Appearance
What is User Experience (UX)?
Core concept: User experience refers to the totality of perceptions, emotions, and responses that result from a person's interaction with a product, system, or service.
Beyond Usability
UX is about how a product works and how it makes the user feel while they are attempting to achieve a goal.
While a user interface (UI) focuses on what the user sees and interacts with, UX encompasses all parts of the system focused on the user, including the psychological and emotional states that occur during engagement.
The Seven Facets of UX
Peter Morville defines these areas to ensure we deliver a meaningful experience:
- Useful — Does our site fulfill a need and do so successfully?
- Usable — Is the site easy to use?
- Findable — Is it easy to find things and navigate through the site?
- Valuable — Does the site bring value to those funding it? Does it create profit or fulfill a mission?
- Desirable — Is it well-designed? Does it use branding, imagery, and other elements to create a visually pleasing experience?
- Credible — Can users trust the content and its source?
- Accessible — Is the website accessible to users with disabilities who use assistive technology to access the internet?
Key Takeaway
These different facets provide a high-level overview of a project’s different areas. They can be referenced throughout a project’s process to ensure that new features or content is aligned correctly.