The Definition of UX and Everything Else You Need to Know

Surely you have encountered the term UX or User Experience in a work conversation or in a Medium article. As a UX agency, we understand that you might wonder what they really mean. Therefore our UX consultants are going to answer all these questions for you – not only providing their understanding of UX but also other jargon they use. Let’s cut to the chase!

What does UX mean?

The term ‘user experience’ encompasses the entirety of a user’s interaction with a platform, product or service. A good user experience will have taken into account usability, accessibility, and efficiency.

UX is short for ‘user experience,’ which is everything pertaining to a user’s interaction with a product or service. Whether the product/service is digital or not, UX includes the aspects of ease of use, efficiency and accessibility. Great UX could help with the success of the business as it ensures users have satisfying experiences with its product or services.

Bonus: How is UX different from UI?

UI on the other hand stands for ‘user interface.’ It focuses on aesthetics, hence the look and feel of a product, considering all the visual elements such as typography and colour palette. To put it simply, UX comes first, building up the structure and then followed by UI to paint the room. 

What is Wireframe?

Wireframes are used to convey the layout and structure of a page, depicting the positions of different components. It is usually skeletal without detailed graphics or colours. Sometimes it is drawn on a piece of paper but more often wireframes are seen created on design applications like Figma. 

What does Prototype mean in UX design?

When used in UX, Prototype means a model that is created to simulate the final product. The main purpose of a prototype is to test with users so that the parts that don’t actually work from users’ perspectives could be fixed before the real product gets built. This could save time and effort since a prototype is faster and easier to build. At the same time, a prototype is perfect for showcasing the concept to stakeholders.

How is User Journey defined?

A User Journey consists of a series of touchpoints that users interact with as they try to accomplish certain goals with, most of the time but not limited to, a website. Mapping the journey can help identify the pain points users encounter. By addressing the pain points the user experience would be improved.

What is meant by User Research?

User Research is the investigation carried out to understand users’ needs, behaviour, ways of interaction and everything that can help to shape the user experience of the product. By means of interviews and surveys, qualitative and quantitative data can be collected and analysed into useful insights to apply to the design.

What is a Persona in UX?

Created to represent a user type, Personas delineate the goals, pain points and roles shared by the groups of users. Most of the time, personas are based on research. Accurate personas can better inform the design by helping to incorporate the requirements of all main user types.

What is Usability Testing?

Usability Testing is the process of examining how well users can perform tasks with the products that are under development. During a usability testing session, UX consultants observe the behaviour of participants. The observations together with participants’ feedback would be used to improve the product.

What is a Design System?

A design system is composed of a collection of design elements and standards that should be used when building a range of products so that consistency can be maintained. When scaling up the design, a design system can save product teams much time and effort by providing guidelines and ready-to-use components.

We hope our explanation has swept off the question marks in your head. Next time when you hear people talking about user experience, don’t panic as you’ve had your first lesson!