Why designers should follow User Experience Process for a product startup?

I am Prince Pal, responsible for User Experience and User Interface Design at Think360 Studio. I am talking here a simple UI/UX process, with the help of it you can launch a product which users love.

User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designers are essential for any startup business. The ordinary generalization for UX designer is that they are regular graphic or visual designers. UX designers wear numerous caps in a start-up. This includes showcasing, arranging, planning, imparting, and testing. We should experience the part of a UX designer from begin to a product launch in a startup.

First watch this beautiful presentation prepared by my office mate Sushma Shukla (UI/UX designer). In this presentation she explained what is UX and Key points of the UX process.

Easy UX Process Steps can follow by any UX Designer from Think 360 Studio

Communication, Planning, and Research

The UX designer usually starts off the product by asking a lot of questions. They need to know what problem the product solves, what type of customers will they be targeting, how complicated will the design be, what platform will the product be used on, and many more. Most of the time, the beginning stage is all about brainstorming and getting a better understanding of what the project is about. Startups move quickly and they move on a milestone basis, so a designer would usually communicate with the CEO and engineers to brainstorm their product, then break up the project into different milestones. UX designers communicate as often as possible with the engineers to avoid any misunderstanding and confusions.

The UX designer, as a rule, begins from the product by asking intelligent questions related to the product. They have to recognize what issue the product facing, what is their target audience, what type of complications can face, what platform or technology will the product be utilized on, and some more. Most of the time, at the initial stage, is all about brainstorming and research of the competitors if exists. Every product moves on the basis of the milestones, So a good designer always communicates with The CEO and development team to brainstorm and plan their product and that break the project into various milestones. Communication is the key of any UX design where he or she unlocks the doors of a successful product launch.

Initial Sketch

After a better understanding of the product, most of the design will start sketching on blank paper first. Even sit and draw on papers specially main pages like Home, Login / Register, main function pages, splash pages etc. You can design wireframes in Photoshop or in Illustrator, but lots of colors will distract you a lot. Mostly UX designers make a ‘Sitemap’ sketches first to know the flow of the application or product.

This flow diagram visually shows where each page of the application links to, A graphical example given below:

Wireframe & Prototyping

After sketching usually UX designers proceed with Wire-framing. This is the backbone of the application and its functionalities. Initially, good b/w wireframes will map out exactly where the buttons, forms positions will be shown. Here most of the designers prefer to start user testing and on the behalf of the user experiences, they make changes in wireframes. Most of the designer like wireframing in Balsamiq or Axure tools, Nowadays JustINmind prototyping tool getting very popular. This process involved user engaging with a call to action button in different areas to see where the user can easily interact. A high fidelity wireframe creates actual feel and design of the page. In this crucial phase of UX designing – A designer tries to get as much communication/feedback from his client and development team. A good UX designer never forgets to add notes in wireframes, which help a lot when a developer take action in the coding phase.

Colorful Visuals

In this phase, the UI designer will be filling the colors in wireframes using photoshop or illustrator, etc. This phase involves giving life to those boxes with a detailed good-looking color version, which includes the perfect color palates and brand language. Again the designer has to share each and every screen to CEO, Development and Marketing team for feedbacks.

Testing, Testing, and Testing

User Testing is the key role for UX designers in a start-up. You will never want to launch the product users start disliking. User Experience design test all day with using various user interaction tool and make changes in User Interface design, which is good for the user. For Example – a few questions they might ask users as feedback and check the user engaging on call to action button. Are the UI colors attracting a particular age group? They will also ask questions to the user is the overall look and feel of the product is easy to use?

On behalf of user feedback designer will do amendments in their designs and do A/B testing. This can we be done by attending events, by going out and asking people and taking to marketing advisers, etc. The main Goal from day one is to make an easy to use UI/UX. Some design uses a broader crowd for surveys. A lot of analytical tools such as Google analytics are used for tracking landing pages on A/B testing. Again, after analysis and feedback ux designer refine the UI (user interface). This is called “Lean Style” of a start-up.

Programming

Finally, after getting everything together and making final adjustment in the UI, the product will go into production mode and developer will take charge of it. Now, you don't think UX designer job has been done, he is now busy with pre-launch marketing. They market the product and create buzz behind the product before the product launches. Designers also go through last-minute minor adjustments like color change, shape change, and placement changes, etc.

So now you know that a UX designer is the main part of the product and there is a lot more to what a UX design does, but these are the simple UI/UX process which every design should follow in a product launch in a startup.

If you have any question, ask to be below in comment box. I will happy to reply to you.

Conclusion

When we design or code we follow a process, which is the success key of a product in the end. So never forget these easy steps and keep crafting great apps. In my next article, I will explain the Importance of the color theory in UI/UX design.