As design takes on new forms, its terminology has grown exponentially. Therefore, it’s essential to have a better understanding of the design discipline. Before further exploring design in UX UI, let’s first clarify where they lie within the design spectrum.
In the design spectrum, there are four types of design. First, there are Service design and Customer Experience design, which are typically analog. Then, there are User Experience design and User Interface design, which are generally digital.
Service design
Service design is all-encompassing. It takes into account all points of contact between a company and its customers, whether analog or digital. It defines the complete service. In a restaurant, for example, service design takes into consideration all the interactions the customer has in the real world.
Customer Experience design
Customer Experience, or CX, is concerned with the customer experience with a particular service or brand and thus designs all interactions between the service provider and the customer.
User Experience design
While CX focuses on interactions between the customer and the brand, UX (or User Experience) focuses on all interactions between the user and the specific touchpoint. UX design is mainly associated with the digital world, but in theory, it is in charge of the entire experience across all touchpoints (both digital and analog). UX design is NOT about visuals. It focuses on the overall feel of the experience.
User Interface design
User Interface design (or UI Design) looks into the pixel-perfect designs of digital interfaces, their usability, conversion, look and feel, and more. There are many components for digital designers to consider, but User Experience is key. It provides a solution to people’s problems in order to achieve business goals.
For example, there can be a situation where bank customers can’t easily send or receive money via a mobile app. That is the problem customers are having. On the other hand, the bank wants more customers to use the app and increase their loyalty.
User-centered design
User-centered design (UCD) is an iterative process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of the end users of a product are considered at each stage of the design process. The closeness and frequent interaction that results from keeping the end user at the center of every stage of the product development process will allow you to understand your user more thoroughly. You will better understand what they want and don’t want from your design and how they will ultimately interact with each element of your product. The user is king. So, this is very abstract. How do we keep the user at the center of the design process? This is where design thinking that incorporates UX and UI comes in.
Design thinking
In reality, design thinking is a process for solving creative problems. Process and creativity are two words that may appear at odds with one another. A process is about following steps and rules, and creativity is more whimsical and spontaneous. But in fact, processes enable us to be more creative. More so than if we had a blank canvas of endless possibilities. We are more creative when we have limitations to work with, such as a methodology. While the output is concrete and measurable, how we look at and approach the problem and solution space is creative. There are five key steps in the Design Thinking Process: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.
Let’s cover these steps now. Keep in mind that this is an iterative process, which means that after each step, you may go back to the previous step to improve your design.
Empathize
The first step is to relate to the problem you are attempting to solve. It enables us to delve deeper into understanding the user and develop solutions that not only meet a need but also significantly improve our users’ lives by removing unnecessary discomfort or strife. For example, a user might be thinking: “This is taking too long to figure out.”
Define
Now you must decide what to do with all this empathy. During the definition phase, you will analyze and synthesize observations to define the core problems. In his phase, a problem statement is developed, such as “As a user, I want to understand the product offering so I can make an informed decision quickly.”
Ideate
Now that you have some empathy, an excellent contextual understanding of the problem, and a well-crafted problem statement, you’re ready to start thinking about ways to solve it. The ideate phase is where you can get creative and there are hundreds of techniques for doing so.
Prototype
So, what do you do with those ideas that have been prioritized? You can now put together a prototype. A prototype can be pen on paper, wireframes, rough sketches, or a full-fledged high-fidelity prototype.
Test
After you create a prototype based on the information you gathered from the previous steps, you can now test it. Testing frequently entails getting a prototype into the hands of a real user. You see them completing a series of tasks or attempting to achieve a specific goal. You observe their actions and try to comprehend and empathize with their choices, and the design cycle continues.
Final thoughts
Using any or all of these five key steps or phases is an iterative and non-linear process. Consider it a toolbox. After you gain more experience, you will probably feel like you can pick and choose which steps to take for the problem you wish to solve. There are a lot of concepts and processes to comprehend. However, throughout this course, you will be guided through them in more detail.
