{"id":43800,"date":"2018-01-21T04:49:14","date_gmt":"2018-01-21T11:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/interface-designers-you-need-to-be-thinking-product\/"},"modified":"2018-01-21T04:49:14","modified_gmt":"2018-01-21T11:49:14","slug":"interface-designers-you-need-to-be-thinking-product","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/interface-designers-you-need-to-be-thinking-product\/","title":{"rendered":"Interface designers \u2014 you need to be thinking product"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019re doing more than just \u201cdesign\u201d?\u2014?whether you know it or\u00a0not<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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As interface designers, our primary focus is on the look and feel of a product. Clients may not know how to create an interface design from nothing, and so engage us to design something that they, and their users, will find visually pleasing.<\/p>\n

However, designing an interface inherently involves way more than just the look and\u00a0feel.<\/p>\n

Designers have to wear many different hats beyond just\u00a0design.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We need to have a stack of different skills beyond just UI design. More than ever, designers need to be thinking about the holistic\u00a0product.<\/p>\n

We need to be able to go beyond the visuals and into the heart of a product\u00a0\u2014<\/p>\n

We need to understand why it\u2019s being built, how it\u2019s being built and what the product\u2019s objectives are.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

1?\u2014?Designing interfaces = solving problems\u00a0visually<\/h4>\n

Sure, clients engage us primarily for \u201ccreating the visuals\u201d, but don\u2019t forget?\u2014?designing interfaces plays a key part in solving problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re designing an interface, you\u2019re always having to think?\u2014?what makes the most sense to a\u00a0user?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your design considerations, whether they\u2019re decisions on how to best represent various datasets or what navigation style suits best, are all examples of you solving problems. These impact the look of the product, but also impact how efficiently users solve their own problems within a\u00a0product.<\/p>\n

You are trying to help a user solve a problem efficiently. Problem-solving skills make you invaluable in helping companies not only craft their design, but also their\u00a0product.<\/p>\n

TL;DR?\u2014?You\u2019re solving more than just visual problems when you design an interface.<\/p>\n

2?\u2014?You need to understand how feasible your designs to\u00a0build<\/h4>\n

Many designers can create magnificent experiences that make user\u2019s jaws hit the ground. Just take a look at Dribbble?\u2014?ignoring usability concerns for a moment, many designs from top designers there are simply incredible.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s great?\u2014?especially if you\u2019re making your client happy. However, if you\u2019re making developers cry, you may have more of an issue than you realise. Telling the devs to lift their game isn\u2019t always the best approach.<\/p>\n

As Designers, we need to work with Developers?\u2014?not against\u00a0them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Before you venture into high-fidelity designs, you need to think about the development environment your design is heading into. If your client has limited time and resources, chasing your super-intensive designs down the rabbit hole may not be on the\u00a0cards.<\/p>\n

Keeping your client and their developers<\/strong> happy is the\u00a0goal.<\/p>\n

TL;DR?\u2014?Don\u2019t come dressed in a ball gown if the invite says smart\u00a0casual.<\/p>\n

3?\u2014?Look and feel does not equal usability<\/h4>\n

Designing an interface often means navigating through a maze of trade-offs between how visually pleasing versus how usable it\u00a0is.<\/p>\n

When clients request lots of fields, buttons, never-ending filters, notifications galore and pop-ups at every step, you\u2019re bound to start thinking\u00a0\u2014<\/p>\n

Woah!<\/strong> How can I make all of this happen yet keep things\u00a0usable?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All of a sudden, you\u2019re the master of balancing the visuals with the overall experience. You become the product\u2019s user experience guru<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Wait, weren\u2019t you hired just for the\u00a0visuals?<\/p>\n

4?\u2014?Every product is different, so you have to design for the situation<\/h4>\n

Some products solve complex problems in simple ways, others solve simple problems in complex ways. As designers, we need to align our design strategy with the client\u2019s product strategy.<\/p>\n

There is never a one-size-fits-all approach for every\u00a0client.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Different types of users, target markets and pricing strategies means you need to be contextual. An audience of tech-savvy business users means you need to keep in mind very different objectives to users that just bought their first smartphone.<\/p>\n

Your ability to understand a company\u2019s product strategy and design within that framework is a key part of delivering great\u00a0results.<\/p>\n

Plus, you look like a legend?\u2014?and you might just score yourself some repeat work if you\u2019re\u00a0lucky!<\/p>\n

Next time you\u2019re designing an interface, think more than the visuals?\u2014?think about the\u00a0product.<\/h4>\n

Nathan Allsopp<\/a> is a Sydney-based Product Manager\/Designer.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/medium.com\/media\/96d08ab34921bdd17986cb5c0396842f\/href<\/a><\/p>\n

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Interface designers \u2014 you need to be thinking product<\/a> was originally published in UX Planet<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019re doing more than just \u201cdesign\u201d?\u2014?whether you know it or\u00a0not As interface designers, our primary focus is on the look and feel of a product. Clients may not know how to create an interface design from nothing, and so engage us to design something that they, and their users, will find visually pleasing. However, designing… Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":43801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-info"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t