UX Design

Introduction

Let’s first get an idea about what User Experience (UX) Design is. UX design is the process to develop or create the products that are meaningful which gives the relevant experience. Aspects of branding, design, usability, and function are all included in UX design, which encompasses the planning of the complete process of obtaining and integrating the product.

We can find formal definition of UX design as:

“A person’s perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service.”

— ISO 9241-210, Ergonomics of human-system interaction—Part 210: Human-centered design for interactive systems

UX Design is user centric which includes the product’s overall appearance and feel, as well as how simple it is to use and navigate. The goal of user experience design is to create a product that meets the needs of the user while also making their interaction with the product as efficient and enjoyable as possible.

Furthermore, in recent years, the importance of accessibility, which is a key aspect of UX design, has been considered for web development. This refers to ensuring that websites are accessible to people with disabilities and that they have the same functionality and access as users without disabilities.

Overall, user experience design is important in web development because it ensures that a website or application is simple to use, visually appealing, and accessible to all users.

User Experience Research – with Steph Troeth

User Research: 

User experience (UX) research is the process of examining and fully understanding the requirements, habits, and motives of the consumers of a good or service. The purpose of user experience research is to gather information that can be used to design and develop products and services that are simple to use, enjoyable to use, and that satisfy the needs of the users.

Before we build a solution, we have to analyze the problem, requirements and most importantly the users. To understand the user we organize a user research that will lead us to create a solution that best meets the requirements. The research will allow us to understand the people’s decision, and determine the appropriate methodology to achieve the determined goal.

UX research can be carried out at various stages of the design and development process, and the approaches taken will vary depending on the precise objectives of the study and the project’s stage. The knowledge gained from UX research is applied to the design and development of goods and services to make sure they satisfy the needs of their intended users.

Fig: Model Double Diamond

The process model illustrates the design process used to find solutions based on problem analysis. This double diamond model of discover, define, develop and deliver is suitable for structured processes involving collaboration and user involvement.

  1. Discover – The first phase is the “Discovery” phase, which is concerned with comprehending the issue and learning about the users, their requirements, and the environment in which the products or service will be used. This phase entails tasks like competitor analysis, stakeholder interviews, and user research.
  2. Define – The second phase is where limits and clear problems are defined to be solved. It is also the phase where solution space is broadened, and different possibilities are explored. This phase includes activities such as brainstorming, idea generation, and sketching.
  3. Develop – The third phase is the “Develop” phase where the main focus is on development towards the defined solution.
  4. Deliver – The fourth phase represents the “Delivery” phase, which is focused on developing and refining the solution. This phase includes activities such as prototyping, testing, and implementation.

Research Objective

Research objectives show the main result we are about to achieve, it involves the process to get the solution, set the team, methods to generate the possible outputs. Moreover, it sets the goal to meet real people with the services.

There are many products in the market, but it’s up to you which product you choose based on your choice and requirement, and you are among the many real people the maker has to consider before creating the product. During the process of making, the maker has to consider the real people to make their product to be more approachable, usable and functional.

The researcher should be keen on the product’s promise, that is its objectives and functionality, its quality and value in order to give the better product.

Assumption and Hypothesis

As a UX design researcher, we make both hypotheses and assumptions to create the scenarios and different cases that might or might not occur to analyse the problem and find the solution.

Research Methods

  1. Usability Testing
    Usability can be defined by learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors and satisfaction. Usability testing involves the methods where we can analyse what users will be able to understand and how easily users will be able to use the product or service, and what users can remember or grasp from the product so that they will remember it and how it is prone to the errors. So while making the product or service one should avoid the clues and focus on the main objective and task. 
  1. Concept Testing
    Concept testing involves gathering user feedback during the early stage of the design process to give feedback on potential solutions. Users can contribute to the early shaping of a problem-solving idea through concept testing at the product development’s initial stage. When developing a product to meet user needs, concept testing enables to increase user input while lowering risk.
  1. Tree Testing
    Tree testing is a method which allows us to evaluate the hierarchy and findability of product or service. It helps to get a clear view of what the user expects. This method is used to assess the findability, labeling, and information architecture of a website or app. 
  1. Rapid Iterative Testing & Evaluation
    Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE) is a user experience (UX) research method for rapidly testing and evaluating prototypes or designs with users. The RITE’s goal is to collect feedback and make design improvements in a timely and efficient manner. The RITE method usually consists of several steps such as creating a prototype or design for the product or service, which could be a paper prototype, a wireframe, or a working prototype. Followed by testing the prototype with users by watching users interact with the prototype and gathering feedback on what works well and what needs to be improved as well as analysing the feedback. Then it can be followed by improving the prototype based on the feedback by making changes to the prototype. 
  2. Contextual Research
    Contextual research involves semi-formal interviews with the users to know how they are using certain products and what they like and what are their preferences. This allows the researcher to understand the problem and why it has occurred.

The Research

In the process of research, as a researcher one should choose what are the ways to gather the information, be it in person interview, online or  lab interviews. We should be able to choose among various methods of research which best suits our project or goal. 

With the preferred method we should be able to analyse the findings and visualise them to get the best solution involving different personas, empathy mappings, sketching and ideation, prototyping, developing and finally testing.

The Learning

We learned about user experience design research, the research method, how to create survey questions, how to conduct interviews, and how to analyse the data to create a solution at this workshop with the Step. We were set into groups to conduct the survey between the groups and how to derive the solution. Even though the questions were simple, creating and finalising the list of questions was difficult. Since we were able to study the process both conceptually and practically, the workshop’s primary goal of understanding it was successfully accomplished. My main takeaway from the training is that I became familiar with and learned about all the processes involved in conducting UXD research, which was completely new to me.

User experience design – with Chris How

User experience design involves functionality, usability and feasibility. The one solution that meets all of these factors gives the best user experience design.

Process of User Experience Design

  1. Analysis and synthesis 
    The first step is to understand the needs, behaviours, and motivations of the users. Useful techniques include user interviews, surveys, and usability testing. To identify potential issues, comprehend the scenario, and predict user behaviour, the objective must be precisely defined and examined. To understand the user, it is important to clearly state their behaviour, requirements, and goals.
  2. Visualise the findings
    From the behaviour of the user, we should be able to visualise the possible solutions to fix the problem or achieve the objectives. In this step, a design solution that takes into account the needs and objectives found during the research and analysis phases is created. This might entail making prototypes, mockups, and wireframes.
  3. Personas 
    We should be able to portrait different personas(i.e users) and their behaviour since we are about to develop the product or service for different users. Personas in UX design can assist teams in developing more empathetic and user-centered designs by ensuring that they are always thinking about the users’ needs, behaviours, and motivations. Personas can also serve as a shared language and reference point for the design team, ensuring that the design process is guided by a clear understanding of the target users.
  4. Job Statement
    This statement “when ___ I want to ____ so i can ____ “ enables us to analyse the problem and state the objective and provide the appropriate solution.

  5. User Journey Map
    A user journey map (also known as a customer journey map) is a diagram that visually illustrates the user flow through your site, starting with initial contact or discovery, and continuing through the process of engagement into long-term loyalty and advocacy. A user journey map can also be considered as a graphical depiction of the steps a user takes when interacting with a product or service. It is used in user experience (UX) design to assist teams in understanding the perspective of the user and identifying opportunities to improve the user experience.
  6. Empathy Map
    Empathy in the context of user experience (UX) design refers to the ability to understand the needs, behaviours, and motivations of users and then use that understanding to create products and services that meet those needs. Empathy is important in UX design because it allows teams to create designs that are more user-centred. Teams can create designs that are intuitive, efficient, and satisfying for users by understanding them and their needs. Empathy also assists teams in identifying and resolving problems that users may encounter, as well as in creating designs that are inclusive and accessible to all users. It also helps in visualising user attitudes and behaviours into an empathy map which reveals any breaks in existing user data.
  7. UI Flow
    A user interface flow diagram depicts the steps a user takes when interacting with a user interface (UI). It is used in user experience (UX) design to assist teams in understanding the user’s interactions with a product or service and identifying opportunities for improvement. The UI diagram depicts the various screens and interactions that a user encounters while using a product or service. It contains information such as the user’s goals, the various pages and elements with which the user interacts, and the various actions that the user can take. The UI flow can be designed for a specific task, such as creating an account, or it can be designed for the entire website.
  8. Tips for Better UX design
    • Recognize your users: Conduct research to better understand your users’ needs, behaviours, and motivations. Personas should be created to represent your target users and used to guide design decisions.
    • Make it accessible: Check that your website is accessible to people with disabilities. This includes providing image text alternatives, using clear and high-contrast colours, and providing keyboard navigation.
    • Maintain consistency: Apply consistent design patterns to your entire website. This facilitates user navigation and comprehension of the website.
    • Microinteractions: Microinteractions are small interactions that occur within the interface. They are used to provide feedback to users on their actions and to make the interface more engaging and interactive.
    • Finally, make it simple to use: Make sure the navigation is simple and easy to use. Use simple language and make sure the most important information is easily accessible.

The Learning

The workshop with Chris was fun, it started with the team getting to know each other, analysing problems, sketching personas, getting back to paper and pen to bring out ideas, find solutions and analyse the problems, UI flow of solution and finally pitching our ideas. Overall we were able to acquire the information about user experience design and design process. The workshop helped us build our confidence in designing and top of that pitch our ideas among others.

UX Design and My Project

My Project Idea: “A school library”

“ Name to be determined ”

My major project is about the website with the course books of different levels with the objective to decrease the yearly expenditure of the people on the course books. Moreover, the books are not even available on time before the year starts and people have to wait to get all the books on time. In the context of a developing country like Nepal where people have to buy course books every year as the level increases, the book retailers and sellers have been highly profited by them. People are almost paying double the price of the book. In order to decrease the expenses of the people on education, I believe the ebook library would highly benefit. There are other products in the market like ‘amazon kindle’. I would like to suggest a website as well as the application which can be accessible by mobile phones and laptops since countries like ours are more likely to have access to the mobile phones and laptops rather than purchasing the device just for books.

While having the idea of developing the website where one can easily access course books of different publications and levels. The figure below is a vivid idea on the project.

UXD research and the project

I plan on using my learning from the workshop to through my project, by conducting the research the current condition of people, selecting variety of the personas including current students, parents with different economical and social background, preferences on how they want to use the web application, mobile application or the device, listing out benefits and getting a suitable solution.

There are different research methods to discover, define, develop and deliver. I intend to use different methods like tree testing, usability testing and finally with the online survey with the real people in the country.

Initially my assumptions on the project is:

Problem: 
Huge Expenses on Course Books
Books availability

Objective
To minimise expenses
Make accessible to everyone

Research Methods: 

Surveys: Surveys will include google forms for questionnaires for different personas like parents, students and young generations to gather ideas. The survey will be online since our audiences are in Nepal. I will try to gather information with different people with different backgrounds. Survey questions would include their background, how easy it would get, how much they are willing to pay for online book, what can be drawback of the the book being online etc.

Tree testing: I would prefer drawing up the flow of the project and try to figure out all edge cases.

Usability testing: Consideration of the functionality, its usability and conveniences is the key, so while doing the research i would consider the usability testing, this would help me to know how beneficial the website will be to the targeted audience.

Blockers: 
Copyright issues on books
Availability of soft copy of books
Publishing rights

Solution: 
Website
Applications(in future)
Device for ebooks(in future)

UX Design and the project

While having the idea of developing the website where one can easily access course books of different publications and levels, keeping the users being students, parents and teachers, I intend to provide the beta testing to the users to know how easily one can use the website. 

Design would be simple but efficient and will try to avoid unnecessary information as much as possible. The design would be primarily targeted to school students so I believe the website should be as simple as it can be in order to gain full benefit. I picture my personas as students of different levels, parents of different social and economical backgrounds, teachers of different schools and subjects, and youngsters who could give me more feedback and ideas to make my product grow.

Flow of the project

The flow of the project would be just the main page with the search bar to search with books name, publisher and words. The main menu would contain a search bar, about us, book category and sign in or login option. The search bar will lead to a search page where one can filter the books based on publisher, year and subject and book’s important details such as its name, publisher and price. Similarly with other pages like book category pages with the same functionality. The main page will contain the book categories based on the school year. Which will lead to a category page. Also the menu will have the about pages link which will provide information on the website, our objective and other details related to us. The detail page of the book once accessed would have a pdf of the book and other important information about the book. There would be an instruction page on how to use the website, create the account and payment method to get access to the books.

As a result, we will be testing its accessibility, feasibility and usability with the certain group of the targeted audience before launching the project.

Conclusion

In conclusion, my project aims to create a website that provides easy access to course books of various levels and publications, with the goal of lowering people’s yearly educational expenditure. I intend to gather feedback and insights by conducting research on the current conditions of users, including students, parents, and teachers, using various research methods such as tree testing, usability testing, and online surveys. The website will be designed to be simple and efficient, with an emphasis on providing a user-friendly experience for school students. I also plan to conduct beta testing with real users to collect additional feedback and improvement ideas.

Overall, my project uses the knowledge and skills gained from the UX design workshop to develop a solution that addresses the specific needs of users in a developing country such as Nepal, making it simple to acquire course materials at lowering cost for students and their families. By enabling consumers to access books on their smartphones and laptops, which are more commonly available than specialised e-reading devices, this platform will also increase the accessibility of books. The main aim of this project would be to increase access to and affordability of education in Nepal.

References

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