Can we design your product?
This is Nigeria…
A typical techie has to deal with light problems, expensive data, SARS, clients that do not understand jack about what we do and neighbors, friends and family that think you can fix all their technology problems…
Today is about our clients. it’s very common to find clients that do not understand what you do and why they should pay so much for your services. That ace graphics designer is told “this is expensive , is not to just put words and shapes in it, what’s the big deal?” And another seasoned developer is asked to develop an e-commerce website and after a week, they ask “what’s taking so long?” or “why is it 200k, websites are built for 20k”.
For those of us that are product designers or UI/UX designers, it’s even worse. We spend more time explaining what we do than we actually spend doing it. Both fields are new to the Nigerian society and we’ll probably be settled in right after software developers are settled in, graphics designers start earning as much as their foreign counterparts and Nigeria wins the World Cup. Don’t get it twisted, I am not a prophetess of doom, I am only saying that it will take a while. (As for Nigeria and the World Cup, I have no apologies).
This one is for the general public, a public announcement from the Secretary-General Aggrieved Product Designers Association (APDA), Genesys Chapter.
Here is what product design is all about…
“Product design is the process of planning new products or services. The multi-stage process involves extensive user research, market analysis, creative thinking, ideation, conceptualizing, prototyping, testing and more. A product designer combines extensive creative, analytical and technical skills to effectively design new, innovative and commercially viable additions to a company’s suite of products and services”.
This definition is from Edx, and if you read through it carefully, you’ll realize that the product designer’s job is a long and tasking one, one that will obviously consume time. But first let me break it down, product design is about the best possible ways to solve problems. So what we do essentially is define problems, then understand how best to solve it and after we have come up with solutions to the problem, we test our solutions to ensure its a solution indeed. We do research and testing to ascertain if the problem has been solved, how well it has been solved and we’ll keep going back to the drawing board till the user is satisfied.
It’s about the entire process of creating usable products and experiences, starting by defining real people’s problems and thinking about possible solutions. That will eventually lead to the best design.
Why do you need a product designer?
User Experience Design (The way a product feels). A product designer will do the much needed user research and testing to enhance people’s satisfaction with your product by refining the usability, accessibility, and pleasure given in the interaction between your user and the product.
Interaction Design (The way a product behaves). A product designer thinks about what the interface does after a person touches it, speaks to it, or looks at it — we make interactive experiences. We prototype and do user testing. We create transitions, and other interactivity to guide and delight.
User Interface Design (The way a product looks). We think about the interface elements: typography, buttons, headers, images, icons, voice, physical handles and buttons, etc; you name it. We make sure a person’s interaction with those elements is as efficient and straightforward as possible.
Information Architecture (The way a product is structured and how the content is organized). We do user flow, journey mapping, how a person performs and complete tasks — How they get from A to B.
I know its beginning to make sense now. It’s not enough to have a great idea, you need a product design to validate that idea till it becomes a product that actually solves a problem.
Let me just say this, we are problem solvers.
Why do you need to pay a Product designer well?
Uh… we are going to spend a whole lot of time and resources to make sure your idea doesn’t go to the trash bin.
UI/UX design will be talked about next.
Links:
https://blog.prototypr.io/cam-sackett-product-designer-ea94eefc6000
