The User Experience design sprung out of WWII—in Aerospace engineering.
The Design Process
The “Double Diamond” Process
First Round of Going Broad
- Explore the problem space (what are you users trying to do? why? why is it hard?)
- Decide what to fix (what is the most high impact problem?)
Second Round of Going Broad
- Test potential solutions (does this fix the problem?)
- Refine final solution (do all users understand this? can they use them?)
Usability Heuristics
Usability Heuristics is a set of principles used in User Experience design to identify problems and potential solutions.
Visibility of System Status
Keep the users informed about what’s actively going on, through appropriate visual feedback placed at an appropriate amount of time.
Match Between System and the Real World
Use language that’s familiar to the user, using words, phrases, concepts familiar to the users rather than internal jargon.
Balance User Control and Freedom
User often perform actions by mistake; mark “emergency exits” to leave unwanted pathways/actions without causing side effects.
Consistency and Standards
Having consistency between different versions/family of products: putting buttons that do the same thing to the same place across the app, at the same region.
Error Prevention
Eliminate error-prone conditions (prevent the users from doing it), or present users with a confirmation before they commit to an erroneous action
Recognition vs. Recall
Users should’t need to remember when they are going through an UI; instead they should be able to recognize the intended behavior from the UI
Flexibility and Efficiency of User
Catering functionality to both novice and advanced users. Make advanced actions hidden to novice users, but easily accessible for advanced users.
Minimalism
Keep the UI focused on essential actions and information—maintaining an aesthetic and minimalist design
Help Users Recognize, Diagnoses, and Recover from Errors
Errors should…
- give context for what the problem is
- instruct the user for possible next actions
Help
It maybe necessary to provide documentation to help users understand how to complete their tasks; the documentation should be clear