How the user gets from one place to another, step-by-step
As a creative recruiter, nothing gets me more excited than seeing a portfolio filled with wire frames, site maps, user flows, and personas. Now, don’t get me wrong, I totally geek out when I find a portfolio that is visually stunning, but what really gets my juices flowing is the method behind the madness. And why do I love the detail, the reports, and the charts? Why do I care about how and why you designed something the way you did? Because my clients (you know, the ones doing the hiring) love it.
Good web design doesn’t just begin and end with how pretty it is. Truly good design includes the structure behind the site. Knowing your audience, planning your site carefully, giving thought to ease of use, organizing your content, making it simple for the user to get from point A to point B are all more critical than making something look good. If your product doesn’t flow well, is confusing, or easy to get lost in, it’s useless.
Now, if your understanding of UX design starts and stops with putting navigation on the left or the TOS link on the bottom of each page, there are resources for you to learn more about UX design.
Resources:
http://www.boxesandarrows.com
http://www.ittatc.org/technical/access-ucd/background.php
A brief introduction, with linked resources, for those unfamiliar with accessibility and/or user-centered design.
What is User-Centered Design?
User-centered design (UCD) is an approach to design that grounds the process in information about the people who will use the product. UCD processes focus on users through the planning, design and development of a product.
User-centered design and web development
User Centered-Design (UCD) is a philosophy and a process. It is a philosophy that places the person (as opposed to the ‘thing’) at the centre; it is a process that focuses on cognitive factors (such as perception, memory, learning, problem-solving, etc.) as they come into play during peoples’ interactions with things.
