unsystematic

21 Sep 2008

Into the mind of a UX designer

When it comes to design there are several branches all pertaining to different mediums and psyches. Even though they all stem from the same basic principles all design is not the same.

Let’s start with print design, for example. My knowledge of print design is only limited to my four college years. My major was Visual Communication Design with an emphasis on Graphic Design. Sure I did some pretty sweet layouts and yeah I got good grades, but my focus was not, and is not print. I think what turned me off of print, aside from the lack of good ol’ dirty code, was the whole printing aspect. I don’t mind designing for print, but ask me to actually get the thing printed and the deal’s off. I hate it. Two jobs in one if you ask me and the second one being the headache.

Now, design for the web – ah, that’s my niche – is something in and of itself. People use the web differently than they use a printed piece. Not to mention web designers don’t really have the freedom or flexibility to “step outside the box” like print designers do. We have to follow trends and make designs that are comfortable and familiar lest we (or our clients) lose the users’ interest.

Every designer has his or her own tastes and approach, but I’ve worked with some print designers who have tried web design only to rack my head trying to find some tangible way to make the design work for the web. Not that the design was bad – it just wasn’t “configured” properly for the web without a considerable amount of tweaking.

I tend to take the more common sense approach. I like to make things as easy to use as possible; as usable as possible. I believe people who use the web use it to find information and so I think the web should be a tool that presents that information as easily and as understandably as it possibly can. Therefore I take a highly utilitarian approach to the web. I don’t normally do lavish, decorated, ornate, or otherwise superfluous designs, rather I create beautifully simple web designs that don’t leave the user lost in cyberspace.

Print pieces can be informative too, but imagine using a dictionary or encyclopedia covered in all sorts of ornate decorations (that’s what they are – decorations) that do more distracting than assisting. The web is informative, but it is mostly a tool and therefore it should be usable.

I’ve worked with some people who have directed me to “give that title a bit more space around; let it breathe” only to entirely disregard common layout and proportion elements of design. Because making a usable web isn’t only about the consciousness, it’s also about the subconsciousness and what “feels” comfortable. That’s why we have things such as the “rule of thirds” and other similar layout “rules”… because they somehow feel more comfy and things which aren’t comfy aren’t used.

Part of my job as a web designer is the user experience (UX for short). Not only am I tasked with creating a web site that works and gives the user the information he or she is looking for in a timely matter, but I am also tasked with making the web site memorable. Some people believe memorability is done by visuals, I believe it’s done by usability. But it’s completely personal, really.

Take Wikipedia for example. Not a whole lot of visuals there, but each of us, for some reason or another, use it to look up information. Why? What about Google? The search engine is extremely stripped of superfluous design elements, yet we remember to use it every time we search. Why, if not because they are usable.

My web sites look good, but they work better. I back them with my name and my credibility is on the line after all. If you’re looking for frills and all sorts of distracting designs then I’m not your vendor. However if you want a web site that is clean, simple and highly usable… I’m an email away.

:)