Our approach to UX

User Experience isn’t just another industry buzz term. It’s the process of driving user satisfaction through a balance of usability and design. By making interaction with products accessible to the intended audience, brands are more likely to get the desired effect. 

At cLAB, our UX department is always pushing the limits in the name of innovation. With the help of James (head of UX), we’ve created our own process that generates results that the team and our clients can be proud of. This has been established in line with achieving four objectives: 

Value:             Is it useful or only nice to look at?

Usability:        Is it easy enough to use? 

Adaptability:   For those who haven’t used something like this before, is it

Desirability:    Is it fun and engaging?

Our approach to User Experience is made up of several essential steps. Without giving too much away, here’s how we get things done.

1. Define: Before we begin any design, we need to understand what the purpose, goals, and requirements are. This always outlines the deliverables and what we need to achieve at the end. 
2. Research: From the client to their competitors, users, and trends, we take an in-depth look at what’s currently available. Then, we brainstorm how we can offer something better. We’ve always preferred innovation to imitation so the goal is to improve, not copy. To design for real users, we need to think like them. This means that we create personas with the same characteristics as our target audience (they even get names and quotes!)
3. Review: We’ll spend hours (yes, hours) going through data and content. This gives us a clearer direction of the tone, imagery, and navigation we need to use. User behaviour is also examined at this stage. This gives us insight into what the audience will expect to encounter from the finished product.

4. Structure: Now that we have content backed by research and data, we need to know how organise and label it. This is known as Information Architecture. Then, we generate a sitemap linking up all the various pages before rolling out page blueprints (or wireframes). These are the first step to any User Interface (UI) design. They tell us what information will be displayed and where.

5. Design: Here’s the part where we implement next-level aesthetics without compromising on usability. We’ll decide on a look and feel and apply it to all pages. Any interactive areas will be added here too. This is done following a specific path that we’d like users to take when they’re using the site. Often, we showcase these designs in a prototype that mimics the user journey that the live site will follow.

6. Build: With all of the elements decided on, development begins. Although, nothing is ever set in stone. There are some instances where we revisit and tweak content, designs and even navigation. Why? UX is an evolving process and sometimes better solutions emerge along the way. Once we're happy, it'll be handed over to the client for testing. When they've given it two thumbs up, it's all systems go and we take things live. Thereafter, it's TEST TEST TEST. We choose to test at every single step and include real-life users as often as possible!

It’s all about the user 

In a world where digital drives every business, can you afford to skip out on UX? There’s no such thing as the average user so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. It’s why we utilise user personas, analytics and card sorting to learn how different people will use the same site regardless of demographics. If your site hasn’t been created with User Experience in mind, you might want to reach out to the ones reinventing UX. To find out how we can help you up your game, chat with us today.