. For example, animated human characters rarely look quite right without expression. It’s hard to sell the vision for a product with a black & white prototype.
In this phase, we do want to evaluate a fair share of unique design concepts so I typically only invest in drafting the rest of the primary experience if I think I’m onto something big.
For many products in existing markets, designs might be obvious and unquestionable at first but it's important to carefully consider alternatives nonetheless.
True innovation manifests
when I have the freedom to think intuitively about the problem and solution without the distraction of everything that’s been done before.
Design Theory
In selecting a prototype to move forward with, its important the design concept achieves some fundamental principles of design.
1
Designs must be functional and efficient. If you don’t work well at what you’re trying to do, don’t bother. As simple as possible, but not simpler.
2
If possible, avoid experiences that require tutorials or teaching people something totally new.
3
Our time is limited and ought to be as wonderful as possible. Whether you’re designing an admin panel or stockroom, a little sex appeal in a first impression can have a lasting impact on the user’s experience. Build something beautiful because the world deserves it.
4
Listen, listen, listen! Ask others what they think. Give someone a potential interface and watch how they interact with it. Ask them to achieve some of the key functions of your product and observe if the designs are intuitive or need directions.
With Mojichat, we had both an iMessage extension and a Keyboard extension for unique use cases. However, both extensions looked identical. Users were frustrated and confused when they were able to drag & drop only sometimes. And they told us!
We added simple, subtle instructions on the Keyboard extension that guided users to the functionality they were seeking.
Monetization Strategy
Although development of the monetization strategy sometimes falls outside the scope UX design, I love building creative ways to monetize a product.
Paid advertising or sponsored posts definitely have their place in some products. But when monetization is a priority up front (as it should be), we’re able to naturally integrate it throughout the UX for the most added value. I’d rather sell upgrades for premium features or experiences than show ads.
UI Mapping & User Flows
At this point, we have a well defined product scope, architecture and design framework. The primary UI often consists of 1-3 views and sometimes many, many supporting views.
The objective here is to maintain a cohesive end to end user experience while delivering all core functionality at the forefront (or as close as possible).
Mapping out the core user experience effectively is critical. If the user is coming to your product for more than 1 primary function, it’s important navigation between different interfaces makes sense and is accessible when the user needs it.
As a general rule of thumb, core functionality should be executable within no more than 2 taps (this is of course negotiable based on the product but definitely an ideal).
Once the primary views are designed we can begin mapping out the remaining supporting interfaces. Supporting interfaces are exactly that...they are merely support to minimize complexity and offload actions from the primary interface. Wherever possible, I try to reuse supporting interfaces whenever possible.
A core deliverable here is the Application Map. The Application Map is critical in communication most UI concepts to engineering and will be used to measure and track all user flows. By tracing specific user flows such as new user onboarding gives us a clear idea of how the user will interact with our product.
Application Maps help visually communicate inefficiencies, redundancies, holes and opportunities in a user experience that will not only guide design and engineering, but the users themselves.
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