Everything serves a purpose.
We do the work because it matters.
When you walk to work in the morning, do you walk the exact same route? Is there a reason for it, or is it just because that’s how you’ve always walked to work?
Or, do you order Chinese food from the same place, even though you’re not totally sure their health grade is above a B and they sometimes mix up your order? But, it’s your Chinese food place, so you’ll probably order from there until you move?
One more — do you watch the Bachelor still, even though everyone on that show resembles Wonder Bread more and more, but it’s always been your Monday night routine, so you no longer question it?
That’s where a UX mindset comes in.
Did I lose you for a second? That’s ok — bear with me.
UX is all about the process. But not just about the process, it is about understanding the why of the process. Why do we take the steps that comprise the Double Diamond? and how do they fit together? And why is the information that we’re getting out of our synthesis important? How does it all fit together a comprise a bigger, better whole?
This approach is so important, especially in this digital, mindless age. We are so used to multitasking and doing so poorly, to doing things because that’s how they’ve always been done, to “working for the weekend” and rushing through the now. But the UX mindset asks us to think differently. To be mindful. To stop. To ask why. It is only in that question, in the “Why” that we can start to understand the bigger picture.
With the UX mindset, there is nothing that is done “just because”. Every exercise and every design decision is made based off of a previous decision. it is driven with insight and with research. With testing, and with thinking.
An idea or a question is hatched.
A hypothesis is created to test the idea.
Information is generated with user interviews.
User interviews are synthesized to create insights.
Insights are, in turn, made into features.
Features comprise a prototype.
Prototypes are tested with users.
Users are held at the center of iterated prototypes.
Prototypes become the next market disrupter.
Everything serves a purpose.
