User experience or UX design is a vital component of product designing. It refers to the process of designing the products while keeping in mind its usability, ergonomics and the experience it will offer to the users. It aims at creating relevant and meaningful products for the end users. User experience designing involves the whole process of integrating the product with features like function, usability, design, branding, etc. In general, there are five components of user experience design that makes allows a UX designer to create products that are appealing to the users:
Informational Architecture refers to the process of providing information or presenting an organized flow of information that is most understandable to the users. In this process, the content hierarchy is maintained. For this, navigation, as well as other elements, are used to create an effective content structure. The product is fetched with information in such a way that the users can find any content/information easily.
A user interacts with the product through its screen. Interaction design deals with this aspect of design so that the product can easily communicate with the users through its font, color, images, icons and graphics that are used. This also includes prototyping whereby specific behaviors for these components are defined. The more the interactive the page, the better the user experience it will provide. For instance, a mobile app that has vibrant color and interactive tools will surely enhance the experience of the users. In the interactive design, it is ensured that the product’s interactive design is kept closely to the designer’s plan.
Usability ensures that all the users with different education and proficiency can use the product effectively. It leverages content and users’ behavior data to verify the soundness of design decisions. There are different people who use the product. Some may be savvy while others may not be that tech savvy, so different users have different expectations from a product. It is the task of UX designer to comprehend the multi-faceted needs of the users; analyze the trends in the industry; find design and engineering constraints; find the flaws in the product design, and then implement all these points to enhance the usability of the product for all the end users.
The data regarding the usability of a product can be found through surveys, lab-based testing, feedbacks from the users, site visits and interviews, A/B testing and eye tracking. All these factors can define user behavior and highlight their needs so that usability can be enhanced accordingly.
A prototype is an initial version of a product. For a designer, it is an effective way to test the soundness of the product, whether it meets its purpose and suffices to the needs of the users. It also helps in finding out whether the product is suitable for mobile app, website or it can be used as a physical product. Several usability studies and feedback from the clients can also be used to make suitable changes in the prototype to create a perfect final version.
With prototyping, the designers get insights into the usability, functionality, and soundness of their design. They can easily find out the changes that they are required to implement in the product in order to make it optimally functional. In this way, design priorities are set and the test is carried out cost-effectively.
Visual design refers to the visual aspect of the product that helps the brand to communicate with the users. The visual design makes the product more engaging and influential. It is the chief component of user experience that informs the users how a product works. It emphasizes the aesthetics of design and shows how it works.
These are the core components of user experience design. It is the task of a UX designer to take care of all these components in order to create amazing user experience designs. At Design School of Avantika University, we offer a course in Digital Experience Design whereby the candidates are taught to create effective user experience design. Our design school is the best design college in Madhya Pradesh that has created several proficient design professionals. If you too want to shine in the sphere of designing, then enroll for admissions right away!