Discover, Design,
Experience, & Learn
What is a User Experience?
Have you ever said:
“Geez, this website is taking forever to load!”
“What does the (drive-thru) menu say? I can barely read it.”
These are examples of bad user experiences. As designers, it is important to ensure that the users of our designs have positive experiences when engaging with them. If they don’t, it can cheapen the appearance of a brand.
A user experience is a small portion of a customer’s journey with a product or company. These small experiences can make or break the view of the product/company.
So how can you, as a designer become more aware of integrating user experience (UX) into your work and how? What can you, as a business owner, do to ensure your customers are receiving the best experience?
First, let’s understand UX design.
You can’t not have an experience.
Experiences can come in a wide range of types and sizes. Some are small and you won’t really notice while others are larger.
Some of these may be a child getting a sticker at the doctors, customer service, packaging, the product itself, the product instructions, a website, an app, a company office, business cards, and a whole lot more.
We have experiences in everything we do, and they aren’t always positive. But when we do have a positive experience, we often subconsciously remember it and will be more inclined to return to where that experience took place.
Someone once said, “Good UX design often goes unnoticed, as it is working properly and causes no issues for the user. Bad design is always pointed out and noticed.”
Let’s get into some positive examples
A major aspect of UX design is the accessibility of the designs. Take Starbuck’s drive-thru sign language ability.
A few years ago, a YouTube video was going viral about how Starbucks was signing through the drive-thru dash with a deaf customer. This showed that Starbucks thought about all of their customer’s experiences with them.
Having the drive-thru being deaf accessible is an amazing experience that will stick with this woman, as she now knows, “I can come back here and not have to worry about if I can get a drink or not.”
How about,
The ease of navigating an app or website. We are all too familiar with websites where you are unsure of how to get anywhere or do anything. A good site has easy navigation. It’s a site that you will always want to come back to. A website should be intuitive, informative, and functional.
Duolingo is a great example of a website with a good user experience. The site uses a minimal design approach, has an easy sign-up, and allows the ability for personalization. There is no question of, “How do I do XYZ?”
What’s a negative experience?
We have all gone to a website that we couldn’t find anything in or hated visiting, maybe a website like, Craigslist.
Craigslist’s site is hard to read in both contrast and size, visually busy, and is not responsive.
Having a responsive site allows for easy navigation and reading on a phone or tablet. Since Craigslist doesn’t do this, it forces people to try to zoom in and find what they can’t see.
This video shows how Craiglist looks on different sized screens.
The blue type is uncomfortable to read, due to its poor contrast. In the video below I used a color-blind simulator, called Colorblindly, to have an idea of how people who are color-blind view a site.
If you look at the “event calendar” and the “new” in the side navigation you can watch how its contrast changes and how poor, it can become. This can cause users to avoid Craigslist since it’s too hard to use.
Marion, a marketing and design company, beautifully discusses six more bad UX aspects of a website or app (check it out).
How to ensure you think about UX in your designs?
Never assume.
When we assume, we avoid major points and design opportunities. When we assume, we ignore issues that may lie within our designs that could cause offense, struggle, or be inaccessible.
Insert it into your process and always ask yourself, and others:
Is this working?
Do the users understand this as I do? Is it intuitive?
Does this fit my target audience? Should I test this?
Testing is a key aspect of ensuring a positive user experience. By testing, you will be able to discover if your designs function properly. It also allows for discoveries along the way of development rather than at the end when it is out in the world. These discoveries can show you that the colors chosen aren’t conveying the proper tone or that the navigation on that app doesn’t open.
As a business owner,
Some ways you can ensure your customers are having their best experience possible could be as simple as a survey. Ask how their experience was for firsthand input.
Or hire a UX designer, to go through your company, website, pamphlet, etc. to help discover where any issues may lie and design solutions for those problems.
Go through the experience yourself, do you find any problems?
We live in a world of experiences;
it is important that our designs leave positive impressions and be remembered. Test your designs along the way, ask yourself questions about their functionality, and assume nothing.
Folded
Have you ever thought about the way something was folded? Have you ever even noticed it? Well all of the pamphlets and brochures you hold may be in different types of folds.
There are plenty of folds you can do and some of you may know about folds already, especially if you are into origami. Folds can convey a different experience and appearance to what you have designed. For this reason we are talking about folds because creating an experience for your user is immensely important in this ever growing user-centered world. Even though many can be used for similar, if not the same things, they still change the interaction the user engages when they open the brochure or pamphlet.
So if you’re stressed or just need to take a minute for yourself then grab some papers. Go back to your younger years and follow along in these folds and fold some for yourself.
Half Folds
Half folds are pretty self-explanatory. Take a piece of paper and hold it in half, hot dog or hamburger whichever is more your style, but it is generally done the hamburger way. This fold is good for cards, invites, price lists, menus, programs, booklets, bulletins, flyers/brochures, or announcements.
Tri-Fold
Tri-folds are, like a lot really, pretty self-explanatory. It is able to be used for statements, durable pamphlets, specials, flyers/brochures, price list. To do this fold fold the paper into equal thirds and there you have it.
Z-Fold
This fold has the same fold lines as the tri-fold we just spoke about; however, both flaps should not fold inward but one folded behind. This fold is again good for special offers and flyers/brochures.
4-Panel Accordion Fold
This has the same feel as the z-fold but has an extra fold in it and if looking at the thin edges should make a “M” or “W” shape. First fold the paper in half and each of those halves in half. make sure that they alternate their folded direction.
3-Panel Gate Fold
This fold gives the look of gates opening when well, opening. When folding the center of the paper must be known without making a crease. Then each opposite end is folded to the center.
Double Gate Fold
This fold is similar to the one above except it has an extra fold. So rather than the center panel of the 3-panel being half of the whole paper size, it is folded in half. Making each fold fold inward to the center.
Roll Fold
A roll fold can be rather confusing to understand because it seems to simply be the double gate fold; however, the folds roll into the other (the image makes it seem as though the flaps are different sizes, but they are the same size).
Double Parallel Fold
Once again another fold similar to the others. This has the 3 creases, one in the center and then each half creased in half, causing the folds to encase each other.
Vertical Half Fold
You guessed it! it’s a good old half fold except it is hot dog fold. I assume you don’t need an image for this but if you do view the image under the heading Map Fold, bottom left corner.
French Fold
The French fold is when the paper is folded in half hot dog style first and then (still in the hot dog fold) folded in half hamburger style.
Map Fold
Map fold is when the paper is folded in half hamburger style and then folded into thirds the other way. (see map fold on bottom right)
Get Crazy with it!
Now the folds mentioned above are just common folds for printed materials but that doesn’t mean you can’t change it up or do something crazy and different. There are circle lock gates, diagonal wraps, circular accordions, and corner folder open gate.
If you are looking for a unique way to engage and delight your users don’t forget about the way items are folded, it may make a huge change! To find more ideas on folds visit: foldfactory.com
More than a Piece of Paper
“[From] a two-dimensional virtual reality, you eventually have to take your plans to the third dimension,… making that leap requires paper.”
In todays day and age it seems as though every single interaction is between a person and their screen. But do you remember the woman at the conference who handed you that flyer? Or the attorney who gave you his business card? Here, how about that new folder and book you just bought from the store? Those were all interactions with paper! Yep it is still relevant even if we don’t think it is. Paper is a huge part of a brand but to understand why you need to know a bit about the variety of paper and what experiences they can create.
Characteristics and variety of paper such as weight, texture, pulp, finishing, coat, opacity, brightness, and size allows for the paper to invoke emotion. By using a paper that aligns to your business or personal values it carries your brand through the touch, rather than just visual. As a designer I know that all of these paper traits and qualities are important to a brand and that brands experience. So what are some aspects of paper that give it different characteristics?
It isn’t just this flattened, ink soaked, dead tree.
Coating
The coating on paper regulates how much the ink bleeds and absorbs into the paper. If you are seeking to print large pictures coated paper is great because it will keep the colors from mixing and make the images sharper.
Hand
The hand is the way the paper feels when it’s handled. This texture gives anyone holding it an experience or at least a feeling. If the paper is more textured, ridged or toothier, then they may experiences feelings of hand-made, organic, environment, heavy-duty, and old. If a paper is silky smooth you may experience thoughts of high quality, sophistication, clean, and modern.
A Few Traits
Brightness | This is the amount of light that reflect off of the paper back at the user. If you are publishing a book stark white paper may not be the best option, Why? Because if they take that book out to read on a bright day that sunlight is going to reflect off of the paper and cause the reader eyestrain.
Opacity | This is how much light can pass through the paper. If you want to make a notebook you would want to use higher opacity, or opaque (less transparent) paper because you don’t want to see the text from other pages or have ink bleed through.
Now that you know a bit more about paper and the experiences that they can enhance or destroy are you going to be more aware of your paper choices?