The Basics of User Experience Design: A UX Design Book by the Interaction Design Foundation

by Mads Soegaard

the most obvious solutions are the ones hardest to come by because of the self-imposed constraints we work within.

Pride aside, it can prove more than a little disconcerting to think that many years of education and practical experience can hinder rather than help in dealing with a problem.

design thinking is essentially a problem-solving approach, crystallized in the field of design, which combines a holistic user-centered perspective with rational and analytical research with the goal of creating innovative solutions.

Design thinking is not only for designers but also for creative employees, freelancers, and leaders who seek to infuse design thinking into every level of an organization, product, or service in order to drive new alternatives for business and society.

“To be a great designer, you need to look a little deeper into how people think and act.” — Paul Boag, Co-Founder of Headscape Limited

“We tend to be distracted by the voices in our own heads telling us what the design should look like.” — Michael Bierut, Partner at Pentagram Design

“Know thy user, and you are not the user.” — Arnie Lund, the author of User Experience Management

“Good design is about process, not product.” — Jared Sinclair, Designer and Developer at Bloglovin

“When creating content, be empathetic above all else. Try to live the lives of your audience.” — Rand Fishkin, Founder at Moz

Gillian Crampton Smith, an interaction design academic, first introduced the concept of four dimensions of an interaction design language, to which Kevin Silver, senior interaction designer at IDEXX Laboratories, added the fifth.

In an era saturated with information and where users can feel as time-starved as they can data-drowned, understanding how much time they spend in their user experiences is absolutely vital.

“If your business isn’t mobile friendly, your business is dead.” — Jonathan Stark, Best-selling mobile technology author

You want to focus on a ‘mobile first’ approach, which means designing for the smallest mobile platforms and increasing complexity from there.