What is UX design? Currently, the user interface industry is growing at a fast pace, but UX design is still completely new world for most executives and managers. This area aims to increase user satisfaction with a product, improve usability, accessibility and interaction. It combines the traditional design of human-computer interaction and considers all aspects of user interaction with a product or service.

UX designers take the lead in improving the basic needs of the end user and try to create a product that makes the audience happy. This, in turn, leads to healthy investment returns and helps support a growing business or organization.

What does a UX Designer do?

UX designers study and evaluate how users feel about a system by looking at things like ease of use, perceived value of the system, usefulness, efficiency in completing tasks.

UX designers also consider subsystems and processes within a system. For example, they might look at the checkout process on an e-commerce website to see how easy and accessible it is to complete the process of purchasing products from the site. They can delve deeper into the components of the subsystem, for example, see how effective and enjoyable the user experience is when filling out input fields on a web form.

What is UX design? Technology concept

An important concept in UX design is the process by which users shape the experience. When a consumer first encounters a product, an instant impression is formed that changes over time. In this process, perception, action, motivation and cognition combine to form a user experience. This process triggers emotional responses that largely determine whether the experience is positive or negative.

UX designers strive to create factors that influence the process on purpose. To do this, the UX designer considers three categories of questions: what, why, and how.

Why- implies the motivation of users to accept the product and the desire to own it.

What- concerns what people can do with the product and its functionality.

How- refers to design functionality in an accessible and aesthetically pleasing way.

UX design starts with a “why” category, then defines “what” and finally “how” to create products with which users can have a meaningful experience.

Historical retrospective

Compared to many other disciplines, especially web systems, UX design is relatively new. The term “user experience” was coined by Dr. Donald Norman, a cognitive science researcher who was also the first to describe the importance of user-centered design - the notion that design decisions should be based on consumer needs. From publication of this concept the history of UX design began.

Regardless of working in a startup or large corporation The UX designer is directly involved in the process to make the product useful and enjoyable for the target market of the company. The product creation process contains several important steps:

consumer research;

product design;

testing;

implementation.

Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Consumer research: where to start as an aspiring designer?

Analysis of the consumer audience and identification of needs involves communication with real users in the target market. If the subject of research exists only hypothetically and has not yet been created, similar products of competing firms, their advantages and disadvantages, become the subject of discussion. If the product already exists, consumers are asked questions about how people feel when navigating a site with the current design, whether it is easy to find the information they need, how structured the pages are. The quality of the written and graphic content and the overall visual impression of the site are assessed separately. The following methods can be used for this part of the process:

questionnaires;

focus group discussions;

online surveys;

analysis of tasks.

It is important to note that if a product is the product of design thought and has nothing to do with user experience and feedback in its development and implementation, it is not the product of UX design.

Design

Developing a design hypothesis involves thinking about how a new product or service can adapt to how the customer is already behaving (as revealed by user research). Product design is focused on functionality and usability, not how it looks. At this stage, the following are used:

information architecture;

• prototyping.

Testing

Testing involves checking that the changes made during the design phase are working properly and are appropriate for their task. This is a great way to get rid of problems or user difficulties that were not visible at the design stage before starting work at the implementation stage. There are various:

a / b testing;

usability;

remote user testing.

Implementation

Implementation involves working closely with web developers to achieve the ultimate goal. Web developers are working to turn design ideas into a real website. It is important that developers work as a team throughout the entire process to make this final phase more efficient and optimal.



What is user experience?

Websites and apps are getting more sophisticated as technology advances. What used to be a one-way static environment has evolved into a broad interactive experience today.

But no matter how much the manufacturing process has changed, the success of a website still depends on one thing: how users perceive it. “Is this site giving me value? Is it easy to use? Is it pleasant to be here? " - these are the questions that users ask themselves when they interact with the company's products, and it is on the basis of this experience that, as a rule, they make a purchase decision.

User interface (abbreviated as UX) in design is how a person feels when interacting with a system. The system can be a website, web application, or desktop software. In a modern context, this is often referred to as human-computer interaction.

User experience covers all aspects of the end consumer's interaction with the company, its services and products. It is important to distinguish the overall design of the project from the user interface, although the User experience is extremely important part design.

It is also necessary to distinguish between UX and usability: in accordance with the definition, the attribute of quality of the user interface, which encompasses ease of learning, efficiency of use, pleasantness, visual acceptability, aesthetics of design.



Professional competence

The UX designer is responsible for all of the above process steps and their execution. There are a number of professional competencies that are of great importance when training a designer:

leadership;

• project management;

  effective interaction with the team.

These professional characteristics are very important for successful work.

What's the difference between UX and UI design?

User interface (UI) designers focus on the layout and actual design of each element that a user interacts with, while User Experience (UX) designers focus on the user's interactions with that element as well as the overall product experience. UI and UX designers often work together, as well as in team with web developers, to create a product that is visually appealing and enjoyable to use.

What does a UX designer actually do?

UX designers perform different functionality depending on the project and development stage. In the early stages of a project, experts conduct preliminary user experience research, and then plan interactions through wireframe and prototyping of their projects, which are then tested using various heuristic techniques.

During development, testing and development of the user interface continues to improve the product and customer experience.

Once a project is launched, a UX designer can analyze user metrics to track their progress, go back and iterate to improve design weaknesses.



Tasks and methods

UX designers perform different tasks at different points in the process. Below is a basic list:

Assessment of the current system. If the system already exists, the UX professional will holistically assess its current state. Issues are identified and corrections suggested based on analysis of research data.

A / B TESTING. A professional can design a study to compare the effectiveness and quality of the experience of different user interfaces. This is done by putting forward a hypothesis (for example, "the green button is more attractive than the red"). Several design revisions are then proposed and the “best experience” is determined in order of testing (for example, “the green button is better because users clicked on it more often.”).

Polls. The UX designer conducts a survey of existing and potential users of the system to get an idea of ​​what was the most effective design solution. Since the single user experience is subjective, The best way getting immediate information is studying and interacting with group opinion.

Wireframes and prototypes. Based on their findings, UX professionals can design wireframes of various layouts and higher-fidelity prototypes.

Custom streams. Designing how users should navigate the system is another popular tool.

Design patterns

Templates provide consistency and a way to find the most effective "tool" for the job. For example, when designing user interface templates, choosing the right elements (e.g. module tabs, slideshows) for specific tasks based on their effectiveness results in the best solution... UX developers not only offer design patterns that are used on other websites, but also design their own patterns for the current project.

Programs

There are several popular and readily available UX design software for work and study. The tools aren't just for UX designers. Programmers and webmasters use them as well.

UX design courses use prototyping tools that can be done initially with pen and paper. This inexpensive, accessible, hands-on designer training tool allows you to quickly prototype and move on to design.

Some software to create wireframes and prototypes:




Teaching the basics of UX design uses A / B testing, also known as split or multivariate testing. This tool compares different versions pages. Testing can be performed using any of several programs.

Primarily software for testing, A / B splits website traffic into two equal segments. One group sees version A and the other sees version B. Statistics such as conversion rate and bounce rate are tracked for each version. Split testing determines which version is better, and this decision based on statistics. One of the most popular A / B testing apps is Google's Website Optimizer.

Content management

When teaching UX design from scratch, a variety of content inventory techniques are used. Using an in-place server application (for which you will need access to a web server) is best for production sites. Closer to the source than third-party software, these applications are more accurate and efficient. For this purpose, a simple Excel tool for creating and managing a content inventory can be used, such as the GetUXIndex () template).

Websites built with content management systems like WordPress and Drupal tend to have built-in tools that show a map of an existing website.

Polls and feedback

User polling is another popular UX design challenge. The most efficient and cost-effective way to do this is with a polling and feedback app or remote user testing.

Common survey tools like PollDaddy provide flexible solutions that can be used for other tasks as well. There are usability feedback tools such as Usability and remote user testing services such as a usability hub that administer the testing system.

Examples of

An example of UX design - what is it? User interface design is the process of creating products that provide meaningful and experimental experiences. This presupposes careful design and usability of the product, aesthetic enjoyment of use and extensive functionality.

Thus, products that provide excellent user interface(for example, the iPhone is the best example UX design) are not only for consuming or using a product, but for the entire acquisition, ownership, and even troubleshooting process.

Translation of Hubspot material on what UX design is, how it creates, what tools are used and why a business needs UX design.

What is the use of your site or application? Is it just to collect information with it? Or buy in one click and receive delivery tomorrow? Or the main thing is to quickly find answers to the necessary questions?

Think about the people who developed this site or application. What was their purpose?

They tried to make a web resource that would have everything that people would love him for. An easy-to-use site that would quickly provide the information you are looking for and help you make informed decisions.

UX, or interaction experience, encompasses the perception and emotion that a software product or service evokes. UX is characterized by ease of use, accessibility, and usability. UX is often talked about in context electronic devices, smartphones, computers, software or websites. But such a concept is not new; it is something that is rapidly changing under the influence of technological progress, new types of interactions and consumer trends.

Users are looking for lightning-fast ways to solve problems, which is why UX is extremely important. Make sure that the site is clear and easy to understand for users.

If customers do not find the resource useful and easy to use, they will quickly unsubscribe. Most users decide within a minute whether to close the site.

In this article, we'll explore more about the evolving UX industry, what kind of designers are hired by commercial organizations, and why smart design benefits every business.

What is UX Design?

UX design, or user experience design, is what determines how satisfied the user will be with a software product or service; this process includes improvements in functionality, usability and usability. UX design - creation software products with a thoughtful and relevant user experience. The field of UX design has a ton of sub-topics to consider.

1. Interactive design

Interactive design, or IxD, is a subsection of UX design that defines the interaction between the user and the product; the goal of these interactions is a good user experience.

2. Visual design

Visual design uses illustrations, photography, typography and color schemes to enhance the end user's experience. In visual design, it is important to adhere to the principles of decoration. These include balance, space, contrast ... Color, shape, size and other elements also affect the design.

3. User research

It is the last of the building blocks of UX design that companies use to figure out their customers' expectations. A successful web project serves a specific purpose and solves specific problems, so an important step is to find out what the consumer needs. Without this, design is based on guesswork and assumptions.

4. Information architecture

Designers use information architecture to structure and label content in a specific way to make it easier for users to find. necessary information... Information architecture is used in web development, smartphone development, applications, and is seen in many physical objects. Ease of use and accessibility are two main aspects of information architecture.

For illustration, consider a map of the New York subway. By the way, this good example information architecture that helps people get from the conditional point "A" to point "B". And, as the postulate of the Institute for Information Architecture sounds, "if you do something for others, you are using information architecture."

Composite UX Design Processes

There are three stages of UX design: 1. finding the target audience 2. understanding the company's goals - how such goals affect the user 3. unconventional thinking

Typically UX design takes a user-centered approach - creating the desired end product in three steps. Easier - you should take into account the needs of those for whom the design is being developed. A lot of solutions are used to eliminate all kinds of complications and roughness; prototypes are created and tested on users.

Based on the results of the work, the best of the worked out options is chosen. If you look at things from the user's point of view and design based on their preferences, everyone will like the result.

UX design principles

The UX design industry is changing rapidly, but the underlying principles are the same. Designers need to understand what they need in terms of visual balance. Brevity and clarity are important nuances; here we apply the principle - the less the better. Strive for an intuitive design and, more importantly, consider the interests and needs of users.

UX tends to be about new technologies, but at the heart of it all is world-old principles that help designers solve all sorts of problems through a consistent and subject-matter methodology.

Consider the context: The user needs to know where he is at this moment... There shouldn't be a feeling of information overload, or that he's lost. Your task is to prompt and indicate the right direction.

Be Human: Nobody likes the feeling of interacting with a machine. You are more likely to build trust when you show your company from the human side.

Availability: No one wants to waste their time. Successful UX design improves navigation.

Lightness: Consistency and uncomplicated design is always a good thing. You build relationships with users through user-friendly UX.

Simplicity: No miscalculations or unnecessary descriptions. Go straight to the main thing.

UX result

When the UX project is complete, the designer and team show the client and their team a list of what has been done. It is necessary to show the process of work, a list of implemented ideas.

This is an important part of the overall process. So it is easier for UX designers to find what they are looking for, demonstrate their vision, explain certain recommendations for improvement.

1. User research

User needs, trends and motivations are all revealed through various user research. This can be quantitative and qualitative data obtained during tests, for example, with the participation of focus groups; a detailed description of the registration process, onboarding and requests to the client service. The goal is to get detailed analysis what is on the site, and what else can be improved - all ideas are tested on real users.

Researchers create portraits of consumers based on actual data about people, which helps to determine exactly who will interact with a website or app.

Through user research, designers find and define their user.

2. Assessment of competitors

Assessment of the strengths and weaknesses competitors is a way to expand your own UX strategy. It is best to act with analytical reports that highlight competing developments. In fact, this is a detailed analysis of the interactive design of competitors, a list of weaknesses, miscalculations and omissions, in general, what can become a competitive advantage.

3. Interactive design

The description of user interactions can be in the form of a prototype - this makes it easier to understand how users will perform key tasks, find information, and, in general, use the product. The process of searching for information, and how convenient the development is, is described. The prototype should be as simplified as possible and close to the final version.

4. Information architecture

IA is the process of obtaining information and converting it into a digestible form, which is especially important for large sites. It's important to understand the context in which people will use the design. The end result could be a tooltip sitemap, or a sample user flow that shows how visitors move around the site.

What is user interface design?

When Apple introduced the Click Wheel navigation component for the iPod, it was intuitive and highly functional — not to mention visually. This is a good example of a successful user interface, or UI. UI is a way of interacting with computers, machines, websites, applications, wearable devices, etc. UI design is what makes all these things as simple and effective as possible.

UI vs. UX

UX, user experience, refers to the movement of a user on a website or app. UX designers work on the form and functionality of a product or technology. UI, or user interface, is focused on how the outer shell of the product looks and functions. The realm of UI designers is the tangible and visible components of this process.

Common UI elements

UX and UI have a lot in common, but it's important to note the key differences between the two. Again, UI is focused on the outside of the product, while UX is more about how people interact with a website or app. Here are the most common UI elements you need to know about in order to better understand the differences:

Information Components: UI designers use information components to extend the so-called informational components. reading experience - to convey more information. Examples of information components include status indicators, notifications, and message boxes. All this is used as confirmation: the user has completed a specific task. Or to notify that a certain action is required on his part.

Breadcrumbs navigation

It is a design tool that visually improves the usability of a website.

This is how people see their location on a web page, in its hierarchical structure. Any fanciful design elements are not required, you just need to show which section of the site the user is in. Typically, such links are located at the top of the web page of online stores, or on other resources.

Input Controls: Users are presented with several options to answer the question they are asked. These can be checkboxes, dropdowns, and radio buttons. Information should be concise and concise to make it easier to identify needs.

Interaction experience research

Without research, it will not be possible to learn about the needs and preferences of people. UX research is about finding what users want; the data obtained forms the basis of UX design. Companies and designers use research to draw conclusions about what works and what is better to change. There are several options for UX research.

Usability testing

The goal of such research is to find out how successful the product is; users participate in testing. This gives companies real information about how people use a product or system, or how that product or system works. There are two main ways to test.

Usability testing on casual users is fast and cheap way for companies and researchers to get information from people who may not know about their product. Casual people use the product and share their opinions.

Remote usability testing allows companies to conduct research in an environment where users are in their natural environment (for example, at home or in the office).

Usability testing tools

Such tools allow you to find out the opinions of users, analyze feedback, and make certain changes based on the data. If you're looking for a tool to help you figure out how easy your site or application is to use, you have two options:

Adobe Fireworks CS6 allows web designers to create graphics for web pages without having to delve into the intricacies of code or design. Adobe Fireworks has a number of advantages. This tool has impressive pixel accuracy, image compression options (JPEG, GIF, etc.), which allows users to create functional websites and build vectors.

WITH with Adobe XD can create website and mobile app designs as well as prototypes, wireframes and vector graphics... Share interactive prototypes across multiple platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android - perfect for teamwork.

Axure RP Pro is another good UX design tool, and it's also free. Several options are implemented in Axure, incl. prototyping and documentation. You can even create user navigation and sitemaps. Axure is ideal for creating web and desktop applications, users are provided with the ability to quickly export to PDF or HTML.

This is a complex software with many specific functions, incl. non-destructive editing (which means Sketch won't change the pixel density of the image you're working with). Code export, pixel precision, prototyping, vector editing are the main advantages of Sketch.

6. Software for storyboarding

You might be wondering why a storyboard is needed in UX design. But this good way to visually predict how a user will interact with your product in a wider context. There are several storyboarding tools available, with different functions and difficulty levels.

Storyboarder is free software development with basic functionality that is suitable for all designers, regardless of their skill level. This software quickly creates sketches or figures to describe a plan or idea. Another tool is Toon Boom Storyboard Pro. It combines drawing, animation, camera control and many other options - for an annual or monthly fee. Wide functionality for sophisticated storytelling and detailed preparatory work. All of this is suitable for designers looking for an opportunity to visually tell their story through an interface.

How to become a UX designer?

If you love design, research, and working with people - listening to others tell you about your experiences, then a career in UX design might be worth considering. In this case, you will have to focus on the conceptual aspects of the design; create a quality user experience for other users.

There are several important steps towards a career as a UX designer. Many universities in the world offer their own courses, but in order to enroll in them, 4 years of education in design is usually required condition... There are more flexible programs such as Quinnipiac University Graduate Program in User Experience Design... There are also professional certification programs. Much depends on the length of study and the level of training.

If you're ready to pursue your dream of becoming a UX designer, you need a resume and a vibrant portfolio. Resources like Dribbble or Behance will come in handy. You can showcase your work on your own website, built with builders such as SquareSpace.

Don't lose sight of the following nuances:

Visual appeal

Presentation is everything. The work should speak for itself ... show, don't speak! Color choices, typography are all important.

Add about yourself page

Why should someone hire you? What new things can you bring to any organization? Show recruiters your unique vision, or what inspires you.

The employee of the company of your dreams should have no difficulty navigating your portfolio site. In the menu, add sections such as contacts, resume, portfolio, about me, etc. to simplify navigation.

Explain How You Build Your UX Your prospective employer wants to understand your mindset. Add information to tell the recruiter about your UX research, brainstorming, design process, or prototyping.

Create an additional portfolio

Use other tools to make your work available on the web resources where designers spend their time and those who want to hire them,

When asked what is the difference between a UX designer and a UI designer, people like to answer through denial. You know, such a literary device. It seems like “UX is not about the interface, not about graphic design, this is not usability, not analytics, not a prototype. " Today we briefly show the difference, tell the history of the appearance of the terms and explain why two concepts, even after so many years, are merged into one with such eagerness - UX / UI.

Briefly about the difference

A UI designer (user interface) is an interface designer in an ideal environment who draws buttons, icons, shapes, selects fonts and makes a harmonious and beautiful layout out of everything. A website, an application, anything, what the user will interact with - even a station terminal screen. And he doesn't think about anything else.

A UX designer (user experience) is not a designer, but a designer (just in English the word designer has just the second meaning). He studies the needs of users, builds logical diagrams of the interface, tests prototypes on living people, writes technical specifications for design. In other words, this is such a marketing engineer: the analyst is the input, the output is the principles of creating an interface, the logic of work, layout, content. It does not concern drawing as such.

That's all.

Why it was necessary to complicate everything

As it was before: the designer received the task "to draw the site". All sites were more or less the same: home, about the company, catalog, further down the list. The designer asked: "when will the content be given to us?" Never, comrade spirit, this is an army.

And the designer was simply called "designer". No overseas prefixes.

How it became later: agencies wanted to get more money, and the world gradually began to move from “simple sites” to complex web services. And a service is not only a unique interface, it is also a special business process behind it. For example, remember the Airbnb website - without a deep study of the subject, no graphic designer could immediately make an interface.

Since there was more work, the need arose to divide one profession into several. Now the UX specialist (let's call him so that there is no confusion) researched and designed the information architecture, the prototypist did the functional part, and the graphic (UI) designer created the final product: modern and pleasing to the eye.

The same has already happened in the industry. For example, simply "programmers" were divided into "front-end" and "back-end". And front-endrs for true front-endrs and “just layout designers”. By the way, .

The reason is always the same: one person is not enough for a large process. Let's go further.

Who is a UX / UI designer

What's fun: job vacancies often feature UX / UI designer positions, just like that, through a slash. Even Tinkoff is looking for such a combo specialist:

On the other side of the barricades, designers all over the world began to call themselves exactly as UX / UI. Because being just a designer is fucking unfashionable.

What is UX / UI in an ideal world? A superhuman who conducts the entire cycle of UX work, and then still manages to draw everything with several iterations of the right (make the UI).

Who is UX / UI Really? Just a good designer. For those who consider it their duty not just to "figure out the layouts", but to approach each project individually, start with analysis, questions, clarifications, sketches, diagrams, etc. This is not a full-fledged UX-expertise, but, as a rule, it is enough to support a ready-made service or develop a “simple website”.

So if you see an amazing UX / UI mutant, know that:

• This is a designer who approaches the project with his head, and not just clicks the mouse and beak.
• This is a whip that has read a lot of buzzwords and now calls itself UX / UI.

It is simple to check: ask the designer to tell why he chose exactly this arrangement of elements, such a sequence of screens, etc. Have good designer not a single interface solution is made just like that - everything has a logical rationale.

by the way

This article is already the second in the series "How does one web specialist differ from another." What prompted us to make a directory of all professions from the web, with different variants of their names. To make life clearer for the client (and for all of us, what really).

UX design is built around the knowledge of human psychology, and over the years of studying users, many laws of the psyche have emerged that you need to know when designing an interface.

UX Design: Fitts's Law

Target time is a function of target distance and target size. In 1954, psychologist Paul Fitts, who studied the human motor system, showed that the time it takes to hit a target depends on the distance to the target, and is also inversely related to the size of the target. According to this law, fast movements and small targets lead to more mistakes. Fitts's Law is widely used in UI and UX. For example, according to this law, make interactive buttons large because small buttons are harder to click and take longer.

Hick's Law

The decision time increases with the number and complexity of the choices. The greater the number of irritants, the longer the user will have to choose which one to interact with. If users are bombarded with choices, they will have to take the time to interpret and decide what they don't want to do.

Jacob's law

Users spend large quantity time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as sites they already know. Jacob's Law was invented by Jakob Nielsen, the co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, who made huge contributions to UX, such as inventing a heuristic evaluation method.

The law of pregnancies

People will perceive and interpret ambiguous or complex images in their simplest form, because that interpretation requires the least cognitive effort from us. This law was discovered in 1910 by psychologist Max Wertheimer when he saw lights near a railway crossing. It was like turning lights on and off around a stage. It seems to the observer that it is the same light that goes from bulb to bulb, although in reality it is just a series of bulbs that turn on and off in turn.

UX Design: The Law of Proximity

Objects close to each other are perceived in the group. This law is also one of the main in Gestalt psychology and was discovered by Wertheimer. He noticed that a fast series of events created the illusion of movement. For example, films are fast moving frames that are perceived as a continuous visual experience.

Miller's law

On average, a person can retain 7 ± 2 elements in their working memory. In 1956, George Miller that the range of immediate memory and absolute judgment was limited to about 7 pieces of information. The basic unit of information is the bit, the amount of data required to choose between two equally likely alternatives. That is, 4 bits of information is a decision between 16 pairwise alternatives (4 consecutive binary decisions). The point at which confusion causes misjudgment is throughput channel.

Parkinson's law

Any task takes all the time allotted for it. According to this law, restrictions on time, space or budget lead to increased productivity and efficiency.

Serial arrangement effect

Users remember the first and last objects in a series best. Serial placement manipulation to create a better user experience is used in many popular designs from successful companies like Apple, Electronic Arts and Nike.

UX Design: Tesler's Law

Tesler's Law, or the Law of Conservation of Complexity, states that for any system there is a certain that cannot be reduced. In the mid-1980s, Larry Tesler realized that user interaction with applications was as important as the applications themselves. In many cases, he says, an engineer should spend an extra week simplifying an application, rather than forcing millions of users to spend an extra minute using a complex program. However, Bruce Tognazzini argues that people resist simplifying their lives. Therefore, if the application is simple, users begin to strive for more complex tasks.

UX Design: The Von Restorff Effect

Working with user interaction helps to take a product or business to the next level, because the UX designer thinks through the logic of the product and helps clients achieve their goals.

To start learning UX design, you need to understand how work on any digital project is structured and what exactly such a designer is responsible for during development.

Who is a UX designer, what does he do

A UX designer is a designer who makes digital products understandable and logical. He studies the experience of user interaction with a product - site, application, program. The goal of a UX designer is to help the user achieve their goal. To do this, the project is divided into stages and each of them is worked out.

First, designers analyze the audience of the product, explore its goals and fears. Then they interview real people, monitor competitors' websites and applications. After that, prototypes are created, shown to users, and the files are handed over to the developers.

Taking a closer look at each of these steps makes it easy to figure out where to start learning UX design.

Who can become a UX designer

Often times, web designers come to UX who have decided to delve deeper into the field of user interaction. They have already worked with users, know the basic principles and are able to visualize information.

However, you don't have to be a web designer to work in UX. All processes in this area are primarily based on logic, the ability to think critically, communication with people and the ability to analyze.

One of Google's designers, Fiona Yong, said that there are only a few specialists with a designer education on her team. The rest used to work in related fields or in other industries. Some were engaged in cognitive sciences, and some in psychobiology.

Therefore, architects, engineers and programmers can all be good designers. The main thing is to understand the basics of interactive design and understand how the logic of work in UX is built. This can be done on your own or in special UI / UX design courses.

Where to begin

You can start learning UX design with courses, books, and articles. The main thing is to draw up the correct training plan, formulate goals and move from general to specific.

The process of working on a product consists of several stages. In each of them, the UX designer does different things. To understand what knowledge is necessary for work, you need to consider each of the stages in detail:

• study,
• data analysis,
• design,
• design,
• analysis of metrics.

Study

A UX designer makes sure that the future site or application performs a useful action - sell, advertise, help users.

But it's hard to create good project, if you do not understand the problem. Therefore, the designer first collects data about the future product. Researches competitors, plans functions, thinks over the logic of work.

A good research method is talking to real users. When creating a service for buying tickets, it is better to go to the train station and conduct interviews with passengers. Find out whether it will be easier for them to purchase tickets via the Internet, whether it is convenient to pay with a card, how they want to choose seats in the carriage.

During the research phase, the UX designer should actively talk to potential users and ask what they need.

Data analysis

When the objectives of the product are clear, the designer thinks over the logic of interaction.

The most prominent representatives are chosen from the target audience and told about them. They try to imagine what is important for this person in the product. What tasks he will solve, in what way. This stage, creating personas, helps the designer introduce and work for specific people.

Satisfying the requirements of the entire target audience will not work, but you can work on the desires of the brightest representatives. Then the chance increases that others will also be comfortable using the product.

The designer creates scenarios for each person. It is important here to imagine how a specific person might interact with the product. What functionality is needed and what can be discarded at the first stage.

Scripting helps you think through the structure of your application or site, as well as the basic elements.

Design

At this stage, all the collected data is visualized. They build the structure of the application, arrange elements for each screen.

Design is not creation finished design... These are quick sketches that are shown to users. They conduct testing and find out if the product will solve the problem in this form.

Layouts at this stage can be completely different - low detail and black and white or bright and interactive. Someone works with paper and pen, someone uses special programs... Some designers immediately work in graphic editors.

The design phase can save you a lot of time. It is faster to show a sketch to the user and ask their opinion than to draw and program a product from scratch and then fix the bugs.

Design

The final version is created by the UI designer. But often you have to draw the final version yourself. Therefore, it is useful to gain basic skills and learn UI design.

At the stage, they create visualizations from prototypes and wireframes, work with color, composition and typography, and design content.

For this, graphic editors are suitable, in which the designers work:

• Adobe Photoshop,
• Adobe XD,
• Sketch,
• Figma.

The challenge for a UX designer is to monitor usability individual elements and pages in general. Observe that when adding visual effects, the main meaning of the product is not lost.

Analysis of metrics

After the first working version of the product is published, the UX designer monitors the actual user behavior. For this, analytics systems and various metrics are used.

Working on a product - conducting usability and A / B tests. Improve user experience, add new features.

How to learn UX design

UX design is made up of different directions and disciplines. This is visual design, and working with users, and testing the results. Some UX professionals work in one direction, some in all.

To learn UX design, you need to imagine the entire product development path and improve the skills required for each stage. "

When learning theory, keep practical skills in mind. Create a website layout or come up with mobile app... Divide the project into parts and work on each one carefully: do research and analysis, then do design and design. Only practice helps a designer to become a good specialist.