User Experience
User and End-user’s Perspective
User Experience (UX) is a simple term — and a broad term too. Simple in terms of its definition, but broad as per what it really entails. It takes a lot to give a great UX. It takes time and effort; covering a wide range of topics, from science and philosophy to the business aspect of it. One of the best ways to summarize this broad part in simple terms is to define it from the perspective of the users and end-users.
One of the best ways to define the broad part of UX in simple terms is to define it from the perspective of the Users and End-users.
How to train your dragon 🔥
Have you ever taken kids to see a movie on a public holiday, say, Children’s day? It was fun — not fun. Trust me, if you don’t have the patience and will to do it, don’t! I repeat, abort the mission if you lack patience!
Let me explain: We watched a movie titled: how to train your dragon (part 2). Ten minutes into the movie, kids in the cinema hall were screaming and jumping. One young chap tried to fly from his row to the next row, but for the determined grip of his dad. The noise and cheers were loud. At some point, I was hoping toothless would vanish till the end of the movie. Each time the movie flashed bright lights, I would look upon the faces of parents around hoping to see someone who wasn't having it, but they looked unbothered. Even the little girl (Lola) I followed to the movie had joined her brother on her seat, spraying popcorn everywhere with dragon fire noise😒. I was confused. So this is why her mum asked me to follow them.
Don’t get me wrong, it was a good movie. I mean, great animation. The rendering was top notch and the script wasn’t bad at all. Looking back now, I could see why the kids were so thrilled that they kept talking about it for weeks. It was so good that Lola refused to leave the cinema when the movie was over. Don’t ask me how we made her leave.😃
The movie was written and directed (or designed) for kids: ages 4(or maybe 3)–9, but with teenagers and adults in the audience too. These kids were or are the end-users, while the teenagers and adults were mere users — excluding me, a Super-user😎.
The Users
Design isn’t finished until somebody is using it.
A user is someone who uses a product or service. That simple. The product or service may not be intended for this someone, but as long as he/ she uses the product or service, he/she becomes a user. That being said, an end-user is a specific user or audience a user experience designer creates something for. Take, for example, the movie that I watched that wasn’t really for me but for the kids.
An End-user is a specific user or audience a user experience designer creates something for.
User Experience, therefore, is how a user person/ human/ customer/ guest/ client feels about using a product or experiencing a service.
There was no way I would have experienced the movie the same way the kids did. This was because they were the end-users. Quite frankly if they had not cheered or laughed during the movie, it meant it had not fulfilled its intended purpose of giving the kids a thrilling UX. As stated earlier, Lola didn’t want to go home. She was even crying.
As with all movies, if they didn’t want to watch the movie again, then they had a bad UX.
Extra — The four questions
There are four key questions UX designers ask themselves throughout the lifecycle of the product so as to give end-users a great user experience:
Is the product easy to use?
Is the product equitable?
Does the product delight the user?
Does the product solve the user’s problem?
The goal of a User Experience designer is to boldy answer yes to these questions, while being the end-user’s advocate.
Concepts and terms curled from Google Foundations of User Experience
