Approaching Design From A User’s Perspective
Lately, I’ve been trying to become a better UX designer, and this has led me to some interesting books on design. Today’s highlight comes from Joel Marsh’s book “UX For Beginners”. Lesson 4 of this book breaks down the user’s mind into 3 parts. Let’s dive in.
1. What is this? In the user language, “What am I looking at?”.
I believe two of the ultimate purposes of design are communication and engagement. Being a UX designer, I always look for better ways to communicate with the target user of the design, introducing the word EMPATHY! We need to remember to see things from the user’s perspective, because more often than not we know more about the designs than they do. Put out a heading text and/or picture which at first glance explains what the design is about. You should be able to answer the user’s question “What am I looking at?”.
2. What is the benefit for the user? In the user language, “What’s in it for me?”.
We also need to highlight what the user benefits from engaging with the design. We should provide a reason for the user should carry out any action other than exiting with the speed of light. Making this benefit clear to the user is the best way to go; remember a text and/or picture that clearly and concisely describes or explains what the user gains from taking action.
3. What should the user do next? In user lingua, “What do I do?”.
Finally, the user decides whether to continue with the flow. Now, we’ve been able to communicate what the users are looking at and what they gain from engaging with the design. There needs to be an action point for the user, a CTA. We have to provide a means for the user to carry out an action. It might have been on your mind, so I’ll say it, ‘a button works as a CTA’.
In case you forget anything from this lesson, remember these three things:
- Give users an overview of what they’re looking at by providing a heading text.
- There should be descriptive texts that motivate the user to engage.
- As a last step, an action point will guide the user on what to do next.
