The ‘X’ Power!

The Super Power that everyone is looking for:
Experience Design (XD), Customer Experience (CX), User Experience (UX)… It’s all about the X (Experience)!

Whether you are creating a new service, a new marketing strategy with a powerful conversion rate, or a new product; in all cases, everyone wants to assure the same: the best experience!

Yes, because it’s this effective and powerful experience that will make people come back and use again. Choose again. Spread the word. Spread the feeling. The magic. Is this eXperience that will increase your recommendations, the range of users you approach and finally YOUR SALES!

“Products were once designed for the functions they performed. But when all companies can make products that perform their functions equally well, the distinctive advantage goes to those who provide pleasure and enjoyment while maintaining the power. If functions are equated with cognition, pleasure is equated with emotion; today we want products that appeal to both cognition and emotion.” — Donald Norman

Better the experience, better the story. And as we all know, the way to achieve greatness is not by settling for the little things, but by focusing all our attention on the important ones, in the ones that matter. Then, anyone can make a difference or even, make History!

Design creates stories, and stories create memorable experiences, and great experiences have this innate ability to change the way in which we view our world.” — Christian Saylor

When we are really used to do something, and we feel confident that we really know what we are doing and how to do it, we might make the mistake to just do it in an auto-pilot mode. Over and over again… But hey! There is a difference between what you think and what you do! This difference is quite relevant because the distance between you and your users is represented by this difference.

Let’s suppose we have a problem to solve. Let’s suppose our problem is the ‘X’ Power. The Experience! Our user experience or our customer experience. We need to design the best experience. What’s the solution? Beautiful layouts? Probably…

But that’s not enough.

Discover more on how to design cross-platform experiences.

Imagine that you are building a website or an app, to sell tickets. You choose really amazing images and design an outstanding user interface. Great! But remember, you are not only entertaining, you are also trying to give the possibility to someone actually buy or sell their tickets.

Imagine when the user/client is trying to buy your product, he can’t find the ‘buy button’ (maybe it’s on the end of the page and he didn’t scroll to the end… or maybe you have the ‘buy button’ right on top, and the user scrolls down to a point that he can’t find it… a lot of possibilities here) or maybe the process after clicking is too complex, or with a lack of consistency between steps & information. We cannot let that happen.

“Don’t make me think” — Steve Krug

We are talking about fulfillment. You want your user to feel he has accomplished (pleasantly if possible) what he defined he wanted to achieve. The better the process, the better the experience and the emotional memory of the experience.

Design focusing on the user — By Scott Adams

So let’s do some thinking and define some techniques quick guide of what we should do to solve problems, in order to have the most powerful ‘X’ Power:

1st rule. Two brains think better than one.

(& it might save you a lot of time and money!…)

2nd rule. Don’t be afraid to fail.

Learn with your mistakes. Let other people learn with your mistakes. Explore a continuous improvement approach to the things you do.
“Agile”
is actually a very trendy word nowadays. It’s not only a word.

3rd rule. Nothing is forever.

4th rule. Write it down.

5th rule. Test! Test, test, and test!

Learn how to choose the best usability test for each client.

6th rule. Good information & Good visuals.

7th rule. (and the most important one) Who is it for?

Use personas, or don’t. Use the method you feel more comfortable with.
But always remember what they want, what they search, what they feel, what they need. Make sure your user/customer is happy and satisfied. If they want rice, make rice, if they want pasta, make pasta! :)

& avoid useless information.
That’s All Folks!

I was invited by Hi INTERACTIVE to write this article.

Would you like to know more about UX Design?
Read why
UX is more than just wireframes.

by the way, Hi

Insights from digital experts trying to change the world (maybe just sharing ideas on design and UX)

IsabelNovaisMachado

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by the way, Hi

Insights from digital experts trying to change the world (maybe just sharing ideas on design and UX)

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