Characteristics of a Good User Experience

Good design is easy to spot but often hard to pin down. What exactly makes a product effective to its users? Is it a matter of simplicity, structure, or functionality? The answer depends on the product in question.

To make sure your product is effective to your users, there are 4 characteristics of good UX which will help you to evaluate your product’s design. Those are:

1. Usable
2. Equatable
3. Enjoyable
4. Useful

In this article, you’ll learn more about each one and why they’re important.

Usable

If the design, structure and purpose of the product is clear and easy to find, then your product is Usable. To evaluate the usability of your product, you can ask your self these questions:

1. Is everything in the design easy to find?
2. Is the design’s functionality easy to understand?
3. Can user accomplish specific tasks within the design?

These questions will help you evaluate your product’s usability.

Imagine you are evaluating the usability of a food delivering app. Assuming the primary purpose of this app is to order a food, the design should provide a clear and easy way to complete that task. For example, a section where you can easily enter food name and details on the homepage would be an example of good usability.

Equitable

If a product is Equitable, it means it is helpful to people with diverse abilities and backgrounds. The product’s design addresses the needs of a diverse audience regardless of their background, gender, race or ability. Equity goes beyond the concept of equality, where everyone is given equal resources, because people often need different tools and support based on their needs.

To evaluate the equity of your product’s design, you ask yourself these questions:

1. Are the needs of a diverse group of users considered?
2. Does the product’s design address the needs of traditionally underrepresented and excluded groups?

Imagine our same previous example of a food delivery app, you might consider how equitable your product is if the app has a feature to change the language so that people can use the app in which ever language they are comfortable in. Along with the language change option, if the app includes voice search and screen reader features then it will fulfil the needs of people who find it difficult to read or write something.

Enjoyable

If a product is Enjoyable, it means the design delights the user. The design reflects what the user may be thinking or feeling and creates a positive connection with them. A product’s design doesn’t have to be enjoyable for it to function properly. But, an enjoyable design adds to an already functional product and can enhance the user’s feelings about the experience. As you evaluate how enjoyable a product’s UX is, you can ask questions like:

1. Are there aspects of the design that consider the user’s feelings?
2. Does the design inspire delight in the user?
3. Does the design keep the user engaged throughout their experience?

These questions can help you determine whether the design delivers an enjoyable experience.

Again imagine the same example of a food ordering app, if you are evaluating how enjoyable the app is. Design aspects that might increase how much you enjoy the product include personalized recommendations based on previous searches or orders of the users, or the ability to customize the appearance of the user’s account.

Useful

If a product is Useful, that means it solves user problems. In other words, the design intentionally solves a user problem that the designer has identified. It’s important to note that, while similar, useful and usable have different meanings. A product that is useful isn’t always usable. The same is true for the opposite. The distinction between the two is that usability refers to the product working well and being easy to use, while usefulness refers directly to the ability to solve user problems. As you evaluate how useful a product’s UX is, you can ask questions like:

1. Does the design add value to the user’s experience?
2. Does the design solve a problem for the user?
3. Does the design help the user achieve a specific goal?

These questions can help you determine whether the design delivers a useful experience.

Let’s take your same food ordering app, you are evaluating how useful the app is. Users typically download these apps because they want to order food just sitting at their house on one click. With this in mind, aspects of the app that might be considered useful are features that can be used to order a dish that user wants to eat.

CONCLUSION

A good UX Designer is who keeps their user’s at front and centre. Making fulfil the requirements of the user is the first priority and provide the best quality product. Last but not that least, Happy users == Happy designers :)

Reference : Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design offered by Google