As an Internet user yourself, you’ve probably experienced the frustration that comes from a website not working exactly the way you think it should. Perhaps it takes too long to load, is arranged in a non-intuitive way, or takes too many steps to complete a transaction or to find the information you need.
On the other hand, some websites make it almost effortless to get things done or to learn what you need to know. Those are the ones you keep coming back to -- and effective UX design is a big part of the reason those sites are so easy to use.
UX Design and Product Managers: Where they overlap
When it comes to website design that’s focused on the user experience, some might think that the UX designer and the product manager are one and the same role. However, that’s not strictly true.
While some of the shared goals of the UX designer and product manager are to identify the potential consumer, identify the problems they need solved, and then to solve those problems, the UX design expert takes that a step further. Good UX design takes that information and aims to give the user the straightest, easiest path to accomplishing their objectives and solving their problems.
UI Planning and UX Planning: What’s the Difference?
These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they shouldn’t be. UI design, or user interface design, refers more to the look and feel of the web pages the consumer uses to interact with your company.
UI design and planning involves web design, of course, but also customer analysis, incorporating the company’s branding, making sure the site works across various platforms and device screen sizes, ensuring a smooth implementation and more. The UI designer is there to make sure the company’s branding is applied successfully to the interface.
So how are UI and UX related? UI is really just a subset of UX, which encompasses the entire user experience -- not just the website experience, but also the user’s experience with the company’s products and services. However, in practical terms, the term “UX planning” is mostly used when referring to the user experience on digital media.
The goal of UX is to make it as easy and intuitive as possible to complete a transaction with your business. UI can help with that, of course, but UX is the underlying structure that ensures that your customers can do business with you as effortlessly as possible. If they don’t even notice how many steps are in the process, your UX designer has succeeded.
So what does a professional UX planner do? Some of the tasks involved in UX planning include analyzing the competition, user analysis, content development, wireframing and prototyping, and testing and iteration. UX planners work with a wide range of individuals, such as project managers, product designers, UI designers, web developers and more.
Don’t have a UX team in-house?
Not a problem: We’re here to help. Code Particle can work with your project manager and team to achieve your UX planning goals, including such UX activities as user research, user testing and more. From the project plan through the design process, we help ensure that your users flow through your user interface without ever having to notice how many steps are required.
Code Particle makes UX planning easy. Contact us today for details or to get started.
