What do ux designers do

Log in Join our community Join us. Open menu Close menu. Join us. Your constantly-updated definition of User Experience UX Design and collection of topical content and literature. Show Hide video transcript. Or, yeah, an app or a computer system. Order literature by: Most shared in this topic Latest UX literature in this topic Please check the value and try again. Read article. Human Computer Interaction - brief intro.

Human-computer interaction HCI is an area of research and practice that emerged in the early s, initially as a spe Book chapter. Read book chapter. With the compan 1. What is Interaction Design? Interaction design is an important component within the giant umbrella of user experience UX design. A UI without UX is like a painter slapping paint onto canvas without thought; while UX without UI is like the frame of a sculpture with no paper mache on it. A great product experience starts with UX followed by UI.

UX design stands for 'user experience design', while UI design stands for 'user interface design'. Both elements are crucial to a product and both types of designers work closely together. But despite their professional relationship, the roles themselves are quite different, referring to very different parts of the process and the design discipline.

A user experience UX designer focuses their attention on the user's interactions and the overall flow of a product, whereas a user interface UI designer focuses on the layout and the actual design of each element that the user interacts with. Think of a UX designer as an architect that makes interfaces useful, and a UI designer as the person who looks after all the details and makes interfaces beautiful. Where UX design is a more analytical and technical field, UI design is closer to what we refer to as graphic design, though the responsibilities are somewhat more complex.

Both UX and UI design teams tend to work closely together, constantly communicating and collaborating in order to make sure that the final user interface looks as good as it can, while also operating efficiently.

For example, if the UX design team is working out the flow of the product like how the buttons will navigate the user through the tasks , the UI design team is concurrently working on how the buttons will appear on the screen, and will adapt their design to fit the layout. Continue reading. A user's experience is determined by whether their interaction seems logical, smooth and easy, or whether it feels confusing, random and a struggle.

In a nutshell, user experience is determined by how easy or how difficult it is to interact with the user interface components. UX designers do a variety of things, depending on the project and its state of development.

Working in UX typically involves elements of research, testing, business analysis, project management, wire framing, and psychology.

In earlier stages of a project the foundational stage of UX design , UX designers will do preliminary market and user research for eg. UX is determined by understanding a user's needs and goals, so user research helps to get into the mind of the target audience. Based on extensive user research, UX designers might then create user personas.

This is where you delve deeper into what tasks each persona wants to perform and why. Personas are key in the process of storytelling both during the design process and in presenting your designs to clients or stakeholders. A typical persona for Foodies might be Samantha, a go-getting something who likes eating artisan salads on her lunch break. An example task for her persona might be:. Another popular approach which might be used in conjunction with or as an alternative to user personas is jobs-to-be-done JTBD.

You can find a full comparison between personas and JTBD here. User flows are basic flowcharts which visualize the complete path a user takes when using a product, from entry point right through to the final interaction. You can learn more in this introductory guide to user flows. While user flows map out the entire user journey, wireframes provide a two-dimensional outline of a single screen or page.

With the product layout mapped out, the UX designer will then create prototypes and run some user tests. A prototype is simply a scaled-down version of your product; a simulation which enables you to test your designs before they get developed.

Prototypes range from the simplest of paper models to the more realistic, high-fidelity interactive prototypes which closely mimic the final product. Testing your prototypes on real users helps to highlight any design flaws before you create the final product.

Several rounds of testing could take place before the design is completely right. While some UX designers will also specialize in visual design, it tends to fall under user interface UI design.

So, the final imagery, color schemes , icons , and typography will usually be taken care of by a UI designer. There will be refinements, small changes, new releases, feedback to gather and analytics to discuss with the team.

The UX design process is highly iterative, and a career in UX is as much about collaboration and coordination as it is about design. Conducting user research Listening to, observing and trying to understand users is the foundation of good UX design. Defining user problems After a UX designer has conducted user research they will move onto the analysis phase.

This is where they try to make sense of the user research. Items like affinity diagrams , customer journey maps and personas are important here.

This analysis will help define the design problem s and inform design decisions. Designing When UX designers have finished analysing their user experience and uncovered potential problems or barriers, they will move onto the design phase. They will have done a huge amount of work before getting to here. This involves different projects like creating flow diagrams, prototypes and wireframing. They map out how users reach their goal and how they move through a website or app.

Prototypes validate UX design decisions, helping companies avoid making expensive mistakes. Once these prototypes are finalised, UX designers will make wireframes to hand over the designs to developers. UX designers should continually test and gather feedback on their designs.

Where do UX designers work? New UX designers should consider where they would ideally like to work and if they want to be permanent or freelance. A contractor or freelance UX designer can expect to be contracted out to different companies to work on specific projects for short periods of time. Many UX designers love the flexibility of the contractor lifestyle, plus they can work on different kinds of projects.

A UX consultant is generally self-employed.