UX for Beginners

Chapter 3. Your Perspective

In User Experience design, the way you look at a problem can make or break your work. Your own desires and experience can even work against the users.

Know Thyself

There are two things you need to be aware of, about yourself, before you can start understanding users well:

• You want things that don’t matter to users.

• You know things that don’t matter to users.

Meditate on that for a minute.

Namasté.

Empathy: Want What They Want

If there is one word that is over-sold in UX, it’s “empathy”. It is important though. It is. In general, and in UX.

But here’s a secret: unless you are a serial killer, you have empathy. If you are a serial killer, UX design might not be for you. What we want by nature might not be what the users want. And that’s a big deal. It means your intuition about the users might be wrong!

Do research. Talk to users. Study the data. Cuddle some puppies. When you truly understand a problem, it becomes your problem, emotionally. That’s empathy. You will feel it. A good solution will excite you. Not because you’re an emotional superhero, but because you relate to the users.

You’re one of them now.

*single tear*

Ask yourself:

• If you have to choose between a feature for your users or having this design in your portfolio, what will you choose?

• If users don’t like your design, what would probably be the reason?

• Have you actually tried the software, or are you just clicking “next” to get through it?

You Know Too Much

Designing for people who know less than you is a ...