Before talking about the process in which the UI UX Design services team is involved in Software Development and App Development , it is important to understand what “UX” is and its difference with “UI”, since sometimes they can be related to the degree to think they are the same, but in reality they are not. Each one has its valuable function in this ecosystem to achieve the goal of creating a quality product.
WHAT IS UX?
UX is translated by its acronym in English “User Experience”.
Currently in the world of IT, Software and App Development , more is being taken into account the importance of the user of our product and how he or she interacts emotionally with said product, this is what we know as UX .
UX is not a process, it is not a methodology, it is the final result, what the user of our product feels and perceives.
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UX IS NOT GRAPHIC DESIGN
It is common for UX to be related to the Graphic Designer since we frequently see “UI/UX” or UI UX Design services associating the Graphic Designer when we see the words “Designer” and “UI” in these, although the latter Yes, it is related to Graphic Design and visual elements, UX is very far from simply being graphic design.
Unlike UI (User Interface), UX is the result of a whole, in which UI, usability, functionality, intuitiveness, etc., contribute and are part of an experience that the user of our Software Development product will have . and Apps .
Intuitive + Usable + UI + Functional = UX
UX design is thinking about the user throughout the product development process.
Bad user experience is always present!
In our Software and/or App Development product we can have both good and bad user experience as a result.
We must keep in mind that by default the absence of UX design in our product results in a bad user experience, it is in our hands to guide our product along the path of a positive and satisfactory experience for our users.
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WHAT IS UI?
UI is translated by its acronym in English “User Interface”.
The user interface (UI) is the means that allows the user to interact with the product, in the case of Software and/or App Development the interface is manifested in a completely graphic way.
The graphic/front-end designer mainly participates in UI design, who uses analysis tools and practices to shape the graphical interface of the product.
Frequently, the role of UI designer is also responsible for performing the role of UX designer, but it must be clear that the UX role is focused on research, usability testing and information architecture design, while the UI designer is It uses all the information collected and analyzed by the UX designer to graphically translate it into the look and feel and front-end of the product.
WHAT ABOUT THE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES?
When designing a Software or App it is important to take as a premise the fulfillment of the company's objectives and user satisfaction at the same time, this to achieve a good result in the product.
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UI/UX DESIGN PROCESS
With the concepts of UI and UX clear, let's look at the stages in which the UI/UX Design team is involved in the development process of a digital product.
1- Analysis
The analysis stage is the most important of the entire process, since this is the product definition phase. In this stage, information architects (AI) analyze with the client the ideas, objectives, scope and focus of the product. They create software requirement specification documents and UX design using user interviews, Card Sorting, Persona Creation, etc.
In the analysis everything will be very clear and specified to avoid rework, inconsistencies or undefined information when working on the rest of the stages.
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2- Wireframing
It is common for UX to be related to the Graphic Designer since we frequently see “UI/UX” or “UI/UX Designer”, although it is related to Graphic Design and visual elements, UI UX design services are very far from being simply graphic design.
At this stage, everything previously collected in the analysis begins to be reflected visually, the UI designer intervenes in this process using mockups, wireframes and wireflows, these being the main tools for the visual definition of the product.
3- Prototyping
Prototyping is the combination of wireflows + graphic design, this is where the product is materialized, the main function of prototyping is to provide interaction to the wireflow so that the user can navigate the prototype as if it were the final product, in this In this stage, the developers have not yet worked on the code, everything is based on images in medium or high fidelity, unlike the wireframe which is low fidelity, in this stage they work completely on the look and feel of the product showing visually the product as the user will see it.
4- Layout
In the layout stage, the UI design team is responsible for translating the prototype into fully functional code on the front-end so that the development team can later integrate it into the back-end.
5- Development
Subsequently or in parallel with the layout work by the UI design team, the developer team can manipulate the front-end code to continue with the development work.