Guide to what a user experience designer does.
First, what is UX design?
There are countless definitions of user experience (UX) all over the web, from Wikipedia to experts in the field. Without saying that this is the best definition, I will use Dan Norman‘s since, so the story goes, he was the first to use the term back in 1993 at Apple.
User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.
A UX designer must…
- Understand user needs and application (website, mobile app, service, does not really matter at this point) objectives;
- Understand how those needs and objectives are translated into functional specificationsand what content requirements future applications will have — a UX designer is actively involved in the process of product development from the earliest stages, way before a single line of code has been written or the first pixel pushed around;
- Understand work flows, user scenarios and, at high level, how the user will interact with the planned features and functionalities—in other words, a UX designer must understand the concepts behind interaction design (IxD);
- Create meaningful wireframes, sketches or prototypes in order to show and describe the structural design and presentation of information while taking into account all previously defined expectations and functionalities—in general we are talking about the ideas and approaches behind information architecture (IA); and
- Apply a visual design toolset to their work, through understanding the concepts behind visual communication, typography, color theory, navigation and all other elements of user interface, grid systems