After completing user research and competitive analysis for your new app, your next steps involve the actual structuring of it. This is where you really get involved with what elements will be in your app and how your app will be laid out.

Information architectures are all about navigation. When structured correctly, they allow all the elements within the application to flow naturally as users click on different pages. Your app can have a wonderful UI design, but if this structural step is skipped your user may become confused and never use the app again (Information Architecture. Basics for Designers). When laying out this information, make sure everything goes together accordingly. Make smaller related pages off of main pages and include any additional elements that may help guide the user. Creating a legend key for your information architecture is important for differentiating between pages and different functionality (The Comprehensive Guide to Information Architecture). Everything in the IA should be laid out neatly, with room for possible change and additions.

After completing your IA, it’s important to sketch out wireframes before incorporating your branding. The main points of creating these wireframes are to present the information that is going to be displayed, make a visually structured outline of future screens, and show the overall direction the UI is going in (How to make your first wireframe). Sketching out these screens will allow you to work through any structural kinks before final branding is added. 

Wireframes are a step to be collaborated on as well. They are not the final prototype, so working through them with coworkers and customers to redraw as needed is encouraged (The Definitive Guide: How to create your first wireframe). These steps are all crucial in creating a successful final product.

Many people go about creating wireframes in different ways. Sketching or creating them digitally is common to do. Sketching is preferred by some because of how easy it is to draw and erase things right in front of you. It also can be done by anyone, meaning you don’t need to be a designer or tech-savvy person to sketch out some ideas (How to use paper prototyping within your design process). You won’t be at a future disadvantage while sketching either. Apps like Marvel allow you to upload pictures of your paper wireframes and create digital working prototypes.

If you happen to be more digitally inclined, there are many free resources for creating online wireframes. Many of these sources also include templates of screen sizes and element icons for you to digitally draw with. Sites like InVision, Balsamiq, AdobeXD, and Figma offer these services which make it easy to create online wireframes. Here are the links to these sites:

• InVision
• AdobeXD
• Figma
• Balsamiq

Drawing online allows you to utilize these templates as well as create neat sketches with straight lines. Either option, paper or computer, works for wireframes, it just depends on you.

Putting detail and effort into these UX steps will allow for a great UI to shine through. Much planning and structural work allow applications to be seamlessly designed the first go around. Even if you haven’t done an IA or wireframes before, they will pay off in the future. There are large amounts of research and websites available to get you started in this process.

When thinking of UX/UI, the majority of people think of the finished applications and designs associated with it. The actual UX processes that go into this design are often more involving than people think. Many of these steps involve user research, which can take months if done thoroughly.

When starting the UX journey, many designers will first look at product reviews. Whether they are updating their existing app or creating a whole new one, product reviews help get a glance of what real users are saying about the product. Taking the time to research the reviews of your own app and competitor apps will make all the difference.

Once this research is complete, you can dive into a competitor analysis. This process takes the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor and analyzes them against your product. The goal of this process is to walk away with new insights based on what users are looking for and what they don’t want.

After analysis, a designer can begin user interviews. This part of the process is where the real user research comes in. These interviews can include a wide range of target audience members and be very thorough. Most often, UX designers will compile a list of interview questions before interviewing. A tip for this process is that once the interview starts, let the user talk and make sure to ask follow up questions (How To Conduct User Interviews Like A Pro (UX Design)). As a designer, you should be gearing these interviews toward those who you anticipate being users of your application, holding the same interests and needs it entails.

Conducting user interviews can lead into the empathy mapping process. This is where you take users from your research and analyze their mindset. Most empathy maps involve what the user observes, feels, thinks, says, does, their goals, and their frustrations. All of these things involve taking what the user said and putting that into their individual mindset. These empathy maps allow designers to further analyze interview responses and organize them accordingly.

The persona is created after the user interview data has been completed as well. The point of a persona is to encompass all of the cold data into a familiar face. These personas can be easier for companies to focus their attention on and figure out what their user needs rather than focusing on all of the data (How to create a user persona). The persona is often not based on one individual but rather different patterns and groups that are shown in the research (Personas – A Simple Introduction). You may end up with one persona or multiple depending on how your target audience has similarities.

All of these steps in the UX design process prove to be important. They are about gathering and analyzing data in order to understand the user. If this process is skipped, the user may not be known and in turn, the app won’t be a success for that specific group. UX/UI is a whole process that goes way beyond the screens of an application.

References & Resources

https://usabilitygeek.com/how-to-do-ux-competitor-analysis/https://www.toptal.com/product-managers/freelance/product-designer-guide-to-competitive-analysis

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/how-to-conduct-user-interviewshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tVbFfGDQCk

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/empathy-mapping/https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/empathy-map-why-and-how-to-use-it

https://uxpressia.com/blog/how-to-create-persona-guide-exampleshttps://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/personas-why-and-how-you-should-use-themhttps://99designs.com/blog/business/how-to-create-user-personas/

For these assignments, we completed them in class as we began to learn the basics of Illustrator. We created the pencils using the shape tool and getting rid of various lines to form new shapes. Then we added color, making sure to pay attention to highlighting and shadowing to make the pencil look more realistic. Finally, we put our own spin on it, so I created a border with two pencils drawing. For the elephant project, we were each given the elephant outline and ask to fill it in. We used keyboard shortcuts, color swatches, and gradients to fill in the variety of parts. After I finished I used the spray paint tool to create the various flowers in the front. I added various effects to them to make them look different. I changed the sizes, shades, and arrangements of the flowers.

#visualdesign

I was interested in researching this subject because elephant poaching has always been a cause I cared for. I love elephants and I don’t understand why people would take their lives just for parts of their body. They are gentle creatures and should be protected. I got the numbers of killings from an article by National Geographic. The article was about the recent killings that have been happening in Botswana, supposedly a safe haven. While designing my work, I considered the design principles of color, contrast, alignment, and shape. I wanted to make sure everything stood out in its own way and was evenly spaced across the page. The website I used was:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/09/wildlife-watch-news-botswana-elephants-poaching/

#visualdesign

For this project, we created a document with three columns and added the text. Next, I changed the text to a different font, italicized it, and added paragraph style, emphasizing the “A” at the beginning of the paragraph. I then added in different pictures, using text wrap to shift the text around the photos. I then placed a background photo towards the bottom of the page and feathered it to fade more. This way the text is legible. After this I added in the lines at the top, adding more of a design to the page.

#visualdesign

I created the boxes, making sure to reflect and space each box evenly. After getting my desired number, I began coloring the boxes. I wanted to use a pink color scheme, so on the top row and left column of boxes I made a gradient of pinks going from light to dark. I did the same pattern of pink boxes in a row diagonally down the center. I then used black and white colors to fill my boxes because they have the most contrast. I tried to make each box slightly different while also keeping in mind the symmetry of my designs.

#visualdesign