Customer experience has evolved into a pivotal differentiator in the dynamic business world. Crafting a robust customer experience strategy is no longer just a buzzworthy term; it’s a necessity in today’s digital landscape. This blog will guide you through the ten essential steps to create a stellar customer experience strategy.

From understanding the core principles to mastering the latest digital customer experience strategy techniques, we’ve got you covered. Let’s set out to enhance customer satisfaction, foster loyalty, and drive your organization’s success by implementing best practices for customer experience strategy.

10 Steps to Build a Customer Experience Strategy

Creating an outstanding customer experience is the outcome of a well-thought-out customer experience strategy and not just a mere coincidence. Here are ten essential measures to help you provide a solid groundwork for your company’s customer experience initiatives.

1. Understand Your Audience

Start by creating detailed customer personas that encapsulate various facets of your customer base. Consider demographics, such as age, location, and gender, as well as psychographics, which delve into their attitudes, values, and behaviors.

Consider elements like your audience’s preferred digital customer experience channels and communication styles as you dig into their digital interactions and preferences. Analyzing their online activity and feedback will give you priceless knowledge about what they anticipate from your company. This thorough understanding will serve as the cornerstone for developing a plan that connects with your audience and entices them to return for more.

2. Set Clear Objectives

Setting clear objectives within your customer experience strategy is the compass that guides your journey. It involves defining specific, measurable, and time-bound goals that align with your organization’s mission. Rather than a vague aim, you might want to establish a precise target that is achievable.

These goals act as quantifiable benchmarks that let you know how well you’re doing when measured using KPIs like Net Promoter Score (NPS) or Customer Satisfaction (CSAT). They must be practical, considering your capabilities and resource availability, and flexible enough to change with the quickly evolving business environment. Establishing specific goals can help you plot your course and ensure your customer experience strategy is an effort motivated by goals and outcomes.

3. Map Customer Journeys

Mapping customer journeys refers to tracing the paths customers travel when interacting with your brand, from the first touchpoint to post-purchase. This method helps you understand the various stages of the customer experience by identifying critical times in their interactions with your company. Customers may interact with these journeys through a variety of channels and devices, making them complicated and non-linear.

You can visualize the complete client experience by mapping these travels, which is helpful for identifying pain points, delightful moments, and areas that can be improved. It gives you the ability to customize your tactics, content, and interactions to improve the whole customer experience and synchronize it with your goals.

4. Gather Customer Feedback

Use surveys, interviews, and feedback forms to get insightful information about the expectations and experiences of your customers. These interactions offer data that can be evaluated to identify certain problem areas and ones where your approach has to pay special attention. You may effectively gather and examine online reviews, social media mentions, and digital feedback using specialist customer experience management (CEM) solutions.

Such tools give you a thorough understanding of how your customers feel and behave across a range of digital touchpoints, empowering you to make informed decisions. You may ensure that your strategy is in line with your consumers’ expectations and levels of satisfaction by collecting and analyzing this feedback.

5. Leverage Technology

Digital solutions and customer experience management (CEM) platforms are at the forefront of effectively collecting and analyzing customer data. Tracking interactions, criticism, and performance across numerous digital touchpoints is made possible by these tools. The deployment of proactive digital customer experience management is made easier by technology. It makes it possible to give individualized and relevant digital interactions and content.

Utilizing technology, you may maintain a consolidated repository for customer data and interactions by seamlessly integrating customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. This unified data center is essential for personalizing interactions and ensuring that your customer experience plan corresponds with the audience’s digital preferences.

6. Employee Engagement

Employees who are actively involved in their work are more likely to be motivated, skilled, and committed to the objectives of your customer experience strategy. Programs for training employees that emphasize customer-centric procedures can be implemented by organizations. The significance of comprehending digital client behavior, preferences, and the precise objectives of the strategy should be emphasized.

Create a team to manage the digital customer experience or assign people to keep an eye on, react to, and enhance digital interactions. These teams can supply pertinent digital content by using customer relationship management (CRM) tools to stay up to date on customer needs. Through these systems, workers are encouraged to share their knowledge and expertise, promoting ongoing development.

7. Design Consistency

Design consistency is the maintenance of uniformity in the interactive and aesthetic components of your digital touchpoints across a variety of channels, which promotes reliability and trust in your brand. Establish branding standards for the use of digital assets such as color palettes, fonts, logos, and interface elements. To make sure their work is consistent with the brand identity, digital content providers and designers can use these standards as a guide.

Extend these rules across all digital platforms, like as websites, social media, mobile apps, and email marketing, to provide a consistent and comfortable user experience. The deployment of branding components and templates to ensure consistency is made easier by digital content management systems (CMS) and design tools.

8. Implement Improvements

In this process, strategic changes are made to improve the customer experience based on the knowledge and information gathered. Prioritizing problems and improvements in accordance with how they will affect the overall experience of customers is crucial. To ensure a quick and significant improvement in customer satisfaction, focus initially on high-impact pain issues.

Tracking the development of these improvements can be incredibly helpful when using digital customer experience management (CEM) solutions. As you update your digital content and touchpoints, they enable you to track changes in customer satisfaction, engagement, and other relevant key performance indicators (KPIs). Even after making adjustments, keep collecting feedback and data to assess their impact.

9. Measure and Analyze

In this step, you’ll utilize specific key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effect of your plan, like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT). A quantified overview of consumer sentiment and the general health of your digital customer experiences is provided by routinely monitoring these KPIs. These indicators allow you to determine whether your initiatives and alterations have a positive impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Customer feedback, digital interactions, and the performance of numerous digital touchpoints are all examined through analysis to identify trends, patterns, and areas that need more focus. Digital customer experience management (CEM) tools are essential for this step because they provide thorough dashboards and reporting capabilities that allow for performance monitoring and analysis.

10. Iterate and Innovate

Iteration entails going back and modifying your current strategies and approaches in light of the facts and insights you have gathered. To improve the digital customer experience, you go through a process of continuous improvement. On the other hand, innovation focuses on finding fresh and original approaches to advance your strategy. It entails keeping up with the most recent digital trends, technology, and customer experience management (CEM) best practices.

Advanced data analytics and digital customer experience management (CEM) solutions are essential in this stage. These tools enable you to measure the outcomes of your iterative and inventive efforts and pinpoint areas where innovation is required.

Final Thoughts

Understanding, engagement, and ongoing change are crucial to success. Your digital customer experience strategy is a live, breathing creation that thrives on input and changes to the ever-evolving digital dynamics, not a static plan.

You’ve laid a strong foundation for a strategy to promote customer pleasure, loyalty, and, eventually, the success of your company by putting these ten steps into practice. Keep in mind that just as the digital world never stops, neither should your dedication to providing top-notch experiences.

FAQs

• What is a customer experience strategy, and why is it important for businesses?
  A customer experience strategy is an action plan created to foster successful, dependable, and significant interactions between a company and its clients. Businesses need it because it has a direct impact on customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and business success. A carefully developed approach promotes long-lasting, valuable connections and aids in exceeding customer expectations.
• How does a customer experience strategy contribute to the success of a company?
  A customer experience strategy contributes to a company’s success by enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Satisfied customers are more likely to return, refer others, and make repeat purchases. This leads to increased revenue and a stronger market position, ultimately boosting the company’s success.
• What are the key components of a customer experience strategy?
  Understanding the needs of customers, tracking customer journeys, getting feedback, utilizing technology, and implementing continuous improvement are important elements of a customer experience strategy.
• Can you provide an overview of the 10 essential steps involved in building a customer experience strategy?
  Here’s an overview of the 10 essential steps for building a customer experience strategy:
  • Understand Your Audience
  • Set Clear Objectives
  • Map Customer Journeys
  • Gather Customer Feedback
  • Leverage Technology
  • Employee Engagement
  • Design Consistency
  • Implement Improvements
  • Measure and Analyze
  • Iterate and Innovate
• How often should I revisit and update my Customer Experience Strategy?
  Review and adapt your customer experience strategy frequently to reflect changing market conditions, consumer preferences, and customer feedback. Aim for at least a yearly review, but be ready to alter it as necessary to maintain its efficacy.
• How do I measure the success of my Customer Experience Strategy?
  Through key performance indicators (KPIs) like Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), and Customer Retention Rates, you may assess the effectiveness of your Customer Experience Strategy.
• What are some common challenges in implementing a Customer Experience Strategy?
  Aligning organizational culture, gathering and analyzing customer data efficiently, and ensuring consistent execution across every customer’s touchpoint are common obstacles to adopting a customer experience strategy.
• What role does customer research play in shaping a successful customer experience strategy?
  A good customer experience strategy is shaped substantially by customer research. Insights into client wants, preferences, and pain areas are provided, influencing the creation of the strategy and ensuring that it is resonant with the intended audience, resulting in greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The ever-evolving digital landscape challenges businesses to stay ahead by delivering exceptional customer experiences. “Customer Experience” (CX) and “User Experience” (UX) are two terms that often come into play. While they may sound interchangeable, they represent distinct aspects of a product or service journey, each holding its significance.

Understanding the nuances between customer and user experience is crucial for industry professionals and anyone seeking to create impactful digital solutions. In this blog, we delve deep into the world of CX and UX, dissecting their differences and uncovering why grasping this disparity is essential for crafting digital experiences that truly resonate with your audience.

What is Customer Experience?

Customer Experience (CX) is a customer’s overall perception and interaction with a brand, product, or service throughout the customer journey. It encompasses every touchpoint and interaction a customer has with a company, from the initial awareness and research stage to the purchase process, post-purchase support, and ongoing engagement.

Customer experience is a cumulative result of multiple interactions and experiences. It includes digital and physical interactions, such as using a website or app, contacting customer support, receiving a product, or visiting a physical store. A positive customer experience results in customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy, which are essential for long-term business success.

What is User Experience?

User Experience (UX) is an individual’s overall experience when interacting with a product, system, or service. It focuses on how users perceive, interact with, and feel about the product or service’s design, usability, and functionality. UX design aims to create products and experiences that are user-centered, intuitive, and enjoyable.

User experience focuses on understanding the user’s goals, motivations, and pain points to create a seamless and satisfying experience. A well-designed UX increases user satisfaction, lowers abandonment rates, and improves user retention.

Customer Experience vs User Experience: What’s the Difference?

Customer Experience (CX) and User Experience (UX) are both related but distinct concepts that focus on different aspects of interactions with a company’s products, services, or brand. Let us look at the breakdown of the key differences between customer experience and user experience.

Scope of Focus

Customer experience encompasses the entire end-to-end journey of a customer’s interactions with a company, including marketing, sales, customer support, and post-purchase experiences. It considers interactions both online and offline, spanning the entire customer journey.

User experience focuses on user interactions with a product, system, or service. It is primarily concerned with the design, usability, and functionality of that product or service.

Target Audience

Customer experience involves a broader range of audiences, such as stakeholders, customers, prospects, partners, and employees. It focuses on how various interactions impact overall brand perception and relationships.

User experience is more user-centric and primarily concerns the experience of individuals who directly engage with a product or service.

Context

Customer experience considers the overall context of a customer’s relationship with the company. It includes marketing communications, brand perception, and customer service interactions.

User experience focuses on the specific context of a user’s interaction with a particular product or service. This may include aspects such as ease of use, navigation, and satisfaction within that context.

Goals

The primary goal of customer experience is to build and maintain positive relationships with customers, driving customer loyalty, retention, and advocacy.

The primary goal of user experience is to optimize the usability and user satisfaction of a specific product or service, ultimately improving user adoption and engagement.

Metrics

Metrics for CX include Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Customer Effort Score (CES), and customer retention rates.

Metrics for UX include usability testing, task success rates, user satisfaction surveys, and user engagement metrics.

Why Does the Difference Matter?

Understanding and appreciating the difference between Customer Experience (CX) and User Experience (UX) is crucial for several reasons. It empowers organizations to allocate resources efficiently, tailor strategies, and create products and services that resonate with their audience.

Strategic Alignment

Recognizing customer experience vs. user experience helps organizations appropriately align their strategies and resources. CX strategies focus on overall customer satisfaction and loyalty, while UX strategies are more granular, concentrating on the design and usability of specific products or services. By knowing the difference, companies can develop targeted strategies for both areas.

Resource Allocation

Companies have limited resources, and knowing the difference between CX and UX enables them to allocate resources effectively. For example, if customer feedback indicates dissatisfaction with a website’s usability (UX), resources can be directed toward improving the website’s design and functionality. Conversely, if customer satisfaction is low across multiple touchpoints (CX), resources may need to be allocated to broader customer service or marketing efforts.

Specialized Expertise

CX and UX require different skill sets and expertise. CX involves marketing, customer service, and brand management, while UX involves design, usability, and user research. Recognizing the distinction allows organizations to hire and develop specialized talent in each area, ensuring customer experience and product usability receive the attention they deserve.

Improved Customer Understanding

Distinguishing CX vs. UX allows companies to understand their customers better. By examining the broader customer journey (CX), organizations can identify pain points, moments of delight, and areas where loyalty can be built. Simultaneously, analyzing the specific interactions and usability of products (UX) helps pinpoint where design improvements are needed.

Enhanced Problem Solving

Organizations can approach problem-solving more effectively when they grasp the difference between CX and UX. If a company faces a decline in customer retention (a CX issue), it can analyze the entire customer journey to identify contributing factors. If a specific product has low user adoption (a UX issue), they can focus on refining the product’s design and functionality.

Customer-Centricity

Understanding both CX and UX promotes a more customer-centric approach. Companies that prioritize both areas are more likely to create products and services that meet customer needs and expectations, leading to increased customer loyalty and advocacy.

Competitive Advantage

Companies that excel in CX and UX can gain a significant competitive advantage. Satisfied customers are more likely to return, recommend the brand to others, and become brand advocates, resulting in increased market share and revenue.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, the distinction between CX and UX is more than an academic exercise; it’s a compass guiding organizations toward success. By mastering both the art of creating exceptional customer journeys and crafting user-friendly products, companies can secure the loyalty of their audience and stay ahead in today’s dynamic market. So, remember, in the journey toward excellence, it’s not just about making the right impression; it’s about making every interaction count.

FAQs

1. What is the fundamental difference between customer experience and user experience?
   Customer Experience (CX) covers all interactions with a brand, including marketing and support. User Experience (UX) focuses specifically on interactions with a product or service.
2. How do customer experience and user experience impact a business differently?
   Customer Experience (CX) impacts overall brand perception, loyalty, and advocacy. User Experience (UX) directly influences product adoption, satisfaction, and engagement.
3. Can you define customer experience (CX) in more detail?
   Customer Experience (CX) encompasses every touchpoint and interaction a customer has with a brand, including marketing, sales, service, and post-purchase experiences. A customer’s holistic perception based on these interactions influences their loyalty and brand advocacy.
4. Can you define user experience (UX) in more detail?
   User Experience (UX) focuses on the specific interactions individuals have with a product, system, or service. It’s all about making these interactions user-friendly, efficient, and satisfying, ultimately driving user adoption and engagement.
5. How does a positive User Experience (UX) contribute to a better Customer Experience (CX)?
   A positive User Experience (UX) enhances overall Customer Experience (CX) by making products or services more user-friendly, leading to higher customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and improved brand perception.
6. How can a business improve both Customer Experience (CX) and User Experience (UX) simultaneously?
   To improve both Customer Experience (CX) and User Experience (UX) simultaneously, a business should:
   • Align CX and UX strategies.
   • Invest in user research.
   • Prioritize feedback and iteration.
   • Foster a customer-centric culture.
   • Train and empower employees for better interactions.
7. Are customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) terms that can be used interchangeably?
   No, Customer Experience (CX) and User Experience (UX) are not interchangeable terms. CX is about the overall journey with a brand, while UX focuses on specific interactions with a product or service. Both are important but distinct aspects of the customer journey.

Staying ahead of the curve is essential in the fast-paced digital design world, where user expectations constantly evolve. As we embark on the journey into 2024, the User Experience (UX) landscape is poised for exciting advancements and innovations. To thrive in this dynamic design era, embracing the latest UX design best practices that will meet and exceed user expectations is crucial.

In this blog, we’ll unveil the top 10 UX best practices that promise to define the gold standard for optimal user experiences in 2024. Join us as we explore the strategies and techniques that will set your digital creations apart and delight users like never before.

What is User Experience (UX)?

User Experience (UX) is a person’s overall experience and satisfaction when interacting with a product, system, or service. It encompasses various user interaction aspects, including perceptions, emotions, preferences, and usability assessments. UX design aims to create products and experiences that are user-centered, intuitive, and enjoyable, ultimately meeting the needs and expectations of the users while achieving business goals.

What is the Importance of User Experience?

User Experience (UX) is crucial because it directly impacts customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty. A well-designed UX enhances efficiency, reduces support costs, and differentiates a product or service in a competitive market. It drives higher conversion rates, encourages positive word-of-mouth, and fuels brand loyalty.

10 Best UX Design & Strategy Practices to Look Forward to in 2024

It is crucial to keep an eye on emerging UX design practices that promise to shape the user experiences of tomorrow. Here are 10 UX practices that are poised to make a significant impact in 2024 and beyond.

1. Mobile-First Design

With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, it’s vital to prioritize mobile-friendly design. Mobile-first design is a design approach that prioritizes designing for mobile devices before considering larger screens like desktops or tablets.

However, it doesn’t mean ignoring desktop users; instead, it’s about ensuring that the core user experience is outstanding on mobile and then expanding and enhancing it for larger screens. This approach aligns with users’ evolving habits and expectations in an increasingly mobile-centric world.

2. Accessibility

Accessibility refers to ensuring that everyone, including individuals with disabilities, can perceive, interact with, and use digital content and services effectively. It aims to create an inclusive environment where all users, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can access and interact with digital products and services without barriers.

It involves compatibility with assistive technologies, such as screen readers, voice recognition software, and keyboard navigation tools. WCAG is a widely accepted set of guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to make web content more accessible. These guidelines provide a framework for designers and developers to ensure that websites and web applications are accessible to a wide range of users.

3. Performance Optimization

Performance optimization is the process of improving the speed, efficiency, and overall responsiveness of these digital assets. It aims to enhance the user experience by ensuring that content loads quickly, interactions are smooth, and resources are used efficiently. It is essential for providing a positive user experience, reducing bounce rates, improving search engine rankings, and maximizing the reach and impact of digital products and websites.

Users expect fast-loading pages and smooth interactions. Optimize your website or app’s performance by minimizing page load times, compressing images, and using content delivery networks (CDNs) to serve assets efficiently. A speedy experience keeps users engaged and satisfied.

4. Minimalistic Design

Minimalistic design, often referred to as minimalism, is a design approach characterized by simplicity, focusing on essential elements and eliminating unnecessary elements or distractions. It’s about achieving a clean, uncluttered, visually appealing design emphasizing clarity and the core message.

Minimalistic design is not about lacking creativity or visual interest; instead, it’s about distilling design to its essential elements, creating an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly experience. Keep your design simple and uncluttered. Avoid overwhelming users with too much information or too many design elements. Use white space effectively, choose a clean and consistent layout, and prioritize clear typography.

5. User-Centered Design

User-centered design (UCD) is a design approach that prioritizes the needs, preferences, and behaviors of users throughout the design and development process of products, services, or systems. It places the user at the center of decision-making, aiming to create intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable solutions.

Conduct user research to understand your target audience’s needs, preferences, and pain points. Use this information to inform your design decisions. Create user personas, conduct user interviews, and perform usability testing to ensure your design aligns with user goals.

6. Consistency

Consistency in design refers to maintaining uniformity and coherence in the visual and functional elements of a product, system, or brand. It ensures that similar elements and interactions are presented in the same way throughout the design, providing users with a predictable and familiar experience.

Consistency in design is a fundamental principle that enhances user experience, brand recognition, and usability. Consistency in design elements and patterns helps users intuitively navigate your product or website. Maintain a uniform color scheme, typography, and layout throughout your digital experience.

7. Personalization

Personalization involves tailoring content, experiences, and interactions to meet the unique preferences, behaviors, and needs of individual users. It aims to create more engaging and relevant experiences by delivering content or features that resonate with each user on a personal level.

Users appreciate tailored experiences. Implement personalization by using data and user preferences to recommend relevant content, products, or services. Personalization enhances engagement and user satisfaction. Yet, it requires careful planning, ethical considerations, and a balance between user privacy and providing tailored experiences.

8. Usability Testing

Usability testing is a user research method used in designing and developing products, websites, and applications to evaluate their usability and identify areas for improvement. It involves observing real users as they interact with a prototype or an existing product to understand how easily they can accomplish specific tasks and achieve their goals.

Regularly conduct usability tests with real users to identify and address issues in your design. Usability testing includes observing how users interact with your product and collecting feedback. It helps uncover usability problems and allows for iterative improvements.

9. Content Strategy

Content strategy is a strategic approach to planning, creating, organizing, and distributing content across various digital and offline channels. It aims to align content with an organization’s goals and user needs, ensuring that the right content is delivered to the right audience at the right time.

High-quality content is essential for a positive user experience. Develop a clear content strategy that focuses on delivering relevant, concise, and engaging content. Use a hierarchy that prioritizes important information and ensures that content aligns with user needs and goals.

10. Cross-Platform Compatibility

Often referred to as cross-platform development or cross-platform compatibility testing, is the practice of ensuring that a digital product, application, or software can run consistently and effectively on various operating systems (OS), devices, and web browsers without issues or significant modifications.       

Users access digital content on various devices and browsers. Ensure cross-platform compatibility by testing your product on different devices, screen sizes, and browsers. Responsive design and browser compatibility testing help deliver a consistent experience to all users.

Final Thoughts

As we look ahead to 2024, the 10 UX design best practices outlined in this blog will continue to be guiding principles for designers, developers, and businesses alike. It is crucial to remember that UX is not a one-time endeavor; it’s an ongoing commitment to understanding your users, adapting to their needs, and delivering exceptional experiences.

As technology advances and user behaviors evolve, staying attuned to these best practices will help you steer the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, ensuring that your digital products and services stand out in the crowd.

FAQs

1. What is UX (User Experience), and why is it important for websites and apps?
   UX (User Experience) refers to a user’s overall experience while interacting with a website, app, or product. It encompasses everything from usability and functionality to aesthetics and emotional impact. UX is crucial as it directly impacts user satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty. A positive UX leads to better user retention, increased conversions, and competitive advantage, while a poor UX can drive users away and harm a brand’s reputation.
2. What are the primary goals of creating an optimal user experience?
   The primary goals of creating an optimal user experience (UX) are to satisfy user needs, enhance usability, increase user satisfaction, drive conversions, build brand loyalty, reduce costs, and stay competitive.
3. What role does user research play in the UX design process?
   User research is integral to the UX design process, providing critical insights into user behaviors, needs, and preferences. It guides designers in creating products that align with user expectations, resulting in more intuitive and effective solutions. User research methods such as surveys, interviews, usability testing, and personas help identify pain points, uncover opportunities for improvement, and validate design decisions.
4. How can AI and machine learning enhance UX in 2024?
   AI and machine learning are poised to revolutionize UX in 2024 by offering personalized experiences, predictive recommendations, and enhanced automation. AI can analyze user data to tailor content and interactions to individual preferences, making products more relevant and engaging. Overall, AI and machine learning will elevate UX by delivering more efficient, intuitive, and user-centric digital experiences.
5. Why is performance optimization crucial for UX in 2024?
   Performance optimization is crucial for UX strategy and design in 2024 because users expect fast-loading, responsive, and efficient digital experiences. Slow websites or applications can lead to frustration, high bounce rates, and user abandonment. In an era where attention spans are limited, performance optimization ensures that users can access content and complete tasks quickly, resulting in a smoother and more satisfying user experience.

User Experience (UX) design seeks to create meaningful products and interfaces that prioritize user empathy and support.     

However, within this realm of design, there exists a darker side characterized by manipulative tactics that undermine user needs and deceive individuals. These tactics, known as dark patterns, have gained attention for their negative impact on user experiences. 

In this blog, we will delve into the various types of dark patterns, shedding light on their nature and exploring the detrimental effects they can have on users.

What are dark patterns in UX design? 

The term dark patterns, also known as deceptive patterns, was introduced by designer Harry Brignull in 2010. Dark patterns are design elements within user interfaces that use deception to manipulate users into engaging in actions they would not have chosen willingly.

Suggested reading: Dark Patterns – Interview of Harry Brignull, the inventor of this concept

What are the main types of dark patterns? 

Dark patterns can be found all over the internet, mobile apps, and business software. From hidden subscriptions and costs to misleading defaults and opt-out tricks — dark patterns can be found everywhere! 

Below, we will discuss four of the most common types of dark patterns that you need to watch out for when browsing the web.

1. The Truman Type

The Truman Type is a group of dark patterns that rely on deception and deceptive disguises. These patterns use a variety of techniques designed to mislead users, luring them into taking actions they may not have intended.

Common examples of the Truman Type include: 

• Disguised ads: This is one of the most common tactics employed by the Truman Type. By masquerading as something else, these cunning advertisements trick unsuspecting users into clicking on them.
• Social proof: This uses tactics like false testimonials or an inflated number of likes to sway users by convincing them that a large group of people has already embraced a particular action.
• Urgency techniques: These are designed to coerce users into immediate action. By bombarding individuals with messages like “Limited time offer!” or “Act now or miss out!”, they aim to induce a state of panic and put pressure on users. 

Like in Truman’s life, these dark patterns aim to create a false sense of trust and acceptance. Users are encouraged to unquestioningly embrace the presented information until they realize that the presented information is, in fact, fake.

2. Hide-and-Seek

This pattern in UX design resembles a child’s game of hide and seek. It adopts a game-like approach where elements and functions within an interface are intentionally hidden, turning the user experience into a challenging puzzle.    

This pattern can manifest in various ways. For example, canceling a subscription might involve navigating a labyrinthine flow, making it difficult for users to find the option to unsubscribe. In some cases, users may find themselves trapped with no apparent way out due to deliberately hidden options that prevent them from canceling a subscription.  

In light of these manipulative tactics, a recent report revealed that more than 90% of people in the UK believe that it should be made illegal for companies to purposely make it difficult to unsubscribe to online services.

3. Interface @#$%! Language  

Every interface communicates with users through language, employing text, visuals, sounds, or a combination of these elements. This dark pattern manipulates users through communication techniques that are designed to play tricks or confuse.

It can involve messing around with button colors, making unsubscribe buttons red or even removing them completely, or throwing confusing questions at users that lead them astray. 

A classic example of this pattern is when websites try to gather your personal information. They might tempt you with an offer like “Leave your email and get a 99% discount” while providing a negative response option such as “No, I’m not smart and don’t want to save money.” 

These tactics may increase conversion rates, but they create an unpleasant experience and leave users feeling annoyed and tricked.

4. Interrupting

No one likes to be interrupted when they’re busy doing a task, so the human brain is wired to reduce the number of external distractions. 

The interrupting pattern taps into our natural aversion to interruptions and seeks to manipulate users by deliberately placing barriers in their path. These barriers hinder the user’s ability to achieve their goals or perform desired actions, often resulting in frustration and reduced productivity.  

Dark patterns in this category employ various strategies to interrupt users repeatedly until they either comply or give up. Examples include:

• Forcing users to enable notifications
• Convincing them to subscribe to a service
• Making it exceptionally difficult to cancel a paid subscription

By intentionally introducing distractions that disrupt the user’s workflow, these patterns force users into making decisions they may not have otherwise chosen.

Final thoughts 

While UX design strives to offer a superior user experience, it’s important to acknowledge the presence of dark patterns that exploit and deceive users. While these tactics may appear to be a quick and effective way to achieve business objectives, it is essential to consider the ethical implications of their use. 

At Windmill, we believe in prioritizing user empathy and support over deceptive strategies. By consciously avoiding the use of dark patterns and embracing ethical design principles, we can build trust with users, enhance their overall experience, and create more successful and sustainable products.

Reach out to discover how our digital product services can help you create user-centric experiences that build trust and drive long-term success.

When embarking on a journey, especially one to an unfamiliar location, you do not leave anything to chance. You’ll need a plan for how to get there, and a map, whether traditional or digital, like Waze or Google Maps, will make the journey more pleasant. 

Similarly, having a graphic outline of how your potential customer experiences your product or service is critical to creating a memorable experience for them, which translates to better lead generation and increased customer retention, among other things.

Getting a customer to buy a product may appear to be a simple task. You make your product available, and your target customer sees it and purchases it. However, according to the most recent Baymard Institute data, the average cart abandonment rate across industries is 69.89 percent. In other words, seven out of ten shoppers abandon their shopping carts without making a purchase.

So, for your products to be successful, you must first understand the path your prospective customers take to reach your products, as well as what they need and value the most.

The Function of Customer Journey Maps in Design Thinking

In Design Thinking, getting to know your customers’ personas and understanding how they interact with your brand gives you a pretty good idea of how they will behave in the future. An excellent way to do this is through customer journey mapping.

A journey map is a detailed visualization that depicts the experience of a user-based persona as they use a specific product. It depicts the steps your customers take when interacting with your product or service.

A customer journey map specifies three elements:

• The points at which prospective and existing customers interact with your brand. 
• What the customer seeks at each point.
• The path they take from one point to the other, as they move towards buying your products. A map can be illustrated for an online experience, retail experience, or a combination of these.

Why should a company carry out customer journey mapping?

Making a customer journey map confers a lot of advantages that include:

Understanding your customers more—The better you understand the customer’s expectations, the more you can tailor their experience to fit their needs.

Make better measurable decisions—By following each milestone on the journey map, you can easily measure the progress of optimizing your product’s purchase process against the customer experience desired by your customers.

Identify and improve business processes—The mapping process brings together sales, marketing, and customer support to define what customers need to know before they buy, what they need after they buy, and how these interactions can be enhanced.

Identify growth opportunities—You can use the journey map to identify new growth opportunities for your company.

Run a tight customer-centric ship—During the mapping process, auditing your content can reveal areas where you are losing customers and how you can shore up and strengthen those areas.

Steering content priorities—It’s easy for teams to become distracted by a new and exciting idea. A journey map that expresses the needs of the target audience helps to ensure that the team stays true to what your audience wants and needs.

When should it be done?

Customer journey mapping can be do when your start-up wants to:

• Assess the gaps in your current service offering.
• Increase the personalization of customer interactions for each customer profile or segment.
• Create a more effective marketing strategy for your new products and services.
• Recognize how each customer persona’s service experience differs.
• Develop a new experience while keeping the important moments in mind.
• Compare your competitors’ journeys to yours and create better differentiators.

Download our free customer journey map template

If you’ve downloaded Windmill Digital’s free Customer Journey Map template, you can make and customize it to meet the needs of your brand or product.

But, before you begin creating your customer journey map, let us explain how to fill it successfully. We’ll go over what each component represents and what to expect from each question.

The 7 Key Components of the Journey Map

1. Name/ Persona

A user persona is a fictitious character representing a distinct customer segment of your start-up. When creating this persona, be sure to consider characteristics like background, demographic, lifestyle, character, information sources available to them, as well as shopping preferences. The information to build user personas can be gathered through user interviews, empathy maps, surveys, etc.

2. The Phases (Step 1-7)

A customer journey map includes significant milestones in the customer journey. You’ll begin by drafting the path your business intends for a customer to take to reach a goal. Using the typical buying process stages, you’ll list each stage horizontally. 

3. Doing

This section of the customer journey map details the action a customer takes at each stage of the buying process. List out every action your customers take all through their interaction with your company. Whether clicking on a CTA link in your email or searching on Google.

Take note if customers take too many actions to get to their goals. Finding a solution to this by cutting down the number of steps a customer needs to take can feel risky, but it will pay off in higher conversion rates.

4. Thinking and Feelings

Emotion drives everything your customer does. And their emotions change depending on where they are in their journey.

If your process is lengthy or complicated, they may experience a variety of emotions at each stage. Including these emotions on the journey map can help you mitigate negative journey emotions so they don’t become synonymous with your brand.

5. Pain point voting dot

Where there is a negative emotion, there’s a pain point that caused it. Adding pain points to your customer journey map can help you identify which stage your customer is experiencing negative emotions and deduce the reason why.

For example, one of your customers could love your product but abandon their cart upon discovering unexpectedly high or hidden delivery charges.

6. Improvement pain point

Improvement pain points are where you and your team plan on how to potentially mitigate these pain points. 

This segment aims to improve your purchasing process so that your customers have few or no issues with it and have positive emotions when they patronize your business.

For example, one way to alleviate the pain points associated with delivery charges could be to provide a FAQ page where customers can learn more about the charges.

7. Touchpoints

A touchpoint in a customer journey map is a point at which your customer can form an opinion about your company. Touchpoints can be found anywhere your company has direct contact with potential or existing customers. Customer touchpoints can include a pop-up ad, interactions with your employees, notifications and error messages, and even a Google review.

Conclusion

Customer journey mapping is not a one-time event. The customer journey is subject to change, and your brand must be prepared to adapt. However, the template provided here should give you a good start in better understanding your customers’ journey as they interact with your company, brand, products, partners, and people.

Remember to map out the various journeys taken by the persona representing your various customer segments. This can be time-consuming, but worthwhile because boosting customer retention percentages by just 5% can maximize profits by 25% to 95%.

A workflow diagram (also known as a workflow) provides a graphical overview of a process. Using standardized symbols and shapes, the workflow shows, step-by-step, how a process is completed from start to finish. Designing a workflow involves first conducting a thorough workflow analysis, which can expose weaknesses.

A workflow analysis can help you define, standardize, and identify critical areas of your product. Workflow diagrams go by other names, including UML Activity Diagram, Flowchart, Taskflow, Process Map, and Process Chart.

In short, workflows are for:

• Showing how users travel through the system while performing a specific task.
• Describing a path that might not always be linear, but the one that branches.

Why use a workflow diagram?

Workflow is an integral part of UX design and is critical to a product’s ultimate success. We’re not talking about on-screen visual elements, but rather the path a user takes across various features towards their desired result. The user experience is strongly impacted not just by what’s on the screen at any given time, but also by how the current screen relates to past screens and future states. Product usability is much enhanced when you consider the totality of the user experience.

But there’s also a more business-oriented argument for improving workflow usability: Users can often overcome isolated usability problems, but a broken workflow is much harder for them to fix. Among the typical consequences of bad workflow design are:

• Undiscovered errors that occur when users don’t relate what happened on screen A with a (much-later) screen B;
• Abandonment, where users simply give up on something they don’t understand;
• Frustration, which arises when an awkward process takes much more time than it should. (Individual design elements can also delay users, but a poor workflow takes considerably longer to complete.)

Therefore workflow diagrams are useful when:

• You need to communicate complicated ideas to people who may not have been party to their creation.
• You need to understand which screens are required and how a user might experience them. Workflow diagrams take a holistic view on the flow. This is different when you single out some pieces of the flow. 
• Usually we design only the happy path. Branching in the flow can highlight additional considerations in the design. Workflow helps to visualize what’s going on and thereby help to understand a process, and perhaps also find less-obvious features within the process.

Creating effective Workflow Diagrams

Effective diagramming of a workflow can facilitate a clear understanding of the boundaries of a product process. This allows the reader to see where and when the process flow can leave the process that is being documented.

Such diagrams can convey complex information or help elicit nuanced details when designing interfaces.

Diagramming these process flows can be an effective tool that a designer uses to shed light into the nuances of the flow that may not have been so evident.

Use common symbols and shapes

Workflows use specific shapes and symbols to represent steps and actions throughout the process. These symbols were approved by The International Organization for Standardization (ISO 5807) in 1985. Common symbols and shapes include:

Utilize numbering to direct your narrative

Generally, flowcharts read from top to bottom and left to right. But if your diagram is not sequentially drawn, numbering helps in the accurate consumption of information.

Keep everything on one page

It is good practice to make sure that the workflow fits on a single page while keeping the text readable. When a diagram becomes too large to fit on a page, depending on the number of steps, you can also have your workflow left to right, then down to a subsequent line where it continues. It will look something like this:

Place return lines under the workflow diagram

Since we naturally read text from the top of the page down, it is logical that return lines should be placed under the workflow rather than above. If two return lines are needed, they shouldn’t overlap.

Workflows vs User Flows

Both workflows and user flows are deliverables that are generally useful within the interaction design phase. They are used to map out the structure, hierarchy, and relationships across content and features, so that people can fluidly navigate through the design to accomplish their desired goals.

But compared to user flows, workflows are appropriate when the task in question will be performed similarly by all users and who will also share a common entry point. For example, in an alarm clock mobile app, a task such as “set alarm time” is likely to be performed in the same way by all users.

A few “don’ts” in creating workflow diagrams

When creating a workflow diagram, there are some practices best avoided.

❌ Don’t make them look like user flows.

❌ Don’t depict the user persona as flow is similar to all users.

❌ Don’t put wireframes into the flow.

❌ Don’t put any pages into the flow at all. The workflow is more conceptual deliverable.

❌ Don’t loop the flow. Each flow has to have a start and an end.

❌ Don’t merge several flows together. The workflow is focused on completing one task.

Workflow Diagrams are one of the many tools Windmill uses as part of our digital product strategy services. With our help, you can accelerate your start-up’s growth strategy with confidence. Together we can rationalize objectives and create exciting web and mobile app concepts.

Every company needs to stand out. Not necessarily in a showy, attention-grabbing way, a company must occupy a niche. There’s always a similar product or service available, making it important to know thy neighbor. What can your company offer that competitors don’t? What features make your product or service distinct from the rest? And more importantly, what can you learn from your competitors? Enter competitive analysis. 

Ginni Rometty, the ex-CEO of IBM, states, “You’ve got to keep reinventing. You’ll have new competitors. You’ll have new customers all around you.”

A competitive analysis aims to assess competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and identify gaps in the market. This blog will serve as a guide to conducting a competitive analysis. 

So without further ado, let’s dive right in.

Types of competitors 

There are four main types of competitors you’ll encounter. They are:

Direct competitors: A direct competitor competes for the same users with the same problem and offers the same solution. The target audience and price points are also similar. A timeless example of two companies in direct competition is Coca-Cola and Pepsi, whose flagship products target the same audience (mass market) with the same problem (thirsty) and with the same solution (a sweet, cold drink at a low price point).

Indirect competitors: Indirect competitors compete for the same users with the same problem but offer different solutions. These are companies that make products that are slightly different but have the same target audience regardless. They also satisfy similar customer needs. An example of indirect competitors is Domino’s and McDonald’s. While they both sell different products (pizzas and hamburgers), they target the same audience: hungry customers looking for a quick and affordable meal.

Partner competitors: Business partners who partner in one aspect of their business but compete in other business areas can be called partner competitors. An example of partner competitors can be Alexander Wang and Adidas. The two companies collaborated and created clothing items and footwear. However, they are still competitors in the grand scheme of things as both are apparel and footwear brands.

Rival companies might team up because it’s strategically advantageous (such as to fight a larger competitor) or because their clients demand a solution that forces an integration of their services.

Alternatives: Alternatives don’t compete for either the same users, problem, or solution. They offer customers choices when they make buying decisions. They offer them utility and thus create competition between two companies. If a product serves a similar purpose as your product, it can be considered its alternative.

An example of alternate products is Nikon, the camera company, and Wacom Intuos, which makes creative pen tablets. If the price of Nikon products increase (due to a rise in e.g., input costs), the demand for alternatives, such as the tablets made by Wacom Intuos, may increase as a result.

Now we turn our attention to the methods and techniques involved in conducting a competitive analysis.

Why should a company do a competitive analysis workshop?

A competitive analysis provides direction on a large number of product-related concerns. These include:

• It provides an understanding of how your current and prospective customers perceive the competition.
• It provides you with a constructive assessment of your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses.
• It helps you discover what your competitors are up to and what kind of threat they pose to your company’s success.
• Understanding your competitors’ landscape not only informs your design decisions but also your overall product strategy.
• It reveals valuable opportunities for creating a superior product and distinguishing yourself from the competition.
• It aids in identifying industry trends and making more informed marketing decisions.
• It works in conjunction with a value proposition canvas to solidify a distinct value proposition.
• It aids the pricing of products and services.
• Discover new ways to reach customers, as well as new customer segments.

When should a company do a competitive analysis

Competitive analysis should be carried out:

At the beginning of a project

One of the first research steps in the UX design process is to conduct a competitive analysis. Before beginning work on a new project, conduct a UX competitive analysis. 

Frequentative process

Because competitors can appear at any time and may increase (or improve) their offerings, the competitive analysis should be iterative and ongoing for the duration of the project.

Competitive analysis: a step-by-step process

If you have already downloaded the competitive analysis above, it’s time to learn how to make your product stand out among other market players.

Define objectives and prepare data gathering

Start by looking into your company. What areas and segments of the market do you cover?  What sectors? What are your target keywords? 

Then search for companies that are similar to yours. A good competitive analysis will likely return a list of global, national, and local competitors who are your direct or indirect competitors. 

Any business marketing a product similar to, or an alternative for your product in the same geographic area is a direct competitor. Companies offering distinct or substitute products to your product or service are considered indirect competitors.

Secondly, before you conduct your research you need to have a well-organized place to store your gathered data. Whether digital records or paper.

Identify Competitors

Before you can assess and analyze your competitors, you have to know who they are. If you’re starting from scratch, Google is your friend. Search for…

1. Terms that describe your business in a simple way, with an optional geographic modifier;
2. Your SEO keywords (these might differ from your previous search if your marketing team has decided to avoid the most competitive keywords); and
3. List-type articles that provide an overview of your industry.

For once, you can also pay attention to the top advert results. The ads will be from companies targeting the same areas as you.

Your second stop will be company reference websites such as Crunchbase and Owler, which allow varying levels of free access. Their information will be more reliable for larger companies, so pick a prominent competitor from your initial research and look through that company’s competitor list. From there, you can explore competitors in a branching fashion.

More fully featured sales and marketing solutions such as D&B Hoovers and Cognism may have higher data quality, but cost more. They’ll help you gather data about things like product suites, geographic locations, financial data, mergers and acquisitions activity, etc.

A free trial of one of these services can be a good option if you’ll only be working on your competitive research for a limited period. Sign up, gorge on the data you need, and cancel.

Collect information

Now it’s time to collect competitor data.

General company data

Target the quick wins first. Use the aforementioned company reference websites (Crunchbase, Zoominfo, Owler) to populate high-level competitor information such as financial data, owned geographies, products, M&A activity, and, if you’re lucky, marketing and strategy information.

For small or private companies, data quality will likely be poor compared to public companies, which are duty bound to provide company data so investors can make informed decisions. Finding information on such companies can be more of a manual process. The “About Us” section of a website is a good place to start, try also a Google News search for the company in question.

Search tip: Dun & Bradstreet has arguably the best company data, some of which is available for free. To access a limited version of Dun & Bradstreet’s paid-for data for free, we can leverage Google. Search for “[Company name] site:hoovers.com”. You may have to click around a bit to find the “ultimate parent” company of the organization you’re researching, which is likely the most useful one to find.

Internet performance and technology

You may want to include an analysis of a competitor’s website and internet presence. Tools exist to help with this and include SimilarWeb, Alexa Rankings, Buzzsumo, and Spyfu. These tools will help determine how competitors’ websites are performing and make it easier to track their growth.

You can also identify the web technologies that a particular site uses, should that be an important part of your sales strategy. These include SimilarTech, Builtwith, and What Runs.

Product Information

Obtaining product information is a bit more of a manual process. Use competitor websites to find out about their product offerings. Additional sources of product-related information includes data from websites such as G2Crowd, GetApp, and TrustRadius, which contain product reviews, providing customer insight. For companies active in the digital space, Google Play and Apple’s App Store are useful sources of information.

Collate your data

A visual board can be a helpful tool to evaluate competitors better. For marketing purposes, a visual board can be used for brainstorming, sprint planning, putting together customer and user journey maps, etc. Tools like InVision and Pinterest are popular for visual boards. 

Here at Windmill, we use Miro. It’s an online whiteboard that allows for efficient team collaboration. The tool is also viable for documenting business meetings, managing workflows, etc. 

Another way of categorizing competitors’ can be by using mind maps. XMind is an excellent tool for creating mind maps. Place your competitors (direct, indirect, partner) accordingly.

Using a Comparison Matrix

A comparison matrix is a tool used to analyze industry trends and helps compare different companies in the market. Not only does it aid in understanding their differences, but their strengths and weaknesses can be evaluated too. This data is beneficial for unveiling competitive advantage and potential growth opportunities. It will help leverage what makes your brand unique. 

A comparison matrix can be created in many different ways. Here at Windmill, we use the Feature Comparison Matrix. This kind of comparison matrix includes several rows of features and columns of competitors, which helps compare the variety of products belonging to each competitor. The data for a Feature Comparison Matrix can be gathered via a competitive website analysis. 

Experts also recommend using heat maps for data analysis. These maps help identify which parts of a business website are getting the most views by using a color spectrum. It helps to understand the behavior of visitors on a website.

What are the different comparison categories?

It’s essential for you to understand which comparison categories to include in your comparison matrix. Without the proper categories, a comparison matrix will fail to live up to its intended purpose. 

When creating a comparison matrix, you must include:

Basic information: This section includes key attributes for identification. These include product names, short descriptions, supported platforms, website addresses, app links, etc. It also allows the user to save login and password information, giving them quick access to a competitor’s product. 

Consider linking to a screenshot board as well. It will help you analyze each product feature’s visual aspects and specifications, thereby improving the quality of your competitive analysis. 

Feature list: This section comprises all the features competitors’ products offer. Not only will it help determine the functionality of their products, but their quality too. Consider using color-coded scores as they can make it easier to assess quality levels.

Approximate sitemap: This category is all about defining and describing the organizational system. It includes the various product sections and patterns. Make sure the list provides a general overview of the structure, though it doesn’t necessarily need to be precise. 

Heuristic evaluation: A heuristic evaluation will allow one to analyze the usability of a competitors’ products against a set of Heuristic Principles. Use the whole set of heuristics or pick a few of them, depending on the time available for research. However, it’s essential to evaluate the same heuristic for all competitors. 

Feedback: Track the overall rating of competitors and then read their feedback to identify common threads. Reviews are valuable sources of information about a product, such as what people like or dislike, which features they would want the product to incorporate, etc.

Overall experience: State the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors here. 

Business-specific: This section includes comparing the Pricing and Revenue Models of competitors to their overall performance. Such information can help you set the price of products. For example, consider comparing a company’s time on the market with its growth patterns. Knowing a company’s founding year can also help put its growth performance in perspective. 

Comparing the target audience is also beneficial, as it helps to understand how the product appeals to current customers and whether there is a need to discover new ones.

Conclusion

To get the most out of one’s marketing efforts, a competitive analysis is essential. Luckily, there are so many different tools available today that one can use when conducting a competitive analysis. Whether it’s to assess competitors’ company profiles or to track their growth rates, these tools prove to be handy. Moreover, as there is an abundance of data to analyze, from identifying competitors to evaluating the various aspects of their companies, a comparison matrix can be helpful. 

We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for your team to benefit from the Competitive Analysis template. But nothing beats the guidance that an experienced design team can offer, so get in touch today to find out how Windmill can help your business clarify its value proposition, business model, and other key strategic pillars.

Figma Tutorial: How to Transfer a Project from Sketch to Figma

Many designers continue to work in programs familiar to them, such as Sketch, even if new programs, such as Figma, have surpassed them in terms of functionality and capability. Figma has become the market leader, thanks to its deep functionality. Its benefits include:

• Compatibility with any operating system, not restricted to MacOS (like with Sketch).
• Easier teamwork: all team members can work on the same file at the same time.
• Autosaving enabled. Update history is stored on the cloud.
• The transfer of the project to the development team does not need additional programs; everyone can work in one file.
• Many functions automate the design process, accelerating the team’s productivity.
• Anyone who has a link can comment on the design—editorial, leadership, marketing.

However, Figma’s sophistication presents a learning curve that must be overcome.

Learning to transfer a project from Sketch to Figma can be a good way to begin to learn the program for new users. This Figma tutorial will focus on the transfer process of layouts and how to simplify this process.

Figma and Sketch are similar—but aren’t compatible. This means you cannot open a Sketch project in Figma. Since they are different graphic editors, many objects are distorted, affecting their design. Here is an example of how objects are distorted in the transfer:

How to import from Sketch to Figma and save the design

Below is a step-by step guide for preparing to transfer your file from Sketch to Figma without distortions and losses. It will walk you through two main tasks: creating the library and transferring the project.

1. Create the library with components and styles in Figma.

1.1 Create a new file in Figma. This won’t be a working file, but a file for the library. In it, we will collect objects that are often repeated in the project and then customize their appearance. In this way, we will create object templates that can be changed and not configured every time from the beginning. Figma allows you to make them very flexible, so don’t skip this step.

1.2 Redraw all frequently repeated components to this file (Buttons, Accordions, Cards, etc.).

1.3 Make them flexible (customize constraints). This helps to create a responsive design and many similar components in the project (for example, a dialog with different widths for different purposes).
View how on YouTube.

1.4 Add clear naming for objects (for example Button, Checkbox, etc.). These may be the same names as Sketch objects. This allows easy to find the component in the project when we link the library to the working file.

1.5 Create parent components so that child components in your design inherit the parent’s settings. To do this, select the object and click on the create components button at the top.

1.6 Add the different states of components and combine them into variants. This will help you quickly switch between the states of the component (for example, change the Primary label to the Error label without setting the color and size).
View how on YouTube.

Figma also lets you create styles for colors and effects. For example, you need to change the shade of red for all red components in a project. If we make changes to the style of red, then they will be applied to all objects to which you have linked this color.

2. Project transfer

With library components set up we can now begin to import the project from Sketch to Figma.

2.1 Create a working file in Figma

2.2 Link the created library to the working file. After that, all changes in the library will be duplicated in the working file and it is no longer necessary to open the library file to add a component to the design. To search for a component, enter its naming in the search box of the Assets tab.
View how on YouTube.

2.3 Redraw layouts using components from the library.
Based on the created library, it is easier to collect new pages. We already have Lego bricks (Components), from which we need to assemble figures (Layouts).

• Copy the required screen in Sketch, and drag it into an open working project.
• Redraw the objects of the screen using components, fonts, colors from the library.
• Objects that are rarely found draw anew.

Tip: To speed up your work, you can import the entire project from Sketch to Figma and use distorted layouts as the basis for the layout design in Figma. But be sure to check them against the original screen.

How to do this: Drag the Sketch file into the Figma Draft. Add exactly the whole project file, because a separate layout is added as a screen, and we need an editable base. When creating a layout, copy the required layout from the transferred project into the working file and work with it.

Simplifying the transfer from Sketch to Figma

Tidy up pages. Name layouts and components correctly, arrange layouts in a logical sequence, rename each page according to content, and more. Design all pages in the same way so as not to get confused and not to confuse the team members who will be working on the project. This is especially true if the team hasn’t worked with Figma before.

Import Sketch layouts as a design base. If you have never worked in Figma, then this is a great way to master a new tool. Taking into account the fact that you do not need to be distracted by creating a design. You just copy what you worked on in Sketch and add components from the library.

Create structure from the start. If you don’t have a file structure in Sketch, it’s best to start creating it in Figma right from the start. Thus, it will be easier for you and other team members to work.

Use styles in Figma. For example, text fonts are very flexible—you can add different colors and alignments for the same font style. Now you do not need to create separate H1 styles with center alignment and H1 with left alignment.

Also, styles can be applied not only to color and fonts but also to effects.

Check font parameters. If the font in Figma is visually different from the font in the Sketch, check if the font in the Sketch is broken. If there is a star next to the font name, then this font was broken and does not match the library in Sketch. Click the Detach button to see its real parameters.

If you do not see the font parameters in Sketch, most likely the font used in the design is not installed on your computer. Download the font (for example from the Google Fonts Library, install it on your computer, and restart the Sketch to see the font options.

Summary

Hopefully you found this Figma tutorial on importing your Sketch project to Figma useful. Follow Windmill on LinkedIn for more practical design advice. Figma is a key tool that Windmill uses as part of its digital product design and development services. Find out how Windmill can bring your product ideas to life.

Bio: Ilona Yeletska is a UX Designer at Windmill. Since joining Windmill’s design team, she has worked on the design for the Windmill website and is currently working on a fintech product.

A problem well stated is a problem half solved.

– Charles Kettering

Meeting the UI expectations of modern users requires design teams to spend considerable time and effort carrying out thorough UX (user experience) research. Such research helps ensure that every design element is planned and developed in a way that best fits the needs of all the users. UX research is crucial to deliver an intuitive and gratifying user experience while also fostering longer and stronger relationships. 

In Part 1 – Preparing for UX Research and Part 2 – Conducting UX Research of this three-part series, we talked about the pressing need for UX research, how organizations can prepare for UX research with training, what steps they need to follow to conduct the research, and how they can deal with any challenges that come their way. 

In Part 3, we will be talking about the importance of analysis and reports to improve the outcomes and return on investment of the research effort. 

The need for analysis

Many design teams that carry out UX research consider the activity to be complete once user inputs have been received, but in reality, the research process is far from over. Earlier phases were focused on the right questions, but this phase is all about digesting the answers!

After answers to the research questions have been received, it is time to review the qualitative insights. They will build a strong picture of the required design elements to be incorporated into the product. The analysis helps design teams clearly understand the qualitative aspects of user needs (their first thoughts, feelings, and expectations) instead of quantitative aspects (the number of users who liked or disliked a particular feature). 

The analysis also allows teams to revisit their own notes, as well as those of observers to ensure the 1-to-1 UX research is comprehensive and provides specific insights. Specificity is important and this is consciously brought in at every stage. For example, by avoiding references to terms like ‘a few’, ‘some’, or ‘most’ users and talking about actual numbers. At this point, researchers try to identify things that may have been missed during the live sessions and to identify themes that let the report tell a story, instead of just a linear list of issues.

Structuring the responses and conducting analysis

One of the best and easiest ways of structuring the responses to conduct the analysis is by using Excel, although teams can also resort to using professional tools to carry out the analysis process – especially as research activities expand. These tools can easily capture verbatim responses and automatically carry out analysis afterward too, for example, tag by issue/theme.

• By writing test scripts and responses in Excel, research teams can (more) easily compare users’ answers across a single question.
• Teams can identify common themes that users mention at any point. These typically include look and feel, navigation, views on desktop vs. mobile, etc. It can also help unearth insights into how they feel about crucial steps in the workflow, such as creating an account, accessing help, and more. 
• Any response that stands out can easily be color-coded or highlighted for easy reference.
• When common themes aren’t immediately apparent, researchers can rely on powers of memory and concentration, repeated readings of the user responses, and thinking outside the box. 
• Interesting user views and verbatim comments can also be put into tools like Trello, Mural, on the wall, etc. Repeatedly looking at them can help in grouping those into fundamental underlying themes.

Things to keep in mind

Although analysis is a critical step in the UX research process and helps make report writing a lot easier, it is important to guard against overuse. 

• Try not to include every user comment in the statistics; if a considerable number of people have expressed a similar opinion, make a note of them and use it as a guide. 
• But make it a habit of inserting lots of user comments into reports. This will give a better feel for those who weren’t part of the research sessions. This also helps the research rely more directly on what users said, rather than individual interpretations. 
• Also, try not to give in to the pressure of providing clear yes or no answers; if the user response is “yes, but only just” or “no, but only just”, make a note of that. 

UX research is an essential part of Windmill’s Digital Product Strategy Services. Validate your product vision early in the design process.

The need for reporting

The time spent with users is extremely valuable. Therefore, how they feel about the product, what features they like or don’t like, or what improvements they expect must be documented properly. This brings us to the need for robust reporting. Reports help in: 

• Getting a birds-eye view of all issues identified so they can be transformed into an issues log or working document that details fixes and priorities;
• Revisiting the reasoning behind a design decision. If there’s a later challenge it’s possible to refer to the exact finding and not just someone’s interpretation of it;
• Providing an excellent and fairly user-friendly way for many new team members to understand what’s going on in a project and what fix is being attempted; 
• Reviewing other reports and improving their own techniques and knowledge sharing.

Benefits of reporting 

Reporting plays a huge role in assimilating the views of all users who’ve been a part of the UX research project. 

• Bringing all customer responses into a single document not only helps list out milestones that make the UX research process more professional; it also provides a great opportunity to show milestones to demonstrate progress. 
• User-friendly reports are also easy to share, and such write-ups help persuade any skeptics who think UX research doesn’t deliver value. 
• Moreover, reports are also a great way of demonstrating that the effort put into the research has actually led to actionable discoveries – both short term and long term. 
• In addition, user research helps teams decide which issues need immediate fixes and which can be saved for later. 
• Design teams can constantly refer to reports, even as further studies are conducted, to see how the problem and their understanding of it have evolved. 
• Research reports can also be used as a guideline for future research projects; over time, teams can build up a UX research library where the accumulated knowledge is constantly shared and distilled.

Choosing the right report style

To get the maximum impact from the analysis and reporting process, it is important for teams to choose the right report style. For instance, it may be better to choose a formal style to list identified issues, rate severity, and proposed recommendations – especially when more than one researcher is working on the same project. This helps to keep styles consistent. In other instances, it may be possible to pick an informal style of reporting such as storytelling with more variation in presentation and discussion. No matter the style chosen, it’s crucial to ensure that all the identified issues are graded for severity.

While planning for content, make sure to include: 

• Project background/context
• Research objectives
• General methodology
• General session structure (script separately or in appendix)
• Key for grading issue severity
• Statistics on the participants recruited
• Executive summary
• Summary of issues (becomes issue log)
• Findings sections structured sequentially or by theme
• Next steps
• Appendix

At Windmill

At Windmill, user researchers spend a lot of time perfecting their individual methods of reporting. It is important to update them after every session, and send them to the client if they have any additional comments. Recordings of the session also aids in the interviewer being 100% engaged, since they will not be scrambling to write down a specific quote or comment from the prospective user. It is great to go back and watch the session while reporting to observe body language, which can say a lot about what a person is experiencing. 

UX research is an indispensable part of the product development process. When done correctly, it can greatly help designers and product developers understand the specific issues of modern customers. This allows them to design product elements in a way that helps their users overcome the challenges in the best possible manner.

Let’s give the last word to Julie Zhou, Designer and Author. She says, “To find ideas, find problems. To find problems, talk to people.” It’s time to talk. 

Everyone is an Information Architect, whether they know it or not. If you’ve ever restructured folders on your hard-drive to make files easier to find, you’ve practiced information architecture. At its core, Information Architecture is helping people find what they’re looking for. But when a project requires a large amount of data to be categorized and structured, which is often the case for data-driven product design companies such as Windmill, expertise in Information Architecture is required.

Information Architecture is a process that allows data to be represented in a structured manner, setting the stage for a streamlined design process.

The main goals of Information Architecture 

Users should not have to spend time and effort understanding the content presented to them in a product. It is Information Architecture, the art and science of organizing and structuring data, that enables design teams to make the product effortless to use for their end users.

Information Architecture takes a user-centric approach and helps design teams build visual elements, functionality, interaction, and navigation accordingly. The main goals of Information Architecture include: 

• Organization of design elements into easily understandable formats;
• Prioritization of information based on its criticality or importance;
• Building navigation elements that are explicit and frictionless.

The Information Architecture process

Information Architecture can help designers overcome product usability and navigation challenges while saving a tremendous amount of time. But for it to work efficiently, organizations need to follow a clear, structured plan, based on four steps.

1. Research: Begin by taking content inventory and cataloging all the essential elements. Collect all your content assets and sort them by type; remove duplicates if any and create spreadsheets with all the items – including hyperlinks, author names, and tags. Then, evaluate the content elements and information assets and perform a rigorous content audit. Remove any outdated and unnecessary content and ensure consistency and quality of the remaining content.
2. Definition: Build the object-oriented user experience you want to deliver. Define your objectives, core content, metadata, and actions. Reorder the elements if required and add the corresponding CTAs. It may be useful to turn to techniques, like card sorting, to determine how people understand and categorize information. Use the results to design your information architecture, workflows, menu structure, and navigation paths.
3. Structure: Create taxonomy driven by the visual hierarchical structure of your content. Depending on how you want to present the information to the users, define your system and choose a corresponding organization model:
   • Choose a sequential structure if you want users to follow certain steps in a specific order.
   • Choose a hierarchical structure if you want to organize various pieces of information into categories.
   • Choose a matrix structure if you want to give the users more freedom to choose their own path.
4. Navigation: Create a labeling system to mirror the thinking and language of your users. Review the list of labels for consistency of usage, punctuation, and writing style. Consider choosing a single syntactic approach and then maintain uniformity. Decide how you want users to navigate through your content and finalize the directions and flows accordingly:
   • Choose forward navigation for moving between screens at consecutive levels of hierarchy, steps in a flow, or across an app.
   • Choose lateral navigation for moving between screens at the same level of the hierarchy.
   • Choose reverse navigation for moving backward through screens either chronologically (within one app or across different apps) or hierarchically.

Eight Principles for Success

Using Information Architecture as the blueprint of your product design can help you to build the right wireframes and sitemaps that will ensure user satisfaction. To set the foundation of an effective user experience, here are eight Information Architecture principles to keep in mind:

1. Look at the content of your product as a living thing with its own lifecycle, behaviors, and characteristics. This will help you visualize the relationships your content has with other data.
2. Curb the temptation of delivering too many options to users. Keep it short and simple and make it easy for users to find the information they need. It’s a bit of a myth that users want choice. What they really want is to progress in their task.
3. Don’t overload users with unnecessary information; provide summaries wherever possible to help them understand the information they can expect to find by digging deeper.
4. Avoid long descriptions. Instead, it’s better to explain the elements in a category by showing examples of the content. Offer precise subcategories that double as shortcuts for users to understand the content at a glance.
5. Instead of flooding the home screen with vast quantities of information, make sure to provide important content at each page – so users can know where they are and what they can do while there.
6. Since users have different ways of looking at information, make sure your design accommodates that. Incorporate several different classification schemes to allow users to browse content.
7. Have different menus for different types of information when possible and avoid mixing different categories in your navigation scheme. This will help improve product usability.
8. Have a process in place to add new elements as your product grows – without causing downtime or impacting user experience.

Robust Information Architecture underpins an efficient user experience. Strengthening the foundation of your product through a detailed understanding of the Information Architecture process and embracing these eight principles could help you deliver a powerful user experience.

At Windmill, designers implement the structural design process by beginning each project by making flowcharts and mind-maps. Once the main elements needed in the product are hashed out, they perform card sorting to define what employees would need in their onboarding process. This helps to define the structure of the project to create the visual hierarchical structure needed. Our designers’ favorite tool for mind-mapping is X-Mind. Use it in your next project!

Read more about User Experience in Effective UX Research Part 1 – Preparing For Research.

A satisfied user is the best business strategy of all

– Michael LeBoeuf, American Businessman

Given how critical it has become to meet user requirements to the T, effective UX research is an indispensable part of the product design process. Effective research not only helps in better understanding user needs and preferences, it also helps designers design product elements and features in a way that drives maximum usage and loyalty.

In Part 1 – Preparing For Research of this series, we discussed the pressing need for UX research, and how organizations can prepare for UX research by training their team with a series of steps. In this part we will be discussing how companies can conduct the research, how they deal with surprises, and tips to tackle difficult users.

Conduct the research

Once you have prepared yourself for user experience research and understand the elements of effective research, it’s time to conduct the research on real users to get the real
picture of their needs and wants.

Here are some steps to follow to make it happen:

1. Begin with an introduction:
   Introducing yourself to users and educating them about the purpose of the research is an important first step. You should have a fixed introduction that you repeat each time, to come across as more professional but also to ensure you don’t forget anything. This will allow you to concentrate on the user
   instead.
2. Capture user background information:
   Given that you have already taken the time to cherry-pick users who are genuine and represent the required variety of basic user characteristics of your audience, you should already be aware of basic user information. You will need to question further to capture more background information: ask questions relevant to the product to uncover their relationship to the product. Make sure the questions you ask have quick and simple answers and avoid asking many questions which could lead the user to talk at length at this stage.
3. Discuss the scenario:
   As you move towards conducting usability research, you’ll have to invent a plausible scenario for the user to move through the screens. Unless your prototype is complete and interactive enough to offer users the actual set of content and options, you’ll be forcing your user to select the options you’ve chosen for them. So, make it as realistic as possible. If you are conducting research on a live site, feel free to ask the user to create their own scenario based on their typical or recent use of the site.
4. Ask the right questions:
   Based on what your product is about and what insights you want to unearth from your users, asking the right questions is crucial. Have a list that captures the true essence of what your users really expect from your product. Since it is easy to introduce bias at this stage, make sure to not interrupt them at all until they reach a key goal, otherwise, you might influence what they’re looking for. Once you’re done asking questions, summarize the discussion you’ve had with them; if possible, give users a rating scale to get a good idea of what they think of your product and what they would like you to improve.
5. Repeat for other scenarios:
   Once you’re done with one scenario, make sure to repeat the process for other scenarios. Always check how realistic the scenario is for the user: gain an idea of what the user would actually do and keep referring to what you would do in real life. Where there are differences between what the user would really want and what you’ve chosen, it may be useful to ask the user what they think this screen should look like if they were performing their own task, and not the one you’ve invented.

Always be ready for surprises

It is common for researchers to assume that they’ve written an amazing test script with mostly open questions that will deliver answers to their test objectives. Although most researchers are prepared for the “known unknowns”, the problem arises when researchers encounter an “unknown unknown” – especially while conducting early research.

As a principle, if a user says anything that you feel you don’t understand, always ask them to clarify their stance. If they’re not sure what you mean, refer to your notes and repeat as closely as possible what the user actually said – not your interpretation. Based on what the user says, you may need to ask further open questions.

How you come across to your users always makes a difference in the answers you receive from them. Since power imbalances do exist, you need to drive efforts towards minimizing the chances of these imbalances becoming a barrier. Make sure to consider your physical appearance as well as how you speak and act. Be aware that users of different ages, genders, races, and accents need to be interacted with differently.

Have a plan to deal with difficult users

Just as there are some amazing users who perfectly fit the profile and are able to clearly express their thoughts, there will be some who make the research process long and painful. Here are some tips on how to deal with users who are:

• Too talkative:
  Adopt a serious business-like attitude to say things like, moving on before we run out of time, we still have a lot to get through, we’ll try and get through this step quickly, or we won’t have time to cover it all, etc.
• Disengaged:
  Try to understand if the user is just there for the incentive, or whether they specifically feel disengaged with your product. Try asking a different set of questions or move to another scenario.
• Excessively negative:
  If the user hates the experience, it is surely a cause for worry. But rather than getting disheartened or trying to influence the user to say something positive, be enthusiastically cheerful about their feedback. Empower them by saying something like “the more problems you can find for us, the more chance we have to fix it”.
• Excessively positive:
  If your users seem to love your product experience, it’s a reason for celebration. But make sure they have an open mind to different aspects of your product experience. If required, propose alternative design options and shift them back into a thoughtful mode. Always remember, no product is perfect.

When it comes to user research, driving efforts in planning research activities and then conducting the research is extremely important to understand user needs and goals. How you present yourself to your users, what questions you ask, and how you ask them all have a great impact on the answers you receive, the features you design, and the user experience you will eventually offer.

At Windmill, all designers are actively involved in the user research process. Since many products that we design are for big companies with many moving parts, we make sure to research a wide range of users from the beginning and always test in house first. Before we go to the client we need to practice our user testing on the team to hash out any mistakes or wrong assumptions.

This includes generative to usability testing. Of course, conducting the research is not the end objective. Intensive analysis of the data captured in the user research follows. That’s the stage that reveals the insights that will define the scope of the product design, and what you’ll find in the next blog post.

It’s long been an industry norm that enterprise products do not have to pay quite as much attention to user experience design as consumer products since their primary focus is the functionality of their offering, not the ease of use or aesthetic. These tools are usually used by enterprise employees on corporate networks with help desks at their disposal. However, when the world switched to working from home there became an urgency to create intuitive workflows and engaging experiences due to the lack of help from fellow colleagues or IT.

With consumer apps, when the user experience design is confusing – for instance being unable to find the navigation bar or the color of the text is not easy on the eyes – they are likely to lose interest and exit the website or application. 40% of users exit a website if the design is not appealing. However, if the design, navigation, and text are user-centric, they are more likely to explore the website and dig deeper to understand the offerings. It is apparent that this is equally true for driving up the usage of enterprise apps too.

User experience design is crucial in both inward-facing enterprise tools and external-facing enterprise apps and sites. The key question is, how does one capture the essence of where users find delight in their experience?

User experience design is not about just creating attractive designs. Designers need to fully understand the product in question, its users, goals, and blend it with beautiful visuals. Analytics play a huge part in creating powerful experiences since it removes the guesswork from the process and gives designers clarity on what a user needs.

There are two primary ways to collect data – qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative data is measurable and is based on certain specified metrics. Analytics tools and customer surveys are used to collect this data. On the other hand, qualitative data enables designers to find out what part of the product offers maximum value to the user. This data can be collected through user interviews, feedback, and surveys. Designers must use a combination of both to get a holistic picture while creating the user experience.

Role Of Data Analytics In Designing User Experiences

1. Improve design and content

Let’s take the example of RS Components, a leading distributor of electrical, electronic, and mechanical components. They used to receive millions of visitors on their eCommerce site, but users found poor site search and product information on their website frustrating, ultimately resulting in a reduction in site visitors and negatively impacting sales.

Based on the customer feedback, online surveys, and discussions in forums, RS Components identified the key issues that impacted the experience and revamped it on their website. The change enabled them to exceed their financial target by 42% and resulted in massive growth in conversion.

How RS Components used data analytics to improve user experience

With data analytics, designers can gauge what part of the website or app interests the users the most. They can leverage data analytics to understand user behavior and personalize the experience. Analytics will help designers build an intuitive design that appeals to everyone.

2. Focus on the right problems

A designer might face multiple issues, especially when a new version of the product is about to be launched. What problems are more important? Designers can leverage analytical tools to prioritize customer feedback and determine the most common or major issues that affect the user’s experience. These insights can help them create feature lists mapped back to releases and schedules with greater assurance of product acceptance on release.

3. Create a seamless experience

A user expects a consistent experience across all touchpoints in their journey with the product. Today those touchpoints could range from desktop apps to web browsers, mobile apps, and increasingly wearable devices. Designers can collect the data received from these touchpoints to understand their habits and challenges.

For example, it could reveal that many users who try to access their enterprise product through their phones are unable to login. Based on this insight the designer can simplify the mobile login process. The objective is to make the experience hassle-free and so simple that even a child can do it without guidance.

4. Personalize the experience

Users want a personalized experience due to the amount of choice that is offered to them in their daily life. With the help of data segmentation, designers can hyper-personalize the experience. For example, a user belonging to the technology industry should see different banners and messaging on the website than someone who belongs to the manufacturing industry.

5. Gauge what interests the users

Designers need to be continuously enriching their product or app to deliver increasing value to the users. Giving the user an experience that grows with them is one way to build a robust long-term relationship.

Conclusion

Data analytics play a major role in designing powerful user experiences as it helps designers make informed design decisions that align with the user’s goals.

At Windmill designers are constantly using data to design. From the initial discovery phase involving surveys, interviews, and usability testing to capture qualitative and quantitative data, to the continuous updating of applications based on user feedback. User experience is ever-changing and never complete. This mindset allows Windmill designers to deliver delightful experiences in every medium and market.

Note: This is the 2nd article in a two-part series where we discuss why accessibility matters when designing websites, web, and mobile applications. 

As we learned in the previous article, Accessibility 101: Design Principles A Designer Must Know, The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability, and 71% of people with any form of disability will leave a website immediately if it is not accessible. 

Technology offers unprecedented opportunities for inclusion regardless of ability. It is important that this thinking is embedded from the outset of application and interface design. 

How To Create Accessible Apps

Here are 4 core elements to be mindful of when creating a website that everyone can use:

1. Content and structure
   • Describe links in detail instead of using generic words like “click here”. This will help users understand the purpose of each link without having to physically see it.
   • Use a combination of colors, graphics, and text to describe information and emphasize key points.
   • To simplify navigation, ensure that all the repeated components within a web page appear in the same relative location and order, and try not to limit navigation flows. Create multiple ways for users to locate what they are seeking. Similarly, using consistent icons will help users with cognitive challenges understand their users better.
   • Create descriptive page headings and titles to allow users to understand the relationships between content and pages.
2. Visual design
   • Line spacing should be at least 1.5 times the font size, and the letter spacing should be at least 0.12 times the font size. This will help users with low vision read text easily.
   • Word-spacing should be 0.16 times the font size and the font size should not be less than 10 points.
   • Maintain a contrast ratio between the text and background. Clashing colors will hinder the readability.
3. Device-independent design
   • Be mindful of the device you are designing for; website accessibility will be different from mobile phone accessibility
   • Content that appears or disappears on using a keyboard or mouse pointer may limit the accessibility for some users constrained by the devices they want to use. Design the interaction in such a way that the user can perceive the content and dismiss it without disrupting their experience.
   • Ensure that all tasks can be conducted by users even by using conventional user interface components. Sometimes users may not be able to perform certain activities such as shaking or gesturing their device. 
   • Ensure that the touch targets are 9 mm high by 9 mm wide and the inactive spaces around controls do not overlap with touch targets. This makes it easier for users with limited motor movements to use the device without any hassles. 
4. Keyboard-only options
   • Ensure that keyboard shortcuts are not the same as browser or screen reader shortcuts. A keyboard shortcut could be just a word or a character or a symbol and it should be active when the user interface component for which it has been assigned is in focus.
   • Present content in the correct reading sequence. For example, if the document is a multi-column document, the content must flow from the top to the bottom of the column and then to the top of the next column. This makes it easier for people using assistive technology to read the pages.
   • Include a skip-to-main content link before the header so that users can directly access the primary content on the page quickly.

Accessibility @ Windmill – There are a few core tools that Windmill designers use to create inclusive digital interfaces. 

Before beginning a project they review the Web Content Accessibility Guide 2.1 (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/) to make sure the project is in line with the current guidelines. When designing for the web, built-in plugins are the most efficient way to test usability. Below are the designers at Windmill’s go-to applications for digital accessibility.

• Colorblind Web Page Filter: https://www.toptal.com/designers/colorfilter
• Color Oracle – Color Picker Upgrade: http://colororacle.org/usage.html
• Wave – Web Aim Checker: https://wave.webaim.org/
• Funkify – Disability Simulator Chrome Extension: https://www.funkify.org/simulators/?v=f003c44deab6
• Lighthouse Test Chrome Extension by Google: https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse

In addition to following best practices, designers must include users with various accessibility issues in their user research to understand the challenges they might face. This process will help designers to create more inclusive and accessible applications for all. 

Want your users to fall in love with your designs? Fall in love with your users.

– Dana Chisnell, thought leader in civic design

Achieving delightful user experiences in today’s ever-changing climate is a challenge. Designers must implement design elements in a way that best delivers the user’s core values, which are sometimes not obvious. The modern user is complex and needs to be understood from all angles to know how they will interact with the product. Enter user research.

The need for UX research 

Modern products are multifaceted, and sometimes put design and development teams under pressure to deliver high-quality products to users quickly and cheaply. This pressure, however, can lead to building products nobody wants or needs – particularly when teams skip the crucial step of research. 

The process can seem slow and perhaps unnecessary when you’re in the thick of it with looming deadlines, but remember that doing it properly is critical to the success or failure of your product. It also means you’re focusing on the most important part of your product first; the user, and adopting a completely user-centered design lifecycle from the start.

The 4 Elements of Great Research

1. Set test objectives:
   Why are you conducting this research and what do you want to get out of it? Instead of focusing on broad objectives such as how users interact with the product, or what usability issues users are facing, focus on specific elements like who could benefit the most and why. When do users need our help and why? How do users make a decision and what information do they need?
2. Write the test script:
   A test script is a set of instructions that drives users to provide answers aligned with the test objectives. There are many methods to creating them, such as writing a story or gamifying it with a list of small tasks for the user.
3. Make the research happen:
   Remember who we are designing this product for; the users! So you must recruit suitable users that represent a good variety of basic characteristics to implement your research with. You should not only have one trait of the ideal user. After finding the perfect candidates, take time to sort out procedural and admin issues to ensure that they get the support they need to make this activity successful. There is always something new with technology or company regulations to complicate the process that you need to be aware of.
4. Run tests and analyze results:
   Once everything is in place, it’s time to run the test interviews. Don’t lead the user but rather focus on understanding what users do, and how the product can fit with their goals. One session won’t be enough, so plan a few initially. Multiple testing sessions will help discover aspects they missed in previous testing and uncover opportunities for further improvement of test scripts. It is essential that after each test interview the researchers build a report of what they learned, and what can be improved for the real deal. This can be constantly revisited while designing the product as well, which is key. Remember, users are far more forgiving of imperfect details than an entirely wrong concept.

User Research Training @ Windmill

At Windmill we take user research seriously, hiring experts and disseminating knowledge throughout the wider design team. It features heavily in our weekly knowledge sharing sessions. In these 90 minute sessions one team member will build a few fun tasks to complete in groups of 2 or 3 focusing on one element of the research process. We implement a 5-minute self assessment after each training exercise, in which each team member can track their progress without the pressure of sharing it with anyone else. We find they can then be honest about where they are in their journey. The learning never stops!

Next

In Part 2 of this article series we will take a look at conducting user research with real users, based on work we have done at Windmill.

Note: This is a two-part series wherein we discuss why accessible websites and apps are essential and how to design one. 

As human society continues to grow, so does its diversity. There are lots of groups of people with special needs, and innovators are doing everything in their power to make them go through their day seamlessly. Not only is it wrong to create a product that certain groups of people can’t use due to their disability, but it also limits the monetization of that product. It is both unethical and bad for business.

The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability. People can be born with disabilities, or develop them such as loss of eyesight, or have temporary ones, like a broken arm.

In terms of the share of the likely target audience for businesses, estimates are that as much as 20% of the traffic to business websites could be from users with some disability. That share could be higher for business categories like healthcare.

Did you know, 71% of people with any form of disability will leave a website immediately if it is not accessible?

So, apart from it being a moral imperative for companies to cater to all possible users and the law in most developed markets, ignoring this segment could prove extremely detrimental to business outcomes.

So, what can designers do to make the web content accessible for all users? The short answer is “Digital Accessibility”.

What is Digital Accessibility and how to start with the design process?

Digital Accessibility is a subset of user experience focused on making websites and apps that are inclusive and user-friendly to the widest range of people, including those with disabilities.

There are four major categories of accessibility to factor into design considerations.

• 

  Visual: Catering to users with visual challenges such as myopia, color blindness, glaucoma, and albinism.

• 

  Auditory: Catering to users with hearing issues such as presbycusis, acoustic trauma, auditory processing disorder, and otosclerosis.

• 

  Motor: Catering to users suffering from action-linked motor issues such as cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s, and muscular dystrophy.

• 

  Cognitive: Catering to users battling cognitive challenges like autism, Down’s syndrome, dyslexia, and global developmental delay.

Accessibility is governed by guidelines and legal requirements such as the Section 508 compliance (US), EN 301 549 (EU), The public sector bodies accessibility regulations (UK), and the WCAG 2.1 guidelines.

So, how is a designer to go about building accessible digital interfaces?

The designer must first develop empathy for likely users. They must possess or inculcate an inclusive mindset based on that empathy to design for a wide range of human diversity.

There are a variety of approaches designers follow to guide their specific work. One approach we particularly like is from Microsoft. Here are their three core principles of accessible design.

The Three Core Principles of Inclusive Design

1. Recognize exclusion

The definition of disability has changed over the years. In 1980, the WHO defined disability as a personal attribute wherein a person cannot carry out normal activities due to limited abilities, but recently the WHO refined that definition. Today they see disability as a more complex phenomenon that reflects the interactions between the person and the society in which they live. This is not about the person, but about the person in the context of the interactions they have to undertake.

Of course, it is natural for designers to bring their bias in while solving issues. However, designers must recognize that disability is not related to personal or health conditions but that disability happens when there is a mismatch in human interactions. These mismatches can be permanent, temporary, or just situational. By being conscious of their bias and by practicing empathy mindfully, designers can identify exclusions and find ways to solve the problem. An inclusive design will make the interface accessible to all kinds of people by addressing the interactions rather than focusing on the individual.

2. Learn from diversity

Humans learn and adapt to diversity quickly. By designing websites for people with different disabilities, designers might end up building something that could be more beneficial to people in general. Hence, designers should put the real interactions and tasks of people at the heart of their creations. This will give them new insights and enable them to build a better experience for all types of users.

3. Solve for one, extend to many

Disability can be permanent (someone having just one arm), temporary (someone who has fractured her one hand), or situational (when a new mother is working on a computer with one hand as she is carrying a newborn baby in the other hand). A truly accessible website must be easy to use for all these types of users.

To build an accessible website, designers must focus on that one big problem that is universal to all users and focus on solving that. By putting people and their constraints at the center, designers can build a more accessible website for all users. Adopting a robust and carefully considered set of design principles, like these three from Microsoft, can help set the context for how designers should build an inclusive mindset in order to create accessible websites.

At Windmill, our designers follow the Microsoft Accessibility Guidelines. To implement it we use website plugins to make sure that the color contrast under different conditions is sufficient while we are creating a design system and developing a product. The specific tools we use include UserWay (https://userway.org/), an Automated Website Accessibility Solution for ADA & WCAG Compliance, and Stark (https://www.getstark.co/), a suite of integrated accessibility compliance tools for software teams. In the next part of this series, we will look at some best practices and tips that Windmill designers use to design accessible digital interfaces.

Design is about much more than visuals. Design is deeply embedded in product development, and the process itself is as important as the deliverable.

Here at Windmill, design is a journey we take with our clients, and we want to make sure we’re on a journey that’s enjoyable for everyone involved. We start by asking ourselves how we can best collaborate with our client’s product and development teams. Oftentimes, we are not the solo designers working on a project, which makes collaboration a key component to both our own success and the success of our clients.

Our goal at Windmill is to enable our clients to be as self-sufficient as possible. In order to accomplish this, we apply the three lenses of design thinking:

Business Viability

A common pitfall in design is getting lost in concepts and prototypes that never make it to market. As imaginative as designers can get, in order to be successful, an idea must be viable enough for a business to fully implement. This includes everything from managing expectations throughout the project lifecycle, to making sure everything remains within a client’s budget, to building a platform that truly solves the business challenges at hand.

We believe in establishing a shared vision toward success through open lines of communication with our clients from the onset of any engagement. By fostering a collaborative environment, we’re able to streamline the design process and deliver products that are customized to our clients’ needs.

Technical Feasibility

Designing and developing a product is one part of the challenge; successfully implementing a product is another. Successful design ultimately depends on the technical feasibility of the product, i.e. whether or not it actually works as intended and how well it integrates into a client’s existing technology stack.

Customer Desirability

In addition to all the operational benefits to a business, the product must ultimately delight end-users. Understanding our customers’ customers is just as important as understanding the business requirements of any given product. Our overall goal as designers is to build a product that delivers true value to the people who use it, hopefully making their lives easier in the process.

Sprinting Toward Success

The sweet spot between business viability, technical feasibility, and customer desirability is where true innovation happens. Many businesses focus on local problems, but in order to get to the root of any business challenge and provide a solution that fully addresses it, we try our best to present a holistic approach that takes into account each area of business that might be impacted.

We conduct a series of design workshops and sprints that enable us to identify the breadth of every challenge and develop a comprehensive solution. We invest our time in understanding our clients and their business models so we can deliver products and platforms that are perfectly customized to their needs.

This is our proven design thinking methodology, and we’re proud of all the amazing ideas it’s helped us bring to life, from concept to reality.