User experience design is a broad field. A UX designer needs to have his eyes on a lot of things. Designing, functionality, usability, branding, and marketing- all these aspects require a designer’s touch. Given the wide scope of their work, it is required that a UX designer must have various skills in different fields. To create a satisfying user experience for people, there are certain rules that can come to be of help.
Are you interested in knowing some of these rules? In this article, we will be covering five important rules every UX designer should know. So, read on for more information.
Your user is not you
It is a natural human behaviour that we tend to relate to others’ experiences based on our personal perceptions. While designing, it is possible that you expect your users would think exactly like you. Thus, you project your expectations into the design instead of working on the real user expectations. It is crucial for a designer to understand that your user is not you.
The users may come from different cultures, have different mindsets, and have a totally different way of dealing with things. So, the design you created based on the assumptions that you and users are like-minded people may not work well for them. So, what do you do in such cases? Do usability tests! Find real users and test your designs with them. This will help you identify where your design assumptions are going wrong and empower you to work on facts over assumptions.
There is no universal UX process
For a designer, having a UX design process that he can follow is quite helpful. It can really help to make the design process smooth and easy. However, a common misconception among designers is that there is a universal UX design process that they must adhere to for all designs.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all process. Every design project may be unique and have specific requirements. For example, enterprise UX design may vary from one enterprise to another. Depending on it, the UX process can be changed. The designers can set a basic design process. They can adopt steps from it for every project. However, they need to know that the process as such need not be practised every time. It is flexible and can be adapted as per need.
Teamwork is the best work
Designing for UX is a team game! When you work as a team, overcoming hurdles becomes easy. You might get insightful suggestions from your co-workers, they might show a new perspective you missed, or they may help you solve problems. When a design is done as a collaborative effort, it produces successful results.
Sure, there will be instances where you would want your own isolated space for designing. But, it is best to always communicate with your team once a design is ready. It will help to reduce reworks and save future effort and cost! With the various collaborative design tools available today, it is not at all a matter of concern!
Iterate, iterate and iterate
If you think you should make a perfect design in one iteration, let me tell you- that is not at all necessary. Designing is an iterative process. The different stages in a design cycle overlap in situations. So, what happens is you may be moving back and forth between these phases, which can enhance your understanding of the design you are working on. As a result, you may get new ideas or some insights for modifying your previous designs. This will make your design refined and more satisfactory.
Try not to overshare
It is possible that while working on a design, you would be tempted to overshare information. Especially if there is so much information to provide to the users, like in the case of e-commerce UX, you may get confused on what to share and what not to. Here, it helps to understand that the attention span of humans is very little. So, you need to prioritize information and ensure that what you share right away is what your users need to see first.
It is best to simplify the design as much as possible and remove any unwanted elements. If some elements are required but have lower priority, you can make the design accordingly so that it is only made available when the user needs it. Overwhelming users with information will end up with them leaving frustrated.
UX design is quite versatile, but it helps to stick with the basic rules. That does not mean you will never make mistakes in your design. You will, and reflecting on those mistakes and correcting them is what will make you grow. Mistakes help you learn. Once you have a good understanding of the design rules, keep those in mind and get started on your design journey.