The All Encompassing User Experience
Cat Noone
Lesson 42
One thing product designers and companies must try their best to excel in, is the art of creating a product that is built with empathy. In doing so, you have the ability to create a great user experience. UX is more than just visual and interaction design. It’s in the way you market, engage users, simplify the ease of use with your product, customer service and more. And it’s evident that companies who put a user’s experience at the top of their priority list are the ones excelling and have many more delighted users.
In this weeks lesson, we’ll dive a bit further into each factor that makes up an all encompassing user experience. You’ll learn why they each play a role, the art of storytelling and use the tasks to aid you in properly incorporating them in your next product to make your user’s first experience, the best one.
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Experience is more than a good product
It’s become a common theme, that users of companies worldwide have become fed up with speaking to a “robot” when trying to contact support for their beloved products. It almost seems as though some companies have used digitization of marketing and customer service as an excuse to save money by removing employees from the equation. However, other companies are capitalizing on their mistakes as well as the digital life.
Find companies in the same markets and see how they all communicate with their users. For instance, look at how Virgin Airlines compares to United Airlines with their social networking and marketing. Who seems to be more effective in this field and why? -
The clues to a great story
Andrew Stanton discusses several points to telling a story. All which he’s sure to always include in his films. The art of a good story line is the ability to navigate your users through said story and gauge a set of reactions, without them even realizing you’ve done so –– be it a product or a movie.
Think about your favorite movies, whether it’s a pixar film or the latest thriller you saw. See if you can spot any of Andrews pointers. Identify the effect they had on you and try to see if they achieved their goal. -
Principles of good visual design
Many individuals have a misconception of what great visual design is and how to achieve it. Visual design is more than just adding gradients, crisp inner shadows and blurred backgrounds. There are several principles that, when meshed together, create an aesthetically pleasing design.
Make it a point to look for these when perusing the web. Create a checklist for yourself while designing. Make sure you’ve accounted for all of them when working on your clients or personal projects. -
The Persona Lifestyle
The one major mistake that many product designers and companies forget is the sole fact that they are creating products for humans. In this book, John Pruitt details techniques and tools that can be used to communicate and create great products that are based around human centric design.
I strongly advise you to read this book if you’re someone who wants to nail human-centered design, and create an all encompassing experience that your users will love. -
The Core
Several companies fall short when it comes to focusing on user experience being the core of their company. Fortunately, companies like AirBnb and Square are taking initiative and showing other companies how it’s done. Other companies are noticing, it’s becoming a top priority now and results are showing.
Look around at companies you see or hear of often. What do they have in common and how do they differ? Does your company or product provide this? If not, try to create a new “plan” for your company and see how you can put experience at the core to create an all-encompassing one. Be sure to include everything from design and marketing, to customer service.
Cat Noone
Founder, Liberio
I'm a designer with a love for creating products that are meaningful, simple and easy to use. I co-founded and am currently building Liberio, a web app for simple eBook creation and publishing. In my spare time, I write and speak. I love talking shop on twitter, so let's chat!
