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What is UX?

4:23 with Anwar Montasir

Picture this: you’re about to enter a building in your neighborhood. This could be an office building, a market, a library. Your cellphone buzzes in your pocket, and you’re a bit distracted as you approach the front door. You push the metal bar across the glass door with your forearm, but it won’t budge. You try again, but no luck. Is the door locked? Is the business closed? Finally, you realize pushing won’t work: the door was designed to be pulled open. If you’re like most people, this probably happens to you fairly frequently. And while people often blame themselves for being distracted, the fault actually lies in the design of the door. If a handle had suggested being grabbed and pulled, that’s likely what you would have done.

Vocabulary

  • Norman doors: doors where the design suggests the opposite of how they're actually used.

  • Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another

  • User Experience (UX) Design: encompasses all aspects of a user's interaction with a company, its services, and its products. UX designers put themselves into the shoes of users to create solutions through empathy.

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    [MUSIC] 0:00
    Picture this: you're about to enter a building in your neighborhood. 0:09
    This could be an office building, a market, a library. 0:13
    Your cell phone buzzes in your pocket and 0:18
    you're a bit distracted as you approach the front door. 0:20
    You push the metal bar across the glass door with your forearm, 0:24
    but it won't budge. 0:28
    You try again, but no luck. 0:29
    Is the door locked? 0:32
    Is the business closed? 0:33
    Finally, you realize pushing won't work. 0:35
    The door was designed to be pulled open. 0:38
    If you're like most people, this probably happens to you fairly frequently. 0:42
    And while people often blame themselves for being distracted, 0:48
    the fault actually lies in the design of the door. 0:52
    If a handle had suggested being grabbed and pulled, 0:56
    that's likely what you would have done. This situation 1:00
    is described in the opening pages of a book called The Design of 1:04
    Everyday Things by a cognitive scientist and usability engineer 1:08
    named Don Norman. In fact, Norman's writings on badly designed 1:14
    doors are so influential that nowadays we call them Norman doors. 1:19
    And although The Design of Everyday Things was written in 1988, 1:24
    Norman doors are still found everywhere. 1:30
    Hi, my name is Anwar. 1:33
    I'm a designer, a developer, and a teacher at Treehouse. 1:36
    My pronouns are he/him. 1:39
    I'm here today to introduce you to User Experience design. 1:41
    I began this video by introducing Norman doors for a reason. 1:46
    Whether we're tasked with designing a digital product 1:51
    like a website or a mobile app, or even a physical object like a door, 1:55
    User Experience designers are constantly thinking about 2:00
    the kinds of questions facing the user in this example. 2:05
    What was the user's goal? 2:09
    To open the door to enter the building. 2:11
    Why weren't they paying attention? 2:14
    The cell phone notification created a small distraction. 2:16
    But I would also suggest that most able-bodied users don't put much 2:20
    thought into opening doors. 2:25
    It's something they've done thousands of times and it's supposed to be easy. 2:27
    Of course, doors are also designed for disabled users who might approach 2:32
    opening a door very differently and who deserve special consideration. 2:37
    What stopped the user from achieving their goal? 2:43
    The fault lies in the design of the door handle, 2:46
    which failed to send a clear signal to the user on how to use it. 2:50
    The more obvious the design, the less users struggle. 2:54
    By asking these questions about our users we're practicing empathy. 2:58
    Empathy, defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings 3:03
    of another, is at the heart of the definition of User Experience design. 3:09
    User Experience design, commonly called UX design, 3:14
    encompasses all aspects of the user's interaction with a company, 3:18
    its services, and its products. 3:24
    UX designers prioritize the needs of users and create solutions through empathy. 3:27
    So when UX designers help design a product or a service for a company, 3:34
    we're constantly asking ourselves, who are that company's users? 3:39
    What do the users want to achieve? 3:44
    What obstacles stand in their way? 3:46
    And how can we minimize those obstacles and 3:49
    make the experience of our users a positive one? 3:52
    If you've ever abandoned a website or 3:56
    a mobile app after thinking this wasn't made for a user like me or, 3:59
    wow, what a frustrating experience. There must be a better way. 4:04
    Then UX design might be a good fit for you. 4:09
    In the next video, we'll examine the qualities and 4:12
    interests most UX designers have in common. 4:16
    It should come as no surprise that empathy is at the top of the list. 4:19

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