Four misconceptions about UX (and some basic advise)

Posted by Jaan on June 8th, 2009 | Add your comment

I thought I’d share a few UX misconceptions that seem to pop up on a regular basis, and how to turn them around to the benefit of the end user, your client and yourself.

None of it is rocket science, yet all four misconceptions are part and parcel of everyday client work. And it’s not just the clients either. Agencies can be as opposed to even thinking about the end user experience as their clients.

Feel free to use this super basic list next time someone tells you UX is a waste of time.

“There’s no budget for it”
If you have allocated an enormous amount of time for design and mock-ups you are probably trying to achieve some level of UX without knowing it.

UX does not equal design, yet this is where many people think UX work gets done. It’s not, at least not exclusively. Keeping the user’s best interest in mind should happen from the first to the last day of a project. The more time you spend on UX work upfront – before you “start designing” – the less likely it is that you have to draft sketches until the cows come home.

“We/our users don’t need it”
It’s a bit like saying you should eat your morning cereal without a bowl and a spoon. It can be done, but why remove a logical and important part of enjoying breakfast?

Thinking about the user experience upfront helps with every other aspect of the project, from design through coding to user testing and even project management.

It’s about getting your ducks in a row and setting the foundation for the whole project. You’ll save time, and deliver a higher quality product.

“We’ll add that later”
It’s a bit like saying “we’ll add taste to the food once the guest has finished eating”. While you can revise a project – at additional cost – once it has been completed, it is hard if not impossible to deliver a meaningful user experience by tacking on a few hours or a day at the end of a project.

It can certainly be better to do something than nothing, but the difference between seasoning the food as part of cooking the dish and just throwing some pepper on it as the guest is about to dig in should be acknowledged.

Crafting web sites and apps is all about the user experience. (That’s why user testing is also a key step on the path to satisfied users.)

“The project is to small for UX”
No project is ever to small to think about the user experience. Even a quick one day turnaround, two page site needs to fulfill its purpose. You may only need a small amount of time at the start of it all to think through what it is you want the site’s user to accomplish, apply a few basic best practices, and then get to work.

Two things
Finally, two things to do in order to put user experience at the heart of your next project.

If you are a provider…

Bring UX in to the discussion early on. You don’t need to shout “UX!” every time it’s your turn to speak. But do talk about, for example, how the user should be able to easily complete tasks, feel that they are in control and so forth. Bring in the fact that proper groundwork can save time and money both in the build and on future updates (see above). Point to the competition and how your client can offer a better product, or needs to keep up.

If you are a buyer…

Ask lots of questions about UX. That’s what your users will be looking at, interacting with, and judging you on whether they are aware of it or not. And UX saves you money, often upfront and certainly in the long term as you won’t need to tweak your site over and over again in order to reach an acceptable level. If you feel that you need to learn more about UX, ask your agency to point you to some good resources based on their knowledge of you and your projects.

What misconceptions do you come across, and how do you deal with them? Are your clients receptive? Please let me know in the comments or on Twitter where I am @orvet.