Donald Arthur Norman has been a very prominent figure in the design world. Apart from that, he has founded several startups, is an author and more popularly, a very captivating speaker. He is best known by his books, especially the title, “The Design of Everyday Things”. Now, much of Don’s own design is centered on user friendliness. From doors to computers, he has been encouraging academics, creativity and technological innovation to refining existing products. His approach has always focused on designs that that have been able to simplify task structures, make things more visible, mapping things rightly, elimination of design errors, affordance, and exploiting the ‘power of constraints’. Let’s discuss some of his design tips that are applicable to our UI/UX industry.

1.     The principles of design remain the same

According to Don, the basic principle of designing remains the same. Though time is changing and technology is evolving, the main goal of designing has always been to make things simpler to use, see, feel and understand.

2.     Great products being a small part of the story

There could be an amazing solution to a specific problem but as long as the solution isn’t packaged well, it might fail to leave any consequences. User experience is the only thing that completes a product. The best example for this could be Apple – a company that based its products on user experience. If we begin to compare, the iPod provides the same functionality as the average walkman but iPod became more loved simply because the way it worked.

3.     User experience must be complete

The aim of design, be it products or websites should not be limited to just the user experience but the entire interaction it has with the end user. As long as design doesn’t support functionality, it is as good as being useless.

4.     Being late is better than being too early

Great designs might have integrated high end usability but it is also necessary to ensure that the end audience is ready for the new revolution. If you don’t have a strategy to be able to change the way a user interacts with your product/service/website, it is better not to lead the design innovation. Reception holds the clue to the success of your revolutionizing UI/UX.

5.     Design isn’t the absolute necessity in MVP

If your products/service can offer high value to its customers, UX/UI won’t matter too much. However, this would only apply to the first iteration of the product. At later iterations, design will hold the key to adoption. So, if you are a startup business, don’t spend too heavily on UI. Focus on your core services and once you start making money, design would be the key in encouraging your customers to stay with you.

6.     Focus

We all know how too many cooks can spoil the broth. Similarly, too many designers engaged in the same UI/UX blueprint will provide inconsistent products. Stick to a dictator of a chief designer and let him challenge himself!

Write in with your comments on which of these will be a part of your next UX Design project

With the web constantly evolving and encompassing newer aspects of human life, those using it for professional needs find it daunting to cope with the huge changes sometimes! The constant evolution in web design have been drastic in last few years. Just to discuss an instance – for businesses, having an online presence is no longer enough; they need to understand user needs better and mould their services and products accordingly. This is where UX or user experience steps in.

Busting the key prevalent UX myths

The term UX is often misunderstood and misinterpreted at many levels. UX design emphasizes ease of access and use for the end user of a website. It is not merely about design elements and features. The aim of UX is finding the right balance between business goals of the entity, and user needs and expectations.

Below are a few common misconceptions about UX that you need to know:

Myth 1: UX is distinct from web design

A lot of business owners still have the misconception that User Experience design is same as web design. The truth is UX development doesn’t merely encompass making some changes in design of your website. UX stretches beyond entire design process. It covers web design for sure but it also deals with how and where a business connects with its clients.

Myth 2: UX is only about improving usability

This is another prevalent myth about UX! There is no denying usability is integral part of UX design but it also includes analysis of business principles and targeting users. You have to study behavioral and emotional reactions of your target customers to specific designs. Once these are analyzed and well understood, you will be able to use a design both as branding tool and weapon for revenue earning.

Myth 3: You know what your users like and need

This is one big mistake businesses make about assessing customer mindset and preferences and it extends to UX design too. It is natural that you will love your company’s products and services but that may not always be the case with your clients. Without extensive research about customers by studying market trends and analyzing changing customer expectation, decisions in UX should not be made.

Myth 4: Flawless design translates into great UX

To develop quality UX, flawless design will be required but an aesthetic looking website alone cannot guarantee revenue or increase in number of visitors. Even when your website looks superb, testing it for performance issues is mandatory. Aspects like cross browser compatibility, consistency in desktop and mobile sites and rendering anomaly should be checked in detail. UX is enhanced when you achieve a balance between design and performance.

Myth 5: UX can be enhanced by newer technology

Remember UX design is not about implementing new technology. Ultimately, it’s about what your clients want and how your business can address those needs and exceed their expectations. If implementing new technology gels seamlessly with existing methods and does not create confusions for end users, it is fine.

These were a few UX design myths that you need to protect your development expertise against. Let us know if there are any other myths that you would like to dismiss.

Here is some great news to share! GoodWorkLabs, the leader in UX design and product development, has been has been shortlisted for the Best UX Design Studio Award 2015 and named in top 10 of India’s best UX design studios by the design focused POOL Magazine

What is significant is that we were chosen by study and survey conducted with about 100 industry experts + online survey conducted with Designindia community with participation of over 500 professionals.  Know more about the awards and other design categories here on the POOL Magazine post.

We are perhaps the youngest company in the list of UX design firms, and this nomination is the testimony of our innovation and design thinking. The last year has been a phenomenal journey for us, as we worked with top firms across the globe to craft simple, aesthetic and highly efficient products with great user experience.

We thank our clients and partners for the wonderful opportunities they entrusted us with to work on some incredible products and challenges.

Kudos to the GoodWorkLabs team! And cheers to a great journey ahead!

The concept of Design Thinking has been gaining momentum these days, mainly due to the fact that it offers a very structured yet simple way to meet design challenges effectively. The methodology of problem solving stays the same in its inner core irrespective of the industry vertical being served.

Blending creativity in solutions construct, with customer understanding and iterative learning is what Design Thinking is based on. To help you out more in this regard, we have broken down the concept of design thinking into 8 vital steps. Let’s take a look at how these different steps or phases of design thinking can prove to be overall useful for designing a new IT solution.

1. Find the Purpose– It is the feel that one gets when something new should be introduced into the market and it has huge potential as a concept. The same feel or desire can fuel your vision as well as mission to bring that product or idea into the market.

2. Get a Closer Look– This step is about understanding the potential customers for the idea or product that we are going to bring into the market. So, market research companies can prove to be helpful in this regard. They will provide a clear picture of the probable future of your idea.

3. Find your Targeted Customers/Audience – Once you figure out who your targeted customers are, it is the time to understand them more closely, which can be done by diving deep into their world or environment. This process will help you know the blind spots.

4. Interact with your Targeted Customers/Audience – Once you get into the environment of your potential customers and analyze their behavior, it is the time to collect direct inputs from them.

5. Assimilate the Ideas – Your idea of building a product and its application on the actual ground is a complete different thing. So, based on the inputs received from your potential customers, you have to modify your product or idea accordingly. No doubt, numbers of brainstorming sessions are required in this case, and I feel that this is one of the most important steps, as it allows you a last major chance to bring up any significant changes before your product or idea finally rolls out in the market.

6. Integration – Based on the results obtained in the above step, now you should start building the first model or the prototype. The prototype should incorporate the inputs from design, marketing, development and intelligence department.

7. Test your Product/Service – This phase is about testing your prototype in the real environment.

8. Strengthening– From the last step’s result, we can get a little idea about how the idea or product should be promoted in the market. Dealing with the competition is something you have to plan out in this very step.

To wrap up

Following the above mentioned steps of Design Thinking can surely help us in rolling out a product or idea in a better way, with immense potential of achieving successful results.

‘Design Thinking’ is at the core of our DNA at GoodWorkLabs, and we practice it for every single product or a feature we craft. Our UX Design studio has been successful in creating path breaking products in software, mobile apps, and games arenas because we true follow ‘Design First’ philosophy and everything starts from the design perspective.