UX for Beginners

Chapter 44. Designing with Intention

As UX designers, we should always have goals in mind: our own and the users’. Unlike UI design, your UX skills (or lack thereof) are measured by how well you achieve those goals.

• You want users to do something.

• Users want to do something.

• Those two somethings might not be the same.

As a UX Designer

It is your job to make them the same. When the user completes their goal, you should also complete yours. That means you’re not just designing random artwork; you have intentions. Stores intend to sell stuff. Social networks intend to create registrations and social interactions. Porn sites intend you to... well, you get the idea.

A visual designer—like a UI designer—designs the interface itself. That’s important, but everyone has an opinion about how it looks. A lot of those opinions might be cryptic and useless, but still.

A UX designer designs how something works, i.e., the behavior of the users. You can’t see behavior. But you can measure it.

UX Design Is Not a Matter of Opinion

One of the biggest new ideas when you get started with UX is the idea that you are now an active part of the design. You can predict and control what users choose, click, like, and do.

UX is the science of design. It’s all about results. But to get good results, you need to motivate users to be more effective. This also means that one UX design can be “more right” than another, regardless of which one everybody likes better. And we can prove it. Sometimes even the users prefer the ...