Before we talk about designing the right things, have you ever considered that you might be designing the wrong thing? Not just something bad. Something wrong: something nobody wants or needs.
Many designers have never really thought about it, actually. Sometimes we are too focused on which design we like the most, and we just assume the users will feel the same. Or sometimes we assume that what worked for us before will work again, so we copy-paste it and move on.
In reality, those can be big, expensive mistakes. It happens all the time.
Wait, wait, wait. If our favorite design might be wrong and the right design can be different from project to project, how do we know what to make?! What is this lunacy?!
The missing piece here is UX theory: the reasons and principles that make your design choices good, whether they are trendy or not.
Let’s take this problem apart and see what it’s made of.
UX Is a Process: Humans Are the Constant
UX is not what you do in Figma or a ticket in agile planning or the contrast of your button labels.
UX is a general process of designing things for humans.
Maybe you have heard: humans haven’t changed much over the last hundred thousand years. Sure, most of us smell better now, ...
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