User experience design

Don Norman, a professor and researcher in design, usability, and cognitive science, coined the term "user experience", and brought it to a wider audience that is inside our modernized society.

I wanted to cover all aspects of the person's experience with the system including industrial design graphics, the interface, the physical interaction and the manual.

It helps to identify and prove or disprove assumptions, find commonalities across target audience members, and recognize their needs, goals, and mental models.

It is also concerned with metadata: terms used to describe and represent content objects such as documents, people, process, and organizations.

The section of usability that intersects with user experience design is related to humans' ability to use a system or application.

When the designer has a solid understand of the user's needs and goals, they begin to sketch out the interaction framework (also known as wireframes).

As the interaction framework establishes an overall structure for product behavior, a parallel process focused on the visual and industrial designs.

[23] Once a solid and stable framework is established, wireframes are translated from sketched storyboards to full-resolution screens that depict the user interface at the pixel level.

[24] Aside from monitoring issues, questions asked by users are also noted in order to identify potential points of confusion.

[28] Documenting design decisions, in the form of annotated wireframes, gives the developer the necessary information they may need to successfully code the project.

[29] Requires: A user experience designer is considered a UX practitioner, along with the following job titles: user experience researcher, information architect, interaction designer, human factors engineer, business analyst, consultant, creative director, interaction architect, and usability specialist.

However, recently UX design has become more prominent in TPC as companies look to develop content for a wide range of audiences and experiences.

[33] In a similar manner, coupling TPC with UX design allows technical communicators to garner evidence on target audiences.

UX writers, a branch of technical communicators, specialize in crafting content for mobile platforms while executing a user-centered approach.

Their responsibilities include maintaining UI text, conducting user research for usability testing, and developing the tone for a product's communication.

[34] UX writers maintain the practices of technical communicators, by developing documentation that establishes consistency in terminology and tone, promoting a cohesive user experience.

However, beyond the writing, UX writers maintain UI text by ensuring that microscopy, such as button labels, error messages, and tooltips, remains user-friendly, as well.

In doing this, the writers are also tasked with ensuring accessibility—considering issues like screen reader compatibility or providing non-text elements, such as icons.

UX writers conduct extensive research to understand the behaviors and preferences of the target audience through user testing and feedback analysis.

Lastly, when setting the tone in a product's communication, UX writers highlight factors that affect user engagement and perception.

In short, the writers consider the product's emotional impact on the users, and align the tone with brand's personality.

The basic idea behind conducting a usability test is to check whether the design of a product or brand works well with the target users.