UX Design and the Digital Experience
An online UX design education course teaches students how to shape the digital world for users. Talented designers know that user experience can make or break a program or platform.
Creating an Immersive Experience
What is user experience? In terms of software, it is the entirety of what an application feels like for the end-user. UX involves the story that is being put forward and everything that adds to the complete experience. It could be the way the sound is created, the way the choreography of this space is designed, as well as less obvious backend UI design decisions.
“Ultimately, what’s the story that’s being told? How does the user feel towards that?” asks Amir Bardaran. The designers give full recognition to the feelings that the end-user will have as they process and absorb the experience itself.
UX design professionals have a wider range than traditional 2D or 3D immersive platforms. New technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality provide environments that could incorporate a lot more than just a visual component. UX would include the feel, sound effects and atmospheric sounds. Possibly, you could even have a sense of smell added to that environment through the haptics.
So, what are the ways in which people can feel, touch and experience the pressure of things that are around them? That is ultimately what is meant by user experience. It is the overall engagement with the choreography of this space in the entirety of its composition.
Developing a Natural Experience in the Digital World
The book, “The Design of Everyday Things,” by Don Norman, is one of the first to use the phrase, “user experience.” In the book, Norman breaks down all kinds of things that people take for granted. He considers objects as simple as light switches and the history of their design.
“What are these conventions that we’ve now just come to realize are part of our lives? They feel intuitive to us. And what happens when you break some of those conventions and make it actually very difficult for people to use?” asks Daniel Holtzman.
A lot of what designers handle are UI and UX issues. They thoughtfully consider how to make things simple and clear, how to create analogies from the physical world to the digital world. The goal is to create connections between what people are seeing, what they are doing and what their desired outcome will be. These considerations make up the ultimate user experience.
Focusing UI Design on End Users
User experience was developed as a practice to create tools that centered around people. “Without user experience, we would just be creating tools for ourselves instead of for other people. In general, I think it has given companies a competitive edge because the more you care about the people who use your products, the more successful your products are going to be,” says Daphne Lin.
