In the world of digital marketing, UX has become an essential part of website and app development. Developing creative and highly functional products is essential in today’s market. Implementing successful UX and UI processes can help take your products to the next level. In order to help you gain a better understanding of UX development, here is what i’ve learned about UX in 30 days.

What is UX?

UX refers to User Experience, or the process of enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty by improving the usability, ease of use, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the customer and the product. In relation to digital marketing, this is important because UX is how the user can easily interact with the product or website. Without an effective user experience, there can be frustration when using the product and essentially drive potential customers away. UX is considered as a framework, taking the structure and analysis and implementing it to optimize a user’s experience. UX developers are focused on providing quality experiences that are innovative in design while fully integrating the brand and functions of the product.

Skillsets of UX

A UX developers job characteristics often include managing content, developing a product structure, and providing customer analysis. All of this is completed while communicating with product developers and UI designers. Many UX developers are highly equipped with multiple skills to better understand the design and user process. The first skillset is Experience Strategy. This involves bringing the goals of the project into line with that of the company and developing an efficient strategy to achieve these goals. The second skill set is User Research where you will collect and analyze user data to combine with an effective Experience Strategy. By knowing and understanding your target market you can develop useful and relevant solutions that will relate to the target consumer. UX developers are also expected to be mindful of user empathy. This means the developer is able to put themselves in the consumers shoes in order to better understand the problem and provide a more in-depth solution. Another key tool in the development process is knowledge of wireframing. Wireframing allows you to map out the layout of a website and define an efficient website hierarchy. This is extremely important because you control the order in which users will process the information. This is also a helpful tool for adding direction to the UI development process.

Difference Between UX and UI

Many people often believe that UX and UI are basically the same thing since they are so closely related, however I’m here to tell you that they are very different. UI, or User Interface, focuses on anticipating what users might need to do and ensuring that the interface has elements that are easy to access. UI is geared towards design, branding, and the front end development. Asking questions based on presentation, how does it look and feel? UX is considered as more of an analytical and technical field, while UI is more graphic design focused. However, you can’t build a successful product without one or the other. A product highly immersed in UI with no UX isn’t going to have the thought and functions to provide quality results. Vice versa, you will be able to use the product but it will not have the design elements able to grab a user's attention.

Why UX is important

When starting or growing your business there is a large amount of uncertainty. How will the product perform? Will it be successful? Forbes reports that ninety percent of startups fail so having someone such as a UX designer can help eliminate these uncertainties. UX designers perform a lot of research. They research the target market, what the competitors are doing, and often what is popular in other fields. Indepth research into the market before launching a product will save you time and money in the long run. As mentioned earlier, UX designers test the usability of a product. Constantly testing how the website performs in a variety of conditions and how easy it can be to navigate the page. Users spend on average eight seconds on a website so making a good first impression is important. If a website is hard to navigate, users will probably not return, let alone recommend it to their friends so testing can be an essential part of the development process. In 2016, eleven percent of total retail sales were accounted for by e-commerce. If customers can not easily access the products they are looking for on your website, they are less likely to make a purchase. User Experience is extremely important in all aspects of the consumer decision-making process.

My Take

Even though UX is a very extensive topic that can relate to any development process, there are a multitude of opportunities in the field. As I delve more into learning the different strategies and concepts behind UX, I have strived to learn more. With UX there are endless possibilities to achieve your end goal and you can always build on your existing knowledge. A career in User Experience allows you to grow while building meaningful products. It challenges your mind to come up with innovative and creative ways of thinking in order to build a better experience. UX often pushes beyond the realm of common sense and delves into subconscious thought processes, you learn to recognize consumer behavior patterns and create products that will implement best practices. Learning user experience skills can contribute useful knowledge and make an impact on your products and your overall business.

With UX there is always more information to learn, in my upcoming articles I will be providing you with the best practices to identify consumer trends as well as how to implement them in your products.

With today’s technology, it is becoming easier to access information about your target market. Traditional business practices are evolving to incorporate digital components. User Experience can take this knowledge and transform it into successful products that will benefit your business. By implementing UX skills you can take your business to the next level. Here at Red Shark Digital, we can offer you cutting-edge solutions that are fully immersed in UX and UI best practices. Contact us today to learn about how we can help you grow your business through our innovative marketing services.