Determine UI/UX with UE (User Engagement)
UI UX UE, do you realize, all about user is number one priority when you developing an application. How we develop an Interface? Can user feel same experience that we want to give? Why we must make this features? All of that questions are relate to maintain, even increase number of customer. Sooo… at least in my opinion all aspect of an application must depend on it’s user. User engagement definition that I use is user involvement in develop your app (specially in UI/UX aspect). It’s more like, where we must place this button? how about this navbar style? Can user remember his/her passcode?
What is UI & UX?
First let me introduce this UI and UX. In brief ,User Interface (UI) is anything a user may interact with to use a digital product or service. It’s dealing with everything start from user screens, sounds, touchscreens, etc. In other hand, User experience (UX) evolved as a result of the improvements to UI. UX is responsible in how user ‘feeling’ when they interact with our interface.
Still confused? Here more about their differences:
- UX is focused on the user’s journey to solve a problem, UI is focused on how a product’s surfaces look and function
- A UX designer is concerned with the conceptual aspects of the design process, leaving the UI designer to focus on the more tangible elements
- There is no difference between UX and UI design because they are two things that aren’t comparable to each other
- UI is the bridge that gets us where we want to go, UX is the feeling we get when we arrive
What is User Engagement?
User engagement , like it’s name, UE is about how deep you involve user in developing your application. This is important, because you not develop an application just for your self right? Deeper you engage user preference, more relevant and useful your application in their eyes. Not only the user, you must involve all stakeholder that will using your application
And… the question is, how we elaborate and gather that user preferences? There are many ways to get information about user preference.
- Surveys
This is the very common way to gather about user preference or feedback. It’s easy to make, easy to fill, easy to analyze. Survey don’t need much cost in making and gathering information. The weakness is you can’t really know about user reason when they fill the survey form. - Feedback boxes
Feedback boxes usually placed in bottom of your application. It’s gathering fast information when user use the application in that time. When user use the application, sometimes they think some preferences about your application. This information can be very relevant to collect, because it’s directly affect the application. The weakness is, user may not see this box. - Reach out directly
In my opinion, this is the best way to get user preference about your application. If you wanna know about something, just reach it directly. Maybe it’s need more cost, but you can dig deeper about user point of view about your application. - User activity and Usability Tests
This approach is next level from feedback box, if in feedback box you just get final information in analyze user activity you will get the process to get the final information. You can actually see what and how user use your application. Start from users expression, gesture, action, etc. Here you can define what task to be done by user, and you can analyze what user do to finish that task
UI - UX - UE
Finally why UI/UX should consider user engagement in build your interface? Maybe this cat food’s bowls joke will explain you better. When developer think their way with simple, nice, and intuitive design, does not rule out the possibility to user do other way from what developer expect. Even developer think it is the best practice to build design that way, but maybe your user have his/her own preference. You must gather as much as you can.
The best way to design how your design by keep your user in center of your design. Not only user, you must consider all stakeholder(s) to, for example your company. You can’t only consider about user preference, you should involve your company preference too. In the end, you build your app belongs to your company. Company logo, branding, style should be in your application too.
My Personal Experience
Currently, I participating in PPL (Proyek Perangkat Lunak) or software project course. The project is about SmartCMR, here we make costumer membership application. In the first week, we start with information gathering with our partnership XQInformatiqs. After several times we discuss about the project and all stake holder related, we start to make a mock up. Here our first mock up (we built it using Bahasa Indonesia, cause almost all of our target and stakeholder is from Indonesia)
After we finished this mock up, we call our partner to evaluate the design. They said it nice, and make some little change to the design so that it suitable with their branding. This is our final mock up
It’s more simple and formal. Next is the passcode list, they consider to make survey about it. What type of image that people easy to recognize and remember. So, we make little convenience survey (we ask people that we meet). This is our type image list (image design are not our final drawing, we only ask about the type not the design)
There are more that 30 people we ask this survey, start from our friend, teacher, parent, and other adult. We ask them because they all can be the user of our membership application. The result is, Fruit get the highest score. We actually agree with it, you can easy remember a fruit with their color and shape. Here our final design for the passcode.
See yaa…
Thus the writing that I made about user engagement in developing UI/UX. Maybe it still in brief way, but hopefully what I have written can be implemented in your project. Then it can help your user to be get more “feeling” about your application.
Regards,
Gusti Ngurah Yama Adi Putra
Computer Science of University of Indonesia 2017
