DEV Community: Southpaw🖊🖋

Exposing the Basics of the Blockchain Technology

Southpaw🖊🖋 — Tue, 10 May 2022 20:39:43 +0000

Does the mention of blockchain technology sound complex to you? It is because you haven't read this!

Prelude

Remember, in the last post on UX design, I mentioned that there would be a digression into the world of Blockchain. You might wonder why. Well, here is your answer: As a UI/UX Designer, there is the chance to focus your User Interface and User Experience Design skills, particularly in the Blockchain and Crypto world.

Personally, that’s my vibe! And since this is my channel, I might as well ride on the back of my personal preferences. You’re welcome to ride with me.

Here, I want to take you through the basics of Blockchain first before we go into the Blockchain and Design romance.

The Blockchain Technology

If you’re like me, you’ve probably spent the last decade hearing about blockchain technology and how it’ll and has changed the world. I’m sure at some point; you stopped to ask, “Hey… what the heck even is a Blockchain?”

Fortunately, I’ll be giving you one of the most straightforward explanations you can find!

The Blockchain Technology Process?

Blockchain technology was invented in 2008 but only came into the public domain when Bitcoin launched after that!

Blockchain is the technology that lays the foundation for digital currencies or cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and others. This technology enables digital information to be distributed but not copied. This means that each piece of data can only have one owner ALWAYS!

In more technical terms, it can be described as a “digital ledger” stored in a distributed network.

Check out this analogy by Blockgeeks. This should help you understand how Blockchain works:

“Picture a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. Then imagine that this network is designed to regularly update this spreadsheet with the latest info that anyone can check but not change. That right there is a basic understanding of the blockchain.”

The information or record is continually harmonized in the database. This database, described in that analogy as a spreadsheet, is stored in multiple locations and updated promptly. So, the records in each block of a blockchain are public and checkable.

Also, with no main location, it is much more challenging to hack into the technology. That’s the bright side to having the info in millions of places simultaneously.

The Name, Blockchain?

Let’s break the word into two. First, there is ‘block.’ Also, we have ‘chain.’
The block is a record of a new transaction. Once a block is completed, it’s added to the chain. Imagine a new Blockchain technology. The first record of the first transaction is the first block. Once another transaction is made, we have the second block connected to the first just as blocks are laid on each other. As more and more blocks get completed, we begin to have a chain.

Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency owners possess a private password (a complex key) to an address on the chain. That address is where their ownership is recorded and where they can receive payments as well.

William Mougayar, the author of The Business Blockchain, described the Blockchain technology this way:

“Imagine two entities (e.g., banks) that need to update their own user account balances when there is a request to transfer money from one customer to another. They need to spend a tremendous (and costly) amount of time and effort on coordination, synchronization, messaging, and checking to ensure that each transaction happens exactly as it should. Typically, the money being transferred is held by the originator until it can be confirmed that the recipient received it. With the blockchain, a single ledger of transaction entries that both parties have access to can simplify the coordination and validation efforts because there is always a single version of records, not two disparate databases.”

So, thanks to how Blockchain technology simplifies payment and record-keeping especially, it has become a popular tool for more than just currency and transactions. Big firms like IBM and other financial and tech firms are turning to blockchain already.

Conclusion

I hope this write-up gives you that basic idea of blockchain technology. Should you have any question, kindly drop it in the comments section below, and I promise to respond to every question asked.

Next, Southpaw will look into how UI/UX Design helps Blockchain technology. Stay tuned!

Exposing the Thin Line Between UI Design and UX Design: Introducing UX DESIGN

Southpaw🖊🖋 — Tue, 10 May 2022 01:18:54 +0000

If you still think these two are the same, this is for you! If you’re not sure what their difference is, keep reading! Regardless of what you hope to get from this post, I’m confident you will get your answers down to the simplest details.
Southpaw is here again! I have already introduced you to the concept of UI Design. If you are yet to read it, you should probably do that as this is a concise and "directioned" journey and every juncture we make a stop at is necessary!
Now, it is time to let you into the world of UX Design. I hope to shed enough light on this process that you understand that very thin line that sets it apart from UI Design. Dive in!

Introducing User Experience (UX) Design

Remember, UI Design is the same as User Interface Design. Similarly, UX Design is the same as User Experience (UX) design. I guess the tech bros preferred the name that looked simpler on paper and sounded better.
However, to get you familiar, I will use User Experience Design more times than the other name.
User Experience Design is the technique design teams employ to create tech products that provide essential and appropriate experiences and solutions to users. User Experience design pertains to the setting up of the entire process of obtaining and integrating the tech solution or product for practical use. This includes aspects like the product design, branding, ease of use, and benefits.
So, the UX Designer wants to make sure every tech product gives its user (you and I) the best experience, easy usage, and eventually, desired solution. Even beyond that, UX design begins before you, as the user gets the product. From the research to ensure it meets a need, the step-by-step vetting to make sure it runs smoothly, to the process of acquiring and integrating the product, the User Experience Design keeps working.

What Makes UX Designers Different from UI Designers?

• User Experience Design goes Beyond UI Design

Don’t sweat this! User interface (UI) design is an essential aspect of UX design. It is a subset of the User Experience design process. A UX designer is interested in the entire process of getting and using the product. This designer wants to make sure the branding, design, usability, and function are faultless.
The User Experience Design journey begins before the device reaches the user.

“No product is an island. A product is more than the product. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences. Think through all of the stages of a product or service – from initial intentions through final reflections, from first usage to help, service, and maintenance. Make them all work together seamlessly.”
— Don Norman, inventor of the term “User Experience”

So, User Experience designers don’t just concentrate on creating products that meet a need alone. They also focus on other facets of the user experience, such as satisfaction, efficiency, and pleasure. Overall, there is no single definition of a good user experience. All I can say is that a good user experience satisfies a particular user’s needs in the precise context where they use the product.

• UX Designers check out the Why, What, and How of Product Use

Every UX designer assesses the Why, What, and How of product use:
For the Why, the User Experience designer wants to know the users’ motivations for using a product. Is this due to a task they wish to perform with the product or is it because of certain values and opinions the users associate with the ownership and use of the product? As for the latter part, iPhone and Apple users generally are perfect examples!

The What deals with the benefits users can derive from a product. In other words, it’s the product's functionality. Then, the How concerns the design of the product and its functions in an accessible, enabling, and aesthetically appealing style.
Starting from the Why to the What and then the How, the UX designer carefully creates products that users can derive meaningful and fluid experiences.

• User Experience (UX) Design is about the Users Only

I mentioned that UX design entails the entire user journey. User Experience Design is a multidisciplinary field. So, UX designers come from a mixture of career settings. This diversity includes researchers, visual designers, interaction designers, programmers, and psychologists.
The duties a UX designer is saddled with often include user research, creating personas, designing wireframes and interactive prototypes as well as testing designs. Depending on the organization, these duties can vary. Regardless, one thing is for sure, UX designers are the users’ advocates. They have to keep the users’ needs at the center of all design and development processes.
User Experience Designers are endlessly channeling their best-informed actions and knowledge until they deal with relevant issues and user needs effectively.

Conclusion

When it comes to providing tech solutions to solve human problems and satisfy needs, UX DESIGN is the MOTHER, and UI DESIGN is only ONE OF THE CHILDREN! While the latter (one of the children) is concerned with the appearance and usability of the solutions, the MOTHER deals with that and much more.
Having taken you through the basics of both UI Design and UX Design, guess what’s next? A commercial break!
Southpaw will be making a digression into Blockchain user documentation and the basics you should know. You don’t want to miss this!

Understanding UI/UX Design: Shall We Begin?

Southpaw🖊🖋 — Mon, 09 May 2022 05:50:17 +0000

Hello, I am Israel Okunaya. But since I plan to be very relaxed with my write-ups, I will go with my nickname, SOUTHPAW. If you’re reading this, you’re at the start of a plain, understandable, ‘directioned,’ and rewarding journey into the world of tech, more precisely, the world of UI/UX Design!
This post is the first of a series of content that leads you into the world and practice of UI/UX Design. In this post, the spotlight will shine on UI Design more. So, let’s dive in!

Introducing User Interface Design

You probably knew it before now as UI Design. Well, the 'UI' there is an abbreviation for User Interface. So, whether you call it UI Design or User Interface Design, you’re still right.
Put simply, User Interface (UI) Design is the technique designers employ to develop interfaces in software or computerized devices, with their focus majorly on style or looks. These designers try to build interfaces that users find easy to use and rewarding.
UI design can either be those graphical user interfaces or any other forms like voice-controlled interfaces, for example.
In all, consider this analogy. There is the field of tech that seeks to apply scientific knowledge for practical solutions. If tech must create these solutions, they must be able to serve their purposes with minimal issues and must appeal to the users. That’s where User Interface Design comes in to provide such solutions in an attractive, efficient, and easy-to-use style.
Note: User interfaces are the points of contact where users engage the designs or solutions created, and they come in three formats:

1. Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)

Users interact with graphic expressions via digital control panels. The computer’s desktop is a good example of a GUI.

2. Voice-Controlled User Interfaces (VUIs)

For VUIs, the users interact with such designs using their voices. VUIs include smart assistants like Siri on iPhones and Alexa on Amazon devices.

3. Gesture-Based User Interfaces

This third format can be mostly associated with 3D design spaces where the users interact with the design through bodily motions. A good example is Virtual Reality (VR) games.

Telling the Difference Between User Interface and User Experience (UX) Design

Before we proceed, this confusion around UI and UX Design should end here. Unlike the general scope of UX design, UI design is more focused on the surface and overall feel of a design and how it appears to the users.
It ensures “THE FACE of the design or solution” to the user is as best as possible. It’s called user ‘interFACE,’ remember? For UI design, you as the designer have taken up a craft where you are in charge of a critical aspect of the user experience and the tech solution being provided.
On the flip side, UX design concerns itself with the whole scope of the user experience with such tech solutions.
Here is an analogy that explains this best. See UX design as a car and UI design as the driving console of that car!
Quoting from Don Norman, Grand old man of UX design words:

“Interfaces get in the way. I don’t want to focus my energies on an interface. I want to focus on the job.”

Tips on Giving your Users the Best User Interfaces

Now that we know what UI Design is, the formats we have, and how it’s different from User Experience (UX), how do you deliver quality with your UI Design?
To design UIs best, you should pay attention to the following tips:

• Users Judge Designs Hastily and Care about Easy Usage and Whether They Like It or not.

Accept the reality that these users don’t care about your design. They need a solution that gets their tasks done effortlessly and with bare minimum difficulties.
Therefore, make sure your design is “invisible” Give the users what they want. Give them an interface that helps them complete their tasks effortlessly—for example, ordering pizza on Domino’s Zero Click app.
In all, recognize your users’ contexts and task flows. Customer journey maps are one place you can find this info. With that info, you can fine-tune the best, most intuitive UIs that give them a seamless experience with your solution.

• It is Only a Great User Interface When It is Enjoyable (or at least relieving and frustration-free).

With a design that foresees users’ needs, delivering a more personalized and immersive experience to your user is possible. Thrill them, and they’ll keep coming back.
Also, as soon as you find it appropriate, add gamification elements as it makes your design more pleasurable.

• The Best Way to Communicate Brand Values and Reinforce Users’ Trust is through your User Interfaces

The best designs are designs that appeal to the emotions of users. Users associate good feelings with brands that communicate with them at all levels. Every user wants UI designs that gives the magic of fun-filled, smooth experiences.

A good example is this Airbnb’s simple, attractive setup. Thanks to their designs, their users do not only get solutions to their travel needs; they also do this fast, effortlessly, and pleasurably.

Conclusion

The world of UI Design is fascinating. Applying this skill by creating User Interfaces is one crucial aspect of every tech solution. As a prospective UI designer or a UI designer in training, here are the basic details you should be familiar with about USER INTERFACE DESIGN.

Southpaw will be back with more knowledge on UI/UX DESIGN as we will focus on UX Design next. Stay tuned!