Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design

Week 1 - The basics of user experience design

User experience: how a person, the user, feels about interacting with, or experiecing, a
product.

Product: a good, service, or feature.

To have a good experience, the product must be:

 Usable: improve usability or make something easier to use. This means that the
design, structure, and purpose of the product are clear to everyone.

 Equitable: being equitable means your designs are useful and marketable to people
with diverse abilities and backgrounds.

 Enjoyable: create a positive connection between the user and the product by
taking user’s thoughts and feelings into account when making products.

 Useful: solve problems.

Empathy: the ability to understand someone else’s feelings or thoughts in a situation.

Interaction designer: Interaction designers focus on designing the experience of a

product and how it functions. They strive to understand the user flow, or the path, that a
typical user takes to complete a task on an app, website, or other platform. At Google and
many other companies, interaction designers are a specialized type of UX designer.

An interaction designer's work answers questions like: What should happen if a user taps
on this button? How do we make this action easier for users to complete? And, how are the
design elements within the website laid out? Interaction designers focus less on how the
product looks and instead strive to make the product easy to navigate and simple for users
to interact with.

Visual designer: Visual designers focus on how a product or technology looks. They are
often responsible for designing logos, illustrations, and icons, as well as deciding on font
color, size, and placement. Visual designers focus on the layout of each page or screen and
make all of the design elements fit together in a visually appealing way. At Google and
many other companies, visual designers are a specialized type of UX designer.

The role of a visual designer is to answer questions like: What kind of visual style should
icons have, in order to fit the product's branding? Or, which color and font should we use
for this button? The goal of a visual designer is to delight users with designs that inspire,
engage, and excite them.
Motion designer: Motion designers think about what it feels like for a user to move
through a product and how to create smooth transitions between pages on an app or
website. They may also create animations or visual effects to bring their design ideas to life.
At Google and many other companies, motion designers are a specialized type of UX
designer.

A motion designer’s work answers questions like: How should an app transition between
pages? How do we show the connection between these actions? And, what’s an engaging
animation that will help tell our story? Motion designers focus on design elements that
move, rather than traditional static designs.

UX Researcher: UX researchers conduct studies or interviews that examine how people

use a product. UX researchers often identify pain points that users are experiencing and
explore how products can help solve those problems. They also explore the usability of
existing products, by asking users to complete tasks in an app or website, for example.

UX researchers answer questions like: What problems are users facing? Is the design of this
product easy to use? And, would people be interested in this new design feature? The goal
of UX researchers is often to understand how a product can provide a solution to a real
problem users are having.

UX Writer: UX writers think about how to make the language within a product clearer so
that the user experience is more intuitive. UX writers also help define a brand’s voice and
personality. The work of UX writers often includes writing labels for buttons and
determining the tone of language used within an app or website.

UX writers focus on answering questions like: What words should be used to communicate
this idea clearly? Should the tone for this app be friendly or technical? And, what should the
language on this button label say? UX writers often become subject matter experts in order
to present content that’s easy to understand for all users.

UX Program Manager: UX program managers ensure clear and timely communication, so

that the process of building a useful product moves smoothly from start to finish. This
might include setting goals, writing project plans, and allocating team resources.

UX program managers answer questions like: What are the overall goals for this project,
and what’s the plan to achieve them? And, how can we create and improve processes
within the team? UX program managers work across departments to make sure that UX is
involved throughout a project lifecycle.

UX Engineer: UX engineers translate the design’s intent into a functioning experience, like
an app or a website. They help UX teams figure out if designs are intuitive and technically
feasible.

UX engineers answer questions like: How do we implement each interaction? How do we

build this design in a way that stays true to its original intent? And, how might we explore
alternatives to determine the best user experience? UX engineers synthesize design and
development, bringing product concepts to life.

Product Development Life Cycle

Every new product development follows a specific set of steps, as a product moves through
the development life cycle, the team might need to spend longer working in one stage than
in others, or repeat certain stages based on feedback.

The success of each stage depends on the previou’s stage completion, so it’s importante to
do them in order.

1st step: Brainstorm

When the team starts thinking of an idea for a product. Your team might already know the
user problem that you want to solve when you begin the product development life cycle. If
not, coming up with a list of user problems is a great place to start.

2nd step: Define

This stage brings together all parts of the product development, as UX designer, UX
reseacher, program managers, and product leads to define the product by answering
questiosn like: Who is the product for? What will the product do? And, what features need
to be included for the product to be successful?

PS: One product can’t solve every user problem. The team narrows the focus of the idea.
User research helps determine what problems need to be addressed by the product’s
design.

3rd step: Design

When the ideas for the product are developed. The UX designers make sure to include all
the product specifications that were outlined in the define stage. Finally, UX designers also
make sure that each task a user needs to complete is clear and easy to understand.
4th step: Test

UX designers work with engineers to develop functional prototypes that match the original
designs. At this stage, the designs go through at least three phases of testing: internal tests
within your company, reviews with stakeholders, and external tests with potential users.

 First, the team tests the product internally to look for technical glitches and
usability problems. This is often referred to as alpha testing.

 Then, the product undergoes a test with stakeholders to make sure the
product is aligned with the company’s vision, meets legal guidelines for
accessibility, and follows government regulations for privacy, for example.

 Finally, there’s an external test with potential users. This is the time to figure
out whether the product provides a good user experience, meaning it’s usable,
equitable, enjoyable, and useful. This is often referred to as beta testing.

It’s important to call out that the product development life cycle isn’t a completely linear
process. Your team might cycle between designing and testing a few times before you're
ready to launch the product!

5th step: Launch

When the product is released into the world.

Characteristics of a good UX

1. Usable. If a product is usable, it means the design, structure, and purpose of the
product is clear and easy to use. As you evaluate a product for usability, you can
ask questions like: Is everything in the design easy to find? Is the design’s
functionality easy to understand? Can users accomplish specific tasks within the
design? As you evaluate, these questions can help you determine whether the
design delivers a usable experience.
2. Equitable. It means the design is helpful to people with diverse abilities and
backgrounds. As you evaluate the equity of a product’s UX, you can ask questions
like: Are the needs of a diverse group of users considered? Does the product’s
design address the needs of traditionally underrepresented and excluded groups?
These questions can help you determine whether the design delivers an equitable
experience. 
3. Enjoyable. It means the design deligths the user. The design reflects what the user
may be thinking or feeling and creates a positive connection with them. An
enjoyable design adds to an already functional product and can enhance the user’s
feelings about the experience. You can ask questions like: Are there aspects of the
design that consider the user’s feelings?  Does the design inspire delight in the
user? Does the design keep the user engaged throughout their experience?
 4. Useful. If a product is useful, that means it solves user problems. Usability refers to
the product working well and being easy to use, while usefulness refers directly to
the ability to solve user problems. As you evaluate how useful a product’s UX is, you
can ask questions like: Does the design add value to the user’s experience? Does
the design solve a problem for the user? Does the design help the user achieve a
specific goal?

Responsabilities of entry-level UX designers

 Researching. To understand audience and learn about their backgrounds,

demographics, motivations, pain points, emotion, and life goals.
 Wireframing: An outline or a sketch of a product or a screen.
 Prototyping: An early model of a product that demonstrates functionality.
 Creating IA: The framework of a website or how it’s organized, categorized, and
structured.
 Communicating effectively

Generalists UX Designers

 User research
 Branding
 User flows
 UX writing
 Visual design
 Prototyping
 Production design
 IA
 Usability testing

Specialist (expert at one thing); Generalist (broad number of responsabilities); T-shaped

(expert at one thing and capable in a lot of other things)

Work in a cross-functional team (Building na app for ordering food):

 Product lead: decides the scope of the project;

 UX reseacher: tries to understand user trust;
 Interaction designer: figures out the flow for ordering;
 Visual designer: thinks about how to make it easy for users to find allergen-free
foods in the product;
 Engineer: brings wireframes and prototypes to life;
 Program manager: ensures clear and timely communication across the team.
Week 2

User: any person who uses a product.

End user: the specific audience a UX designer creates something for.

Framework: creates the basic structure that focuses and supports the problem you’re
trying to solve, kind of like an outline for a project.

 User-centred Design: each phase of the user-centred design process focuses on

users and their needs. It’s an iterative process. Understand (how the user
experiences the product or similar products); Specify (the user’s needs); Design
(solutions to those user problems); Evaluate (the solutions you designed against
the user’s needs).

Iteration: doing something again, by building on previous versions and making tweaks.

 Five Elements of UX Design: steps a designer takes to turn an idea into a working
product. Strategy (where we define the user needs); Scope (determine what you’re
building, which features, and content will be included in the product); Structure
(how to organize your design and how the user will Interact with it); Skeleton (how
the design works); Surface (how the product looks to the user).
 Design Thinking: a way to create solutions that address a real user problem and are
functional and affordable. Empathize (discover what the users really need); Define
(create a clear problem statement, which is a clear description of the user’s need
that should be addressed); Ideate (brainstorm solutions); Prototype (a scaled down
version of a product that shows important functions); Test (keeps the user front-
and-center).
 Lean UX: this process focuses on reducing wasted time and resources, and
producing a workable product as soon as possible. The process is iterative,
meaning the team continues to update and revise the product as they gather user
research and stakeholder feedback. The Lean UX process is broken into three
steps: Think (explore the problem that users are experiencing and consider how
you could solve them with your design); Make (start designing the product by
creating sketches, wireframes, and prototypes. You’ll also create an MVP); Check
(find out how users respond to your design and gather feedback from project
stakeholders).

Six principles you should keep in mind when using Lean UX:

1. Move forward. Focus only on design elements and features that move the design
process toward a particular goal. Don’t get distracted by “nice-to-haves .”
 2. Stay curious. Lean UX is about using feedback from users and stakeholders to
revise and improve your designs. Continuously seek feedback to understand why
specific design choices work or don’t work.

3. Test ideas in the real world. Lean UX encourages designers to test their ideas -
using prototypes, for example - outside of the conference room and with potential
users.

4. Externalize your ideas. Instead of internally debating and analyzing whether or

not an idea is going to work, turn your ideas into something physical, viewable, and
testable, while they’re still fresh in your mind. This way, you’ll get feedback on your
designs in the early stages, when diverse perspectives and feedback are most
helpful. 

5. Reframe deliverables as outcomes. Focus on creating usable, enjoyable products

that users actually want and need. Always keep in mind that you’re designing for
your users first-and-foremost, not for the project stakeholders.
6. Embrace radical transparency. The Lean UX process is all about staying open to
constant feedback and revisions through collaboration.

 Double Diamond: is a more traditional UX process, which breaks down UX design

into two main phases (or “diamonds”): research and design. Each phase has two
steps. When combined, these are the four steps: Discover the problem (gather
information about potential issues users are facing); Define the problem (Filter
through the data, and focus on the main issue your product aims to solve); Develop
solutions for the problem (begin designing your product as a work in progress. This
is where wireframes and prototypes come into play); Deliver the product (review
and test your product to prepare it for release).

Four principles that inform the Double Diamond process:

1. Focus on the user. As is always the case in UX design, the user is the top priority.

2. Communicate. Communicate visually, through imagery and design choices that

supplement the text. You should also be sure that the communication of your
design is equitable and accessible.

3. Collaborate. One of the unique features of the Double Diamond process is that it
encourages creative collaboration and co-creation with your fellow team members. 

4. Iterate. Accept that the design is a work in progress and isn’t going to be complete
right away. The magic is in the revision. With every iteration, you give the user a
new experience.

Designing cross-platform experiences

A platform is the medium that users experience your product on.

1. The first consideration when designing for various platforms is adjusting design
elements and features to fit different screen sizes.
 2. The way users interact with each platform and how those interactions might affect
your design desicions is also an important point to consider.
3. In the world of UX design, layouts refer to the way that information is organized on
the screen. For example, in desktop or laptop computers the screen is wide, but in
mobile phone content is usually laid out in portrait (vertical) mode.
4. There are a lot of reasons why users might choose one platform over another, but
functionality and the kind of tasks they want to complete is a huge driver. Your
designs for each platform will likely vary based on how and when you expect users
to need the product.

The four Cs of designing for multiple platforms

Consistency: Most companies have specific design guidelines that need to be followed in
order to stay consistent with their brand identity, which refers to the visual appearance
and voice of a company.

Continuity: To provide users with a seamless experience as they move between platforms,
UX designers also have to prioritize continuity. Continuity in design means that users can
maintain their progress as they move from one platform to the next. The user experience
for each platform might be slightly different, but the product’s functionality should still be
connected. Without continuity, users can become frustrated if the progress of their
experience does not carry across platforms.

Context: It’s also important to consider the context of each platform you’re designing for.
This means thinking about when and how users prefer to interact with certain features on
different platforms.

Complementary: One way to create a great cross-platform user experience is to make

sure that the design of each platform adds something new for the user. Considering how
each platform could uniquely enrich the overall user experience is the best way to create
complementary UX designs.

Universal design, inclusive design, and equity-focused design.

 Universal Design: the process of creating one product for users with the widest
range of abilities and in the widest range of situations. “one size fits all”
 Inclusive design: making design choices that take into account personal identifiers
like: ability, race, economic status, language, age and gender. “solve for one, extend
to many”
  Equity-focused design: designing for groups that have been historically
underrepresented or ignored when Building products.

Equality = providing the same amount of opportunity and support.

Equity = the quality of being fair and impartial.

The importance of accessibility

Accessibility: the design of products, devices, services or environments for people with
disabilities.

Categories:

 Motor
 Dea for hard of hearing
 Cognitive
 Vision

Social model of disability: defines a disability as being caused by the way society is
organized or how products are designed, rather than a person’s ability or difference.

Key-tip: If we make the design of product easier for people with disability, we also make a
better experience for anybody else.

The importance of equity-focused design

Equity-focused design: thinking through all the aspects of a designed product and making
sure the product is both accessible and fair to all genders, races, and abilities.

Assistive Technology (AT)

Any products, equipment, and systems that enhance learning, working, and daily living for
people with disabilities. Including color modification, voice control, screen readers, and
alternative text.

Week 3

Introduction to Design Sprints

Design sprint: a time-bound process, with five phases typically spread over 5 full 8-hour
day. The goal of a design sprint is to solve a problem through designing, prototyping, and
testing ideas with users.
We can use design sprint to answer questions, define products directions, figure out cross-
team strategies, and even built team culture.

Benefits

 It’s all about the user;

 Value every person in the room;
 The best ideas rise to the top;
 Time to focus;
 Lowers risks;
 Versatile scheduling.

When to Sprint

 Many potencial solutions to challenge

 Cross-functional teams needed to weigh in
 Challenge scope wide enough

Phases

1. Understand: sets your sprint on the right track and helps your team get a clear
picture of the design challenge.

2. Ideate: start this phase by coming up with ideas and building off them to create
solutions. Once you've got the team thinking, each participant takes time to sketch
and present their ideas.

3. Decide which solutions you want to build.

4. Prototype: You're now ready to build the first version of your new app feature. At
the end of this phase, you don't need a finished product, just something realistic
enough to test with users.

5. Test: time to put your prototype in front of users.

Plan design sprints

- User research

- Call in the experts

- Find the right space

- Gather supplies

- Establish sprint rules

 - Plan introductions

- Post-sprint planning

Sprint brief is a document that you share with all your attendees to help them prepare for
the sprint.

Sprint retrospectives: a collaborative critique of the team’s design sprint, immediately

following the sprint so that everyone’s thoughts are fresh.

During a design sprint, the focus is on: 

 Understanding the design challenge 

 Ideating solutions 
 Deciding which solutions to build 
 Prototyping a few solutions 
 Testing those prototypes

Key questions to ask during a retrospective

1. What went well?

 Which tools saved you the most time and effort?

 When did you feel the most satisfaction?
 What helped you make your best contribution to the team during this sprint?

2. What can be improved?

 What went wrong that caught you off guard?

 Which problems came up the most often?
 When do you think we experienced the biggest challenge as a team?
 Did the team overestimate or underestimate the work required to complete the
design?
 Did an external factor derail your productivity?
 And most importantly, does the final design actually solve the user problem?

3. Lessons learned

 What did you discover during the sprint that you’re still wondering about?
 How could the current process be holding the team back from creating better
solutions?
Week 4

Portfolio: a collection of work you’ve created that shows your skills in a certain area.