UX Design: Tools, Terms, & Platforms You Need | Google UX Design Certificate

User Experience Design Fundamentals

This section introduces the fundamental concepts of user experience design, emphasizing the importance of understanding users and creating experiences that meet their needs.

Understanding User Experience Design

• User experience design focuses on how a person feels when interacting with a product.

• Key questions in evaluating user experience include ease of use, equity, delighting the user, and solving their problems.

• UX designers prioritize the end user over business goals to ensure a good user experience.

Importance of User-Centered Design

• Designs should be centered on the user as they are the ones buying and using the product.

• User-centered design reduces designer bias and emphasizes solving real user problems.

• The user-centered design process involves understanding, specifying, designing, and evaluating solutions based on end users' needs.

Frameworks in User Experience Design

This section explores different frameworks used in user experience design to structure problem-solving approaches effectively.

Five Elements Framework

• The five elements framework consists of strategy, scope, structure, skeleton, and surface layers for creating a cohesive user experience.

Design Thinking Framework

Design Thinking Process Overview

This section introduces the design thinking process, outlining its five actionable steps and emphasizing the importance of understanding end users' needs.

Design Thinking Steps

• Empathize:

• Involves discovering end users' needs by conducting surveys, interviews, or observations to understand their perspectives.

• Define:

• Creating a clear problem statement based on user research to focus the team on addressing users' needs effectively.

• Ideate:

• Encourages brainstorming numerous ideas without focusing on quality initially to foster innovation.

• Prototype and Test:

• Developing scaled-down product versions for testing with users to gather feedback for improvements before finalizing the product.

Inclusive Design Principles

This part delves into inclusive design principles, contrasting universal design with inclusive design approaches that prioritize meeting diverse user needs.

Universal Design vs. Inclusive Design

• Universal Design:

• Aims to create one solution for all users but often lacks effectiveness due to diverse user requirements.

• Inclusive Design:

• Focuses on accommodating various needs by considering personal identifiers like ability, race, economic status, language, age, and gender.

Building Inclusive Experiences

The discussion shifts towards building experiences accessible to a wide range of abilities through inclusive design practices.

Key Aspects of Inclusive Design

• Solve for One, Extend to Many:

Understanding Inclusive and Equity-Focused Design

This section delves into the concepts of inclusive design, equity-focused design, and the importance of considering underrepresented groups in product development.

Accessibility and Inclusive Design

• Accessibility is a key aspect of inclusive design, aiming to benefit not only the intended group but also other users.

• Accessibility is part of inclusive design.

Equity-Focused Design

• Equity-focused design goes beyond inclusivity by targeting historically marginalized groups.

• Equity-focused design uplifts underrepresented groups.

Equality vs. Equity

• Equality provides equal opportunities to all, while equity offers tailored support for fair outcomes.

• Equality gives everyone the same, while equity provides varying support for fairness.

Designing with Equity as a Goal

This segment explores how equity-focused design applies in real-world scenarios and emphasizes designing for specific individuals within excluded groups.

Application in Design

• Equity-focused design aims to cater to individuals historically excluded from products.

• Focus on meeting needs of specific individuals in excluded groups.

Challenges Faced by Next Billion Users

The discussion shifts towards understanding the challenges faced by new internet users, particularly the Next Billion Users (NBU), emphasizing cost, connectivity, digital literacy, and general literacy issues.

Cost and Connectivity Challenges

• NBU may face affordability issues with devices and limited internet access.

• Cost constraints impact device accessibility.

Digital Literacy Concerns

• New users may lack familiarity with technology interfaces and functions.

• Lack of digital literacy affects user confidence.

Addressing User Needs

• Simplifying designs through tutorials can enhance user experience for NBU.

Understanding the Challenges and Considerations in UX Design

This section discusses the challenges faced by designers when catering to a diverse user base, emphasizing the importance of considering literacy levels, language preferences, and design biases.

Challenges in Designing for Diverse Users

• Multilingual Keyboard Option: Users may need to switch languages on their devices for different tasks, highlighting the necessity of a multilingual keyboard option.

• Universal Icons: Using universally understood icons like a currency sign can enhance user experience, especially in apps such as banking applications.

• Addressing Design Biases: Designers must be aware of their own design biases, such as preferences for certain layouts or language directions, and adapt designs accordingly.

User-Centric Approach in UX Design

• Inclusive Design Philosophy: The goal is to create experiences that cater to every user's unique context regardless of background or demographics.

• Comprehensive Understanding: Emphasizes the importance of understanding users' contexts as a foundational step in designing inclusive experiences.

Advantages of Utilizing Design Tools

This segment explores the benefits of using design tools in the UX design process and highlights how these tools facilitate prototyping, testing, and collaboration among teams.

Benefits of Design Tools

• Prototyping and Iteration: Tools enable designers to prototype ideas efficiently and iterate on them seamlessly.

• Testing Capabilities: Facilitates easy testing of prototypes to gather valuable feedback for refinement.

• Collaboration Enhancement: Allows multiple teams to work on a product simultaneously, promoting teamwork and efficiency in product development.

Platform Considerations in UX Design

Discusses the significance of designing for various platforms to ensure consistent user experiences across different devices while also maintaining brand identity.

Platform Diversity in UX Design

• Multi-platform Experience: Users engage with products across diverse platforms like desktops, mobile devices, wearables, etc., necessitating consistent design elements across all platforms.

Responsive Web Design

This section discusses the concept of responsive web design and its importance in adapting websites to different devices for optimal user experience.

Responsive Web Design

• Responsive web design allows websites to adjust automatically based on device size, ensuring usability across various platforms.

• Designers focus on mobile design due to the increasing use of mobile devices, emphasizing best practices like prominent call-to-action buttons and simplified navigation menus.

• Utilizing familiar gestures such as tapping and swiping enhances user experience, along with designing for both vertical and horizontal phone orientations.

• Emphasize reducing visual clutter on mobile interfaces to enhance simplicity and user engagement.

Assistive Technology Overview

This part introduces assistive technology (AT) and its role in enhancing accessibility for individuals with disabilities.

Assistive Technology

• Assistive Technology (AT) encompasses products that aid people with disabilities in learning, working, and daily activities.

• AT includes color modification, voice control, screen readers, alternative text, prosthetics, pointing devices, electric wheelchairs, eye gaze trackers, etc.

• Color modification like high contrast mode benefits users with low vision by enhancing screen visibility.

Understanding UX Design Principles

In this segment, the speaker discusses the importance of understanding UX design principles and how they apply across various platforms. Additionally, the focus is on inclusive design, equity-focused design, and developing a designer's mindset.

Core Skills in UX Design

• Gain a deeper understanding of inclusive design and equity-focused design.

• Practice thinking like a designer as a fundamental skill to be developed further.

• Emphasize the significance of working across platforms for UX designers.