What is UX?

[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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