At this stage, hand drawn lo-fi, grey scale, paper mock-ups test the functionality and design concept of a product. These artifacts can quickly identify problem points in need of revision. They lower costs by allowing designers to make early changes in a product's life cycle, prior to development, and gather feedback from users that may influence future iterations.
Proof of concept and scalability are critical to the success of any interactive design project. Without a framework, that has a clear step-by-step path that represents how a user would move through an application, hours of productivity, resources, and time would be wasted. Ultimately, at this stage of development: improving the visual design, adding detailed content, and expanding the user story are main focus.
These prototypes tend to be as close as possible to a realistic representation of the user interface. They are for the most part, computer based, and allow for user interaction. Demonstrating actual products to clients, while being effective in the collection of user performance data, are some of the benefits for using this tool.
There are three types of usability tests:
Moderated/unmoderated; remote/ in-person, and explorative/comparative testing. The list of methods includes: Heuristic Evaluation, Cognitive Walkthrough, Contextual Inquiry, and more. Usability testing is conducted at every stage of development.
Even as we approach the end of a product development cycle testing is still needed. Immediately after each test, debriefing within your team focuses the spotlight on what needs to be refined during the next iterative process.
Initial investment in UX design can significantly reduce costs in the future. UX Design and Design Thinking involve research, analysis, and testing. Therefore, possible usability issues, or problems can be identified prior to development, which is far less expensive.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) offer the best insights into how users interact with a product. This data is used to quickly determine the success of a product, and it measures the following:
1) Task success rate.
2) Time on task.
3) Search vs. Navigation
4) User error rate.
Some studies have shown that "stock" photos and other graphics add little value to a product. This is because most images are not customized to a particular application, nor are they contextualized to facilitate user needs.
Product design is typically regarded as ornamental and focused on making objects look good. In UX, product design revolves around structure and function, as it relates to the needs of users. The toolkit of a good user experience creative is strengthened by solid ethnographic research.
Often questions related to what usability is, as compared to desirability, are brought up in UX design and it is crucial to differentiate the two. A product may look good, but lack utility. Conversely, a product can be useful but lack desirability. The Neilson Norman Group concludes that there are four levels of user experience:
1) Utility - usefulness of a product.
2) Usability - efficiency, safety, memorability, learnability and satisfaction.
3) Desirability - the user wants to use a product in preference to another.
4) Brand Experience - does the customer feel good about the company.