Did you know that Apple products are popular not just because they are immediately identifiable and simply functional but also because of the outstanding user experience and usability of the products? UX design is all about generating insights about users, their behavior, goals, motivations, and needs, and stating the obvious, Apple has observed and studied user research methods to go beyond the challenges and grabbed the opportunity to improve the user experience, the right way.
This has further led brands to discover, define, ideate, prototype, and test differently.
Every app development company is taking the concept of design thinking very seriously in order to glue the eyeballs from the very beginning all the way to the final purchase. However, to begin with, user experience research is the first and foremost step to redefining the digital ecosystem.
Following are the stages of the UX research carried out by one and all UI UX Design Agency:
- Brand Requirements / Purpose of the Product
- Discover the Target Audience
- Business and Technology Requirements
- Secondary Research
- Market Trends and Analysis
- Benchmark Analysis
UX Design
The team of design architects and visual interface designers gauges the purpose of the brand and goes from conception to functional prototypes in order to create a successful customer-centered digital experience.
Steve Jobs once said: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” The following are the steps to how design works in order to achieve an Apple-like experience.
- Product definition
- Research
- Analysis
- Design
- Validation
The product definition involves UX designers understanding the foundation of the product, the requirements and constraints for the brainstorming for the final product via the stakeholder’s interviews sketching the early mockup in order to meet the business needs accurately. This first phase initially marks the kick of the project including the proposed team (designers & developers), communications channels, timely milestones, and other ethical guidelines.
Product Research is the second just after when the product has been defined. Designers invest a great deal in research, and competitive analysis in order to go ahead with the planning, and designing of architecture, saving a lot of time, money, and effort down the line. The research gives a competitive edge and helps in persona building, journey mapping, and a good understanding of the users.
The Analysis further digs the collected user data from what user wants to why they want. This involves creating user personas, user stories, and finally storyboarding that further connects the personas to the user stories. Storyboarding is usually a user interacting with your product thus helping in the understanding of each and every step that is involved and achieved,
The aim of the Design phase is to create what has been collected from what and why users want. This step is one of the most important steps of the UX design as it goes from conceptual sketching on paper to creating wireframes that lay the foundation of the mockups and prototypes. UX is all about the look and the feel and in this process, the wireframes play a structured role in the look, the prototype is the actual look and feel i.e. the actual interaction of the product. This further extends to design specifications where the designers give the prototypes to developers for a successful digital UX design. For a larger project, design systems are created. This includes patterns, structures, and prototypes for both designers and developers to work on.
The Validation phase ensures whether the product is ready for the stakeholders and the end-users. This involves testing sessions, surveys, and analytics providing both qualitative and quantitative data. Each of these steps uncovers how your users interact with your product.
Each of the above-mentioned phases connects to one another with a lot of back and forth. Thus, understanding each step and implementing it perfectly is the key to a perfect user experience.
