I’m pleased to welcome Danielle Arad as my guest poster for this article about the implications you must take into account when sketching user experiences. Danielle runs her own blog over at UX Motel and is also on Twitter.
Although business process mapping, flow charting, and the related processes might already sound familiar to you, for the success of your user experience design you also have to consider which are the factors that make the entire process work and how one can take advantage of them.
Undoubtedly, many UX professionals encounter the process of user experience sketching at least once in their career, mainly when the business plan and design meet. Such events are more usual with startups and enterprises, rather than small to medium businesses. Therefore, with user experience sketching representing a topic of actuality, it’s highly important for a designer to understand the key components which take part in design.
1. Think about the elements that will be comprised in the design based on what you think your users will need.
If you already have a business model in mind, you are most likely aware of your demographic, which is probably defined by your niche’s design and price range. This demographic is the first factor which you have to keep in mind throughout the sketching process. Think of how much your users’ would need the product and by a more thorough analysis of the said demographic, how are they going to act when they will interact with your finished product?
2. Don’t get discouraged if your prototype design isn’t working well
In case the design of your product is not gelling with your users, then, yes, your team might suffer from a small hit. However, it’s up to you which action you choose to take in such place. It would be strongly advisable to not sacrifice price in detriment of quality. Remember, it’s the about the alignment process which goes on beyond this how much money you will make in the end.
3. Keep in mind that time and budget are key factors in the process
Other factors which are relevant to sketching and design are time and budget. When sketching your user experience design, you must create an engaging flow for the user, yet design according to the time and budget specified for the task. For an excellent UX to be developed, you may have to pay a higher price in time and money. Remember, customers will be aware of how much you invested in preparing your design – it will definitely show in the final results.
When you’re in the process of sketching out a user experience, it’s essential to prioritize a flow for the demographic. You must ensure that the design you’ll come up with will fall within the users’ array of needs and that it will suit the given budget to. Additionally, when emphasizing the role of demographics, you need to ensure that a suitable connection is created with each maintenance components’ sub-flows, so that users will be able to easily use them whenever they are required to. Such flow will also see you where the numbers are negative or overly amplified, case in which they need to be adjusted.
Sketching user experiences is all about creating a flow for the process, tracking up the deductions, basing your model on intuitive prediction design, and ensuring that the UX works as it should. In addition, working according to the budget is also an important component for both parties’ profitability.
Further reading:
Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design
