Hey UX Designer, stop speculating. Go outside! My top 5 reasons why, plus some tips to rock your results
When I studied experience design at Hyper Island, 20% of the time we spend, we spend outside of the class room and in this article, I will tell you why a UX Designer should do the same.
Asking the real questions and getting the answers from real users.
Are you the UX Designer sitting behind your computer speculating of what the User is going to do? Or are you out there in the field asking the real questions and getting the answers from real users. Your boss may want to keep you around but I want to encourage you to pack up your bag and go outside.
Adding Value.
When I worked at my first Start-Up Tech job as a UX/UI Designer the first thing what went wrong was that one thing Hyper Island encouraged us so much to do. I worked behind my desk. Nonstop until I had a beautiful design. But when I started testing it with the team we discovered right away that the flow’s were lacking lots of thought. Once I discovered what went wrong. I changed my process. Which changed my perspective and value as a UX Designer.
Outside?
You might think it is a strange question to ask your boss. But most of all it will be encouraged. If not, these might be of help:
So why should your boss encourage you to go outside?
- To understand your audience behavior
- To discover your audience wants/needs
- To prevent extra cost on building the wrong features
- For inspiration on your design
- To gather usability feedback
I have found great improvements in my UX work for my clients. They are always impressed with a number of insights I delivered after some good outside research.
Here are some tips to get the most out of your outside research.
- Prepare some basic questions as, what is your name, where do you live?
- Prepare for some awkward moments with some good intro’s or two chocolate bars to make sure they want to participate and it will break the ice faster, which gives better results.
- Write down everything. At first, it will seem unnecessary but when you’ll read back the notes you might come to other conclusions.
- Ask Why 5 times. http://toolbox.hyperisland.com/the-5-whys
- Don’t ask mom questions. http://www.startupwerkboek.nl/startupcenter/Momtest.pdf
If you want to deliver great insights for your company, client or boss, consider going outside for a change.
Find your target audience and ask them just a couple of questions. You will be able to quickly move, adapt and iterate on an individual level. As a freelancer or the only designer in your company you definitely need this skill in order to deliver value.
Good luck and I’ll see you in the field!
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