Good Design vs Good UX Design
Have you ever first used a digital product and thought, “This app fits me perfectly”? That, of course, is one simple sign that you are running a well-thought-out app that is not only beautiful but also easy to operate.
However, most times, what happens is not always a win-win. The new app, especially, is rather coming out with a good visual but poor experience. It gets you to encounter bugs. Otherwise, there are also good functioning products but with limited visual satisfaction.
In this article, we will further discuss how a good design does not always directly proportional to a good user experience. In the end, we want you to catch the feeling of a good UX designer.
State of UX Design
When talking about UX design, I bet you will automatically think about a digital design in a website or mobile apps. Well, that is true, but actually, User Experience (UX) design, in principle, plays an important role in not only a digital but also a physical product we use every day.
UX design emphasizes the comfortability of using a product. That is why only a sophisticated design might not be an answer to have a good UX design.
Designing the UX is so tricky as the product would not only be personalized following one’s need but to do research and approach a wide range of users coming from different backgrounds, ages, gender, beliefs, and etc. to come with general solutions that “fit for all.”
What Makes a Good UX design?
There are several ways to understand it, but if I had to describe it in a single word, it would be “problem solvers.” A good design bridges the gap between company objectives and user requirements. A procedure must be followed to close this gap by considering the user experience (UX) best practices and usability guidelines.
Good UX design is customized for human use, not only functional or usable, but also understands how to enter the users’ minds and turn their wish into a meaningful, attractive, and simple-to-use product or service.
Quoting Don Norman, “Good UX design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible.”
How to Create a Good UX Design in Digital Product?
According to Mockplus, a good UI/UX design must have followed the 4E principles:
- Error-free.
- Easy to use.
- Easy to understand.
- Effective for the end goal
In addition, there are 5 common problems faced by the designer that used to hinder them from realizing a good UX design principle. These are worth noting mistakes for you to avoid:
- Limited Exploration
Many designers are unable to conduct a broad exploration of innovation prior to developing a design plan due to the given deadline, potential risk, or other factors. - Non-user-centered design
Designers often forget that the whole architecture should be user-centered. More data analysis and user interface tools are needed to ensure that our product concepts are well received and understood by users. - Lack of Audience Research
Rather than focusing on personal interests, we should put ourselves in our customers’ shoes. This will assist us in breaking our own barriers, resulting in a strong selling point. - Creating Non-Adjustable Design Templates
Designers who are also in the early stages of their careers always want to sketch out their ideas in high detail. This, though, is not a good idea. Exploring from a variety of perspectives, including those that are diametrically opposed, will lead to more unexpected discoveries. - Too Much use of Decorative Effects There are a lot of beautiful yet pointless complex designs that can only disappoint our customers. To improve the user interface, it’s best to resist decorative animation effects.
Examples of Good Design with Bad UX
Physical Product
- Apple Magic Mouse
Apple always comes with its breakthrough design, including this sleek, simple, and handy Apple magic mouse that is hugely admired by many especially professional who is working with full hand-rage motion such as designer and visual creator. However, all seems so fun until the time you need to charge it.
Digital Product
- WhatsApp Deleted Messages
WhatsApp is well-known for its seamless, fast, and easy to operate experiences in terms of chatting. However, when you try to delete your message in a WhatsApp chat window, your chat balloon will not disappear but instead show a message “This message was deleted”, making it obvious that you just deleted a message either because you are mistaken or regretful of it. This feature somehow may unintendedly lead to a little awkward situation.
Unlike WhatsApp, deleting the chatbox in Telegram is much more convenient as it disappears the text and the chat balloon. Moving on from mistakes is so much easier there.
Find More
You may find more on this Quora forum when people discuss the experience aspect of the daily product — both digital and physical — in our daily life to trigger more of your design critical thinking. Another way, you can also check up on these examples of product designs that would leave you infuriated. You may share your own experience by dropping your comment below.
Conclusion
The aim of user experience (UX) design is to create products that help users accomplish their goals. Users would not appreciate a product’s beautiful nature if it prevents them from using it as they wanted to do. Therefore, when developing products, we have to ensure that users can achieve their objectives in the most efficient way possible. The complement between good design and good UX design is functional, comfortable, and beautiful. However, the latter three aspects’ score might also be subjective from one perception to another.
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