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Understanding User Experience Design Principles

Jun 4, 2025

User Experience Design Lecture Notes

Key Terms

  • User: Any person who uses a product.
  • End User: The specific audience a UX designer creates something for.
  • User Experience (UX): How a person feels about interacting with a product.

Evaluating User Experience

  • Key questions to consider:
    • Is the product easy to use?
    • Is the product equitable?
    • Does it delight the user?
    • Does it solve the user's problem?
  • UX Designers must balance business needs with user needs.

Frameworks in UX Design

User-Centered Design Process

  1. Understand: Conduct research to understand how the user experiences the product.
  2. Specify: Identify and specify the most important end user problem to solve.
  3. Design: Create solutions that address the user's problem.
  4. Evaluate: Test the design against user needs and make necessary iterations.

The Five Elements Framework

  1. Strategy: Define user needs and business objectives.
  2. Scope: Determine features and content.
  3. Structure: Organize the design and interaction.
  4. Skeleton: Layout the design details.
  5. Surface: How the product looks to the user.

Design Thinking Framework

  1. Empathize: Understand end user needs through research.
  2. Define: Create a clear problem statement.
  3. Ideate: Brainstorm solutions.
  4. Prototype: Develop scaled-down versions of the product.
  5. Test: Gain user feedback to inform further designs.

Inclusive Design Approaches

Universal Design

  • One-size-fits-all approach, often not effective for all users.

Inclusive Design

  • Focus on personal identifiers (ability, race, age, etc.)
  • "Solve for one, extend to many" principle.

Equity-Focused Design

  • Design for historically underrepresented groups.
  • Equality vs. Equity: Equality provides the same support for all, equity provides different levels of support based on needs.

Next Billion Users (NBU)

  • Key challenges for NBU:
    • Cost: Low-cost devices with limited capabilities.
    • Connectivity: Inconsistent internet access.
    • Digital Literacy: Lack of familiarity with technology.
    • General Literacy: Language barriers and reading ability.

Designing Across Platforms

  • Importance of consistent user experience across devices (desktop, mobile, tablets, etc.)
  • Responsive Design: Allows websites to adjust based on device size.

Assistive Technologies

  • Color Modification: High contrast modes for better visibility.
  • Voice Control & Switch Devices: For those with limited dexterity.
  • Screen Readers & Alt Text: Assists visually impaired users.
  • Speech to Text: Offers hands-free device interaction.

Design Tools

  • Figma & Adobe XD: Tools for wireframing and prototyping.

Conclusion

  • UX design is about meeting user needs while balancing business goals.
  • Multiple frameworks and tools aid in the design process.
  • Importance of inclusive and equity-focused design for a broader impact.

Full transcript