Imagine four different rivers flowing into one large body of water. Those four different rivers are design, human interaction, performance, and marketing, pooling into the greater body of water, user experience –or UX for short. Everyday businesses worldwide develop the increasing understanding that user experience is directly congruent with business value because it underlines how people interact with their brand and products.
In the book The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman discusses how bad design affects our psychology when we interact with poorly designed products. Naturally, we never blame the designer, but ourselves. We have an outlook that we’re not smart enough to figure out the navigation of a system or item, therefor we either quit using it because we’re intimidated by it. Norman calls this “The Psychopathology of Everyday Things” Let me emphasize this, it doesn’t matter how brilliant someone’s idea or website is, if the user cannot interact with it, it’s useless. Considering the designer doesn’t directly communicate with the user, all communication takes place through the system or product in the hands of the client. The role of a good designer is efficiency, therefor customer interaction and feedback is crucial.
As more companies turn to E-Commerce, making up for 8.4% of all retail sales in the United States (according to the US Consensus), the competitive pressure for a navigable and good user experience has exponentially increased. Companies with highly effective UX have increased their revenue by 37%, underlining that there is ROI in good design. Moreover, they give show the world they care about their presentation and company, an important factor for new clients, loyalty building, and investors.
No one likes objects that are tricky to operate. Everyday things shouldn’t come with a set of instructions. That is the concept of Good Design, it celebrates inclusivity. One of my favorite articles is published by The New York Times, where Alice Rawsthorn emphasizes “But as our expectations of design change, so do those qualities and the relationship between them. Let's look at what they are - and where they stand - right now: This is the nonnegotiable. Whatever it is, and whatever other great qualities it has, it can't be well designed if it doesn't do something useful.”
UX isn’t only revolutionizing business, but it’s incorporated into healthcare and the government too. When the interface is navigable, it increases the retention rate of the user. Compare healthcare.gov to Reddit, not only do they have two different scopes of work, but also two entirely different interfaces. Healthcare.gov is inclusive, in the sense that it easy to navigate, uses imagery, and is well thought out. Reddit on the other hand is a designer’s worst nightmare, and notoriously turns away many design centric readers – a huge market of potential consumers.
Good, conscious design has proven to be an essential part of business strategy. Not only does it create customer satisfaction but highly increases the rate of customer loyalty. If you want your company to not only be marketable but competitive, put a significant amount of consideration to interaction with your store or product should undoubtedly be invested into your scope of work.
