User experience design (UX)

“User experience” encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

Don Norman, designer who coined the term ‘User Experience’

An ‘end-user’ can be any of us:

  • Customers purchasing items on a website or at a supermarket self-checkout
  • People using public services such as health, government and education.
  • Staff using an intranet, finance or business information system.
  • People using commercial services like travel booking and online streaming.

UX design is human-centred

This means products and services are built to meet the needs of the people who will use them – the ‘end-users’ – at each end of a service and of a user interface, website or mobile app there are humans trying to get something done.

If we create or update products and services without incorporating, or even knowing, who these humans are, what they are trying to achieve and what they need, it results in products and services which are frustrating, difficult to fathom – or that simply don’t meet real needs.

Establishing real needs is the first step in the UX design process

At the start of the design process we conduct user research to determine what the ‘exact needs of the end-user’ are.

The goal of user research early on is to engage deeply with people. It goes beyond asking people what they want.

When we ask people what they want we miss the opportunity to fully understand what they need. We often find it hard to state what we need.

This isn’t just a poll of what people say they want, but a deep engagement to truly understand their needs.

Don Norman

The first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother. 

Don Norman

UX design is multi-disciplinary

Multiple disciplines contribute to the user experience, so multiple disciplines need to be involved in its creation.

As Don Norman says:

‘User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products’.

A multi-disciplinary approach can include people from: administration, marketing, graphical and industrial design, engineering, interface design and more.

To achieve high-quality user experience…there must be a seamless merging of the services of multiple disciplines.

Don Norman

Work is done iteratively – testing little and often

User research happens throughout the UX design process. The nature of the research changes, different stages of the design process need different tools for different purposes.

Working iteratively means testing ideas throughout the process and refining them. This process evolves towards a design that not only meets user needs but is pleasant to use.

Towards the end of the process, robust usability testing ensures that end-users can easily use what is being created.

After meeting exact user needs comes simplicity and elegance that produce products that are a joy to own, a joy to use. 

Don Norman