AmzzVisionaries

UX Design & Me

13 Jan, 2023 by Amrutha

User experience (UX) research is learning about users’ wants, desires, and pain points using feedback procedures and observational techniques. Understanding your consumers and gaining context and viewpoints can help you make wise decisions and develop user-centered products.In the two seminars Chris and Steph held, I learnt a lot about UX design, but I soon realised…

UX Research

The goals of a skilled UX researcher are quite clear. Creating a research strategy that outlines the critical steps I must take will help me perform a productive research study. My approach should thus include thorough explanations of my objectives, methods, participant recruitment, brief, and reporting. A research plan helps stakeholders align and makes sure that everyone is aware of the project’s timetable, goals, and scope in addition to helping me as a researcher. By using approaches for observation and feedback, UX research is the process of learning about the preferences, requirements, and behaviours of your target audience.

Designers employ a variety of direct and indirect approaches to obtain this information from current and potential customers in order to understand exactly what the consumers desire from our services. We can refer to the techniques utilised by the designers as user experience research. At every level of the design process, user-experience research techniques are crucial for gathering data and insights. A variety of UX techniques help keep product-development efforts on track and in line with actual user demands rather than fictitious ones.

What counts most, in my opinion, is flexibility. That means there won’t be a predetermined order in which to complete the duties; instead, I’ll start somewhere and learn new skills as I work on the project. This basically involves figuring out what the users might want using different UX research techniques, like field research, diary study, and user interviews, and then analysing the results using more illuminating techniques, like competitive analysis, design review, persona development, or journey mapping. Following this, I’ll examine the data I’ve already analysed using techniques like qualitative usability testing (which may be done in person or remotely) or accessibility evaluation. I will then continue to hear from my target audience by leveraging surveys and analytics feedback from third-party applications.

UX Research Methods

There are several research techniques accessible in the area of user experience, from time-tested techniques like lab-based usability testing to more contemporary innovations like unmoderated UX evaluations.

Nearly all projects would benefit from using different research techniques and from merging findings, even while it is not practical to apply the entire range of methodologies to a specific project. Unfortunately, many design teams just employ one or two of their most comfortable methodologies. What to use when is the crucial question. It is useful to consider them along a 3-dimensional framework with the following axes to better understand when to apply a particular method:

Attitudinal vs. Behavioral
Qualitative vs. Quantitative
Context of Use

Attitudinal vs Behavioral

To summarise this difference, compare “what people say” with “what people do” (very often the two are quite different). The goal of attitude research is often to comprehend or quantify people’s expressed views, but it is constrained by what subjects are aware of and are willing to disclose.

While self-reported data shouldn’t be the main focus of most usability studies, designers can still benefit from these techniques. For instance, card sorting offers perceptions into how consumers conceptualize information space and may assist in choosing the ideal information architecture for your service, program, or website. Surveys measure and classify attitudes or gather self-reported information that may be used to follow or identify critical issues that need to be addressed. Focus groups can offer a top-of-mind picture of what people think about a brand or product concept in a group context, but they are often less valuable for usability purposes for a variety of reasons.

On the opposite end of this dimension, approaches that emphasise behaviour primarily aim to comprehend “what people do” with the in issue good or service. While eye tracking aims to comprehend how people visually engage with a design or visual stimuli, A/B testing, for instance, tests changes to a website’s design on random samples of site visitors while attempting to maintain everything else constant.

Usability studies and field studies, the two most common techniques we employ, fall somewhere in between these two extremes. They use a combination of self-reported and behavioural data and can shift toward either end of this dimension, however it is typically advised to lean more toward the behavioural side.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative

This distinction is important and goes much beyond the narrow definition of “qualitative” that would be appropriate for an open-ended survey question. Qualitative studies give data on actions or attitudes based on actually observing or hearing them, in contrast to quantitative studies, which gather information about the behaviors or views on a topic indirectly using a measurement or instrument like a survey or an analytics tool. Researchers can look at how people use (or don’t use) technology to carry out tasks or meet their needs, for instance, through field research and usability testing. These observations provide them the opportunity to gather data, look at behavior, and maybe even change the research design to better meet their objectives.

The type of information gathered via quantitative approaches, in contrast, is pre-set and may include task duration, success, whether a user has clicked on a certain UI element, or if they choose a particular response to a multiple-choice question. Since the data collecting tool (such as a survey tool or analytics tool) collects vast quantities of data that are automatically coded numerically, the insights in quantitative approaches are often obtained from mathematical analysis.

Due to their inherent distinctions, qualitative approaches are significantly more effective at addressing why or how to solve a problem-related questions than quantitative methods are at addressing how many and what kinds of questions. Having these figures on hand makes it easier to allocate resources so that, for instance, the most important problems may be addressed.

Context of Use

The third distinction has to do with how and whether research participants are utilising the aforementioned item or service. This can be characterised as

Natural or near-natural use of the product
Scripted use of the product
Limited in which a limited form of the product is used to study a specific aspect of the user experience
Not using the product during the study (decontextualized)

Design Thinking Process

The foundation of this technique draws attention to a crucial fact: the value creation of the design thinking process does not depend on following the stages, but rather on appreciating the design features as you do so. Without a thorough knowledge of the design approach and characteristics, any design thinking process is meaningless.

Design thinking’s primary goal is to provide direction for using this tactic in practical situations. Additionally, the traits of the design thinking mentality emerge through this application. By repeating the exercise, the design thinking process gets better, and it allows others who don’t have this design mentality to reap its advantages. These characteristics consist of:

Creative: Ideas are valued and explored during the design process in a welcoming setting. The variety of ideas now available is the main source of inventive results.

User-Centred Design: Design thinking focuses on addressing the issues and needs of people. User demands are therefore central to the design process, reflecting the essence of any design thinking method that investigates the issue and relies on qualitative data.

Uncertainty: The first step in any design process is uncertainty. Other methods, like the stage-gate innovation process, start with defining the challenge right away. Since the team progresses from one phase to the next, the ideation process recognises many filtering ideas as the design process is inclusive.

Iterative: The design process’s reliance on iteration and testing rather than precise requirements is at the heart of its lean qualities. Building user-centered solutions begins with user testing and prototype improvement.

Feedback: User input is a crucial component that designers utilise to make future product improvements based on actual user feedback from using the product or service.

Double Diamond Design

The Double Diamond design thinking approach, created by the British Design Council, is one of the models I examined in my exploration of the numerous design thinking frameworks. Like other design thinking techniques, it applies design principles to come up with original solutions and ideas by using critical thinking and reflective practise.

It provides a framework that enables businesses to use design elements to come up with original solutions and concepts. Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver are its four steps. Each stage in this essay will be discussed later. The Double Diamond design approach was widely used by many businesses, including Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks, and others.

The frame innovation method, which was developed by Kees Dorst, a professor of design innovation at the University of Technology, is the foundation of the double diamond. His method divides the design process into a problem space and a solution space. When designers investigate a problem, take into account its complexity, and come up with a precise definition of the issue, they are in the problem space. It is where the majority of the distinctive design qualities and ideals, such as inventiveness and uncertainty, are found. The solution space, or second stage, is where concepts are developed, visualised, and tested as prototypes. The final product is produced and given to the customer at the conclusion of this phase.

As the first two phases (Discover and Define) present the first stage (problem space), and the third and fourth steps (Develop and Deliver) represent the second stage, the frame innovation is applied to the Double Diamond framework (solution space). The four phases of the Double Diamond design process, which are the same for the 2004 and 2019 versions of the framework, will be discussed. The 2019 version’s modifications will then be briefly discussed.

My Major Project..

The main goal of my user research is to investigate and comprehend the requirements of the everyday coffee consumer, including how many cups they drink each day. Additionally, keep track of coffee shot specifics and distinguish between various coffee varieties as cappuccino, Late, Expresso, macchiato, etc.

Caffeine, a naturally occurring stimulant found in coffee, tea, and chocolate, is present in coffee. Coffee comes in a wide variety of flavours and origins from all over the world. Despite having some negative side effects as well, coffee and caffeine are connected with a number of health advantages.

My website will be the best location to learn all there is to know about coffee. I offer you a brief overview of coffee, including its varieties, advantages, disadvantages, and recommended daily intake. I’m using this approach since I already explained the Double Diamond Design Thinking Process. Its four steps are Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.

This approach will include the primary tasks I undertake to identify the requirements of my intended audience. It will be unstructured and entail much conversation and inquiries regarding my idea. In order to avoid disclosing the answers, I will make sure that the majority of the questions are left open-ended.
The following step is to clearly explain the problem and characterize it. A clear description of the user’s requirement that has to be met may be found in the problem statement. The issue statement must be founded on user research and should have a distinct objective. Using “How may we…” statements and information from my investigation, I will formulate a problem statement. It will assist me in reframing the issues before I begin to develop solutions. I want to construct user personas and journey maps using the feedback I obtained from the initial user interview.
I now want to include a larger spectrum of users in the User Personas and Journey Maps. This is what I intend to achieve by conducting qualitative usability testing. To do this, a user group will be established, after which they will have access to a beta version of the website. Then, in order to improve the website, pose a few questions to them. Although each step in the user-centered design process is important, this one could be even more so as it is where the majority of the choices for the final design will be decided.
The user experience design process will end with this phase. The website will go live and be kept under surveillance at this time. I’m going to start paying heed to user feedback at this point. Analytics evaluation and usability bug reviews will also be used as a study strategy at this point. These entail continuously gathering user input. I’ll solicit user input through the website’s contact page using the form there. So that current users may complete a user survey, I’ll integrate it into the website.