UX Design Lifecycle

DesignUX

Dec 23, 2024

What is UX?

User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-users interaction with the company, its services, and its products

  • UX is the relationship between the user and the product or service
  • UX is about how people think and how they feel -- both logic and emotion
  • UX depends on context: how, when, and where the user will use the product or service

What is UX Design?

UX design is the process of creating and/or maintaining a product or service designed to ensure the user has the best possible experience.

UX vs UI

  • UI is the points at which the user interacts with your product or service, whether digital (like an app or a website) or physical (like a light switch or a laptop)
  • UI is only a subset of everything that makes up the user's experience -- a very important part, but not everything.
  • UI design is likewise not the same as UX design -- UI design means creating those interface points, while UX design deals with the much broader experience the user has beyond only the interface.

UX Design Lifecycle

  1. Research -- Define your product and understand your target market
  2. Ideate -- Analyze your research to generate ideas
  3. Design/Prototype -- Act on your ideas to create a product or service
  4. Test/Validation -- Measure your user's response to your product or service
  5. Iterate -- Repeat these phases as necessary

1. Research

  • Market research
  • Competitive analysis
  • Social media analysis
  • User interviews or surveys
  • Focus groups
  • User observation
    • A/B Testing
    • Click/eye tracking

2. Ideate

  • Personas
  • Mind mapping/brainstorming
  • User flows/scenarios
  • Mood boards
  • Information Architecture
    • Site map
  • User Journey mapping
  • Concept sketching

3. Design / Prototype

  • Low fidelity wireframes
  • High fidelity wireframes
  • Interaction design
  • Interactive prototypes
  • Branding and style guides
  • Accessibility

4. Test / Validation

  • Annotated wireframes
  • Usability testing
  • Quality control/debugging
  • Expert analysis
  • Analytics

5. Iterate

UX design is an ongoing process, and at each step along the way you may need to re-evaluate and repeat.