Today digital products must be easy to use, accessible, reliable and solve users’ problems in order to truly be useful.
This is where user-centred design comes in. Its a design approach that focuses on users needs, expectations, behaviours and experiences.
Whether you’re designing a website for your business, mobile app, SaaS or even Web3 product, knowing about user-centred design can help improve your digital products to provide better user experiences.
What is User-centred Design?
User-centred design focuses on putting your users at the heart of your design decisions.
Rather than purely designing based on assumptions, you’ll carry out research to understand how your users are interacting with technology, what issues they face and what you can do to help.
For example, developing a crypto trading platform. Whilst the developers may focus on providing advanced trading features, users who are new to trading may struggle to connect wallets, confirm transactions and understand the platform.
A user-centred design will highlight any issues and make the platform much easier to understand.
The aim of user-centred design is to make your product work well for your users.
Key Principles of User-centred Design
There are a number of key principles to keep in mind when creating an effective user-centred design.
1. Know your users
The first thing to know is who your users are and what they expect.
Carry out user interviews, surveys, gather customer feedback and reviews, look at your website analytics, competitor and market research.
Knowing your audience helps you to make informed design choices.
2. Easy to use
Your product should help users carry out their desired tasks.
Having clear navigation, readable content, consistent layouts and easily identifiable components will help your product to be more usable.
For example, having an easy to use e-commerce website so your customers can find products, compare options, add them to their basket and purchase.
3. Accessibility
Your digital product should be accessible to anyone regardless of their ability, device or how they wish to interact with it.
Things to consider:
- Good colour contrast.
- Keyboard friendly.
- Alt text.
- Labelled forms.
- Readable fonts.
- Accessible to assistive technology.
Accessibility should be considered from the start.
4. Constant testing & improvements
User-centred design is an ongoing process.
Constantly gather feedback, test your prototypes, identify any usability issues and improve your design.
This will ensure you are continually improving your product.
User-centred Design Process
There are a number of steps involved when implementing user-centred design.Whilst this can vary project to project, you can use the following as a starting point.
1. Understand your users
Identify your target audience, what they want to achieve and any issues they may be facing.
Use interviews, surveys, analytics and previous customer feedback.
2. Define the issues
Analyse your research and identify the main issues.
Create user personas, scenarios and problem statements to help your development team understand the issues.
3. Create wireframes & prototypes
Turn your requirements into visual designs.
Creating wireframes will help you to understand the structure of your product and prototypes will help you show how users will navigate around your product.
4. Carry out usability testing
Invite users to try out your prototype.
Watch them carry out certain tasks, see where they struggle and any confusing areas.
Seeing how they interact with your product can help you spot any issues.
5. Gather feedback and improve
Use the results from your tests to improve your design.
Make changes where needed, test your updated product and continue the process until your product is more intuitive.
Where can Businesses begin with User-centred Design?
You don’t need big research teams or expensive tools to start implementing user-centred design.
Simple improvements can really make a difference.
Start by:
Identify an important user journey.
This could be something like registering on your website, finding products or purchasing.
Look at previous feedback.
See what issues customers are having, look at your website analytics and user reviews.
Watch real users.
Understand how users interact with your product.
Create an simple prototype.
Try out your improvements.
Measure results.
See how users are completing tasks, engaging, converting and receiving feedback.
Starting off with one important user journey will help you to keep things simple. You’ll also be able to learn from your users.
Why is User-centred Design important?
User-centred design can bring many benefits to your business and tech teams.
- Better User experience.
Products will be easier to understand and navigate.
Increased customer satisfaction.
Products will help meet your users needs.Less costs.
Spotting issues early can stop you from having expensive changes.Increased customer retention.
Users will enjoy using your product as it works well.
- Improved business results.
Improving usability can help you gain important results such as conversions, engagement and customer loyalty.
This is especially important with digital products in a competitive market, as users can quickly move to a different platform if your application isn’t meeting their expectations.
Final Thoughts
User-centred design is not just a way to design your interfaces. Its a way of designing your product by looking at your users, strategy, design, development and continual improvements.
By understanding your users needs, focusing on accessibility, testing early and making improvements based on feedback you can create digital products that provide meaningful experiences.
When starting off with user-centred design focus on one issue from your users, include real users and continually improve.
To learn more about the principles, how to implement and how to get started have a read through this guide: Understanding the basics of user-centred design.
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