Human-centered design is not a trend at all, but a real need for the modern world. And regardless of the field or industry, any products should always be customer oriented, i.e. person. Believe me, people will absolutely not care about the site if the company does not take care of a design that will take into account their desires. In harsh market conditions, where everyone seeks to attract at least a few seconds of the attention of a potential buyer, design plays a significant role.
Today, most of us think in terms of the evolving era of digitalization. After all, if you think about it, our life has long been going online. And such is reality, such is the usual state of things. Moreover, our life can be fully digitized and automated much faster than you might imagine.
Already now, using a mobile application, it is possible to control a coffee machine with voice control and lighting, and intelligent electric cars ply the roads. A significant part of our daily lives takes place on social networks, mobile applications and other platforms. Business also does not lag behind and goes online.
For a website or mobile application to stand out from the crowd of original, exciting and surprisingly beautiful user interfaces, you need to create something that will be a kind of continuation of the human mind. Something very intuitive. That is, in the modern digital world, there is a great need to create a UX-design, which is just focused on a person.
Define your user
So, the very first step to creating a person-centered user interface design is to conduct an extended study of the user's personality. Do you know who your target users are? What do they like? What do they prefer? What are their daily tasks and what do they need to do? What are their goals, dreams and desires? Well, and the like.
Make a portrait of your user
Of course, one might think that information such as “desires” or “dreams” cannot be tracked, much less explored. But, as you know, nothing is impossible.
There is such a thing as “field research”, which implies the work on collecting primary data, which is carried out outdoors, that is, in the “field”. So, in this case, we can consider social networks, surveys of real users, and also interviews using the focus group method as such a “field”.
Google Analytics and other similar resources can provide enough information about users, which, in turn, will help in creating a good design. However, in order to create a great UX design for a site or mobile devices, more research is needed.
Have you already determined who your users are? We found out their demographic data, location, position, marital status, interests, learned about the events they attend, and what are their preferences? But in addition to this information, it is possible to obtain data of a narrower focus, and for this you need to study the profiles of your users on social networks or interview real people from the existing focus group.
In this way, you can collect information and get an idea of the main goals, the craziest desires and values that are most significant. All this data will help to better understand and determine for which person you are creating the design. Moreover, it will also contribute to new ideas for incorporating animation, video and images into the user interface, which will certainly enliven your UX design and only emphasize the individuality of the user.
Explore the problem and propose a solution.
If you have collected all the necessary information about your target audience and thus already determined who your user is (that is, made up his portrait), then it is easy enough to see the image of such a person simply by closing your eyes and resorting to your own imagination. What is remarkable, you even know about his needs and desires.
Now you can go to the next step - to conduct a detailed study of user problems. Based on the fact that you already know your potential customers, it should be easier for you to identify and understand their problems. So how do you determine what tasks / problems they face daily? In general, there are no small or large problems in the study as such. There are only basic problems and their symptoms. Regardless of the "size" and "significance" of the problem, if it exists, and your target audience encounters it every day - you just need to develop a solution that must help. And this is one of the most important things, which just makes any product successful, and the brand at the same time becomes adored by the target audience.
Find a solution to the problem
When studying the problems of their users, it is necessary to correctly identify the main problem and its symptoms.
The main task of UX-designers is to identify the main user problem, since, by solving it, the symptoms themselves are gradually eliminated
The following most popular and effective methods for determining user problems can be distinguished:
- E-mail polls
- interviews with real users;
- field research (it means that researchers observe target users in their natural (everyday) environment, where they just have to face a problem, which, in turn, must be solved by the proposed product);
- focus group a group of 3-12 target users with whom discussions are held on various topics, identifies the problems they face and so on);
- usability benchmarking (a carefully prepared usability study that is conducted with several people using accurate performance indicators);
- moderated remote usability testing (usability tests conducted using screen sharing, session recording software, or other remote control features);
- research conducted using the camera (users are provided with a tool on which they record those aspects of their life in which the use of the test product is most often expected, and users describe what they usually need to solve their problems);
- customer feedback (open or closed data collected from users of the site / mobile application through a button or feedback form, as well as via email or a link);
- analysis of Clickstream data (usually means examining the records of screens or web pages using the received reports on the movement of users on the site, as a result of which you can find out which products are most often clicked and which ones they buy; this method involves installing special research tools on the site and records).
On a note:
Some UI / UX design companies practice the following. They conduct an accurate study of the identity of the end user (consumer), followed by a detailed examination and determination of the problem. Then a structured and well-planned document is prepared containing all the results of the study and the final information about the target audience. Using special applications, such as the free online form builder JotForm, you can easily create this kind of document in PDF format.
Free online form builder JotForm
Also often such companies provide all this data as a bonus for their customers who have ordered design services. This is a great way to increase customer satisfaction and customer retention, as this information is extremely useful for creating future products targeted at the same audience.
Predict all scenarios of user behavior
Now you need to try to predict possible scenarios of user behavior regarding interaction with the product (website or mobile application). In what context will they use it? Where and when? What problems can they face and in what cases? It is advisable to predict both the best and the worst user experience scenarios, in which case you should be ready to eliminate and smooth out any errors related to the product.
Count all the options
By modeling the worst-case scenarios, you can anticipate the necessary behavior of the company in critical situations, as well as prepare answers to non-standard questions.
If it is known that a user may suddenly encounter a problem while viewing the site, then you need to prepare a solution to this problem in advance or turn on the smoothing element of the UI design at a certain stage. For example, you can display a quick user guide on how to solve the problem, or insert an image or GIF file that will contain an apology for the problems and offer to repeat the indicated action later.
Scripting is one of the most useful practices when creating a UX design.
Scenarios allow you to be one step ahead of a negative user experience and, if possible, avoid it or at least somehow mitigate it. It will also help to see important details and understand what the user feels and experiences when interacting with the site or application.
Create a prototype and test it
The very last step is to create a prototype based on what we managed to learn about target users, their problems and behavioral scenarios. Now you need to try to take into account all possible options in your working prototype so that it looks like the final product.
Design and test your product prototype
Given all the data collected earlier, not so much effort is required to develop a prototype. This work will help test various hypotheses or scenarios, as well as conduct user tests to create an even more successful UX design.
And finally ...
Basically, this is all you need to know about creating a person-centered design. But there is still something. And this is something - testing, testing, and testing again.
A human-centered approach involves continuous user testing, thousands of iterations and improvements
Of course, the work of UX-designers is not easy and requires a lot of time. But still, it's worth it. Indeed, even today, despite the era of digitalization and technological breakthroughs, it is so difficult to see a design that is truly human-centered. That is why now there is a great opportunity to become the first in your niche by offering a website or mobile application with a hyper-intuitive UX design that will help build the right connections with the target audience.
