What is User Experience?
User experience, or UX for short, generally refers to all the behaviors and feelings a person has about a particular product or service. It is highly subjective and very dynamic. For example, the experience on a website can change constantly through images, videos and forms.
Usability describes the user-friendliness of a digital application. Both terms are closely connected. Thus, the user experience also always includes usability, since it extends the user experience by aesthetic as well as emotional factors. It is the evaluative feeling that is created during an interaction.
To ensure that the user receives a positive experience with a product or application, certain UX strategies can be applied. For example, an application should not only be effective and efficient to use, i.e., the usability of the user interface, but also provide added value for the target group (utility).
In addition, the entire application should not only function smoothly, but also be technically and visually prepared to suit the target group. Good usability is usually not explicitly perceived, but poor usability is.
This is because the user experience goes hand in hand with the expectation that experiences will function flawlessly and that the user will have no problems when using them.
Surface • Visual & Atomic Design
Skeleton • Wireframes & Prototyping
Structure • Site Map & Screen Flow
Scope • Requirements & Content Analyses
Strategy • Concept & User Research
That's why we talk about UX and UI.
A good user experience also depends on design aspects as well as functional and technical aspects – the user interface (UI) in particular should not be neglected here. If the user interface is easy and intuitive to use, i.e. usability, the user experience is also improved.
With the user in focus, UX & UI designers usually design products and digital services in agile collaboration with other departments.
These digital applications must convince from start to finish with a reliable implementation, which then affects the development, as well as the uniform design across all touchpoints, so that the user experience is consistently and intuitively positively evaluated.
A convincing user experience, which ideally also inspires, is the task and goal of user experience and user interface design. This is why we always speak of UX (user experience) and UI (user interface), since both are interlinked.
Why is UX / UI so important?
UX/UI is one of the central success factors for digital concepts. The user experience determines whether and how long a user stays with an application or whether he leaves it again immediately. UX/UI not only affects the immediate use of a medium, but also brand perception and whether a user recommends a brand application to others.
This in turn can lead to increased sales and profits for companies. The competencies of pure product design are therefore no longer sufficient today to successfully place new products and services on the market and to win over customers and users.
Often, the product itself is equated with the user experience of a user.
The goals of the individual user play an important role. If these are achieved easily and satisfactorily, this is a rewarding experience described by the „Joy of Use“. The term „Joy of Use“ describes the fun of using an application.
This explains why design, and thus usability, is such a decisive factor for a subsequently good user experience.
