Here are 20 of the most important concepts to understand and apply in UX design:
- User Research – Understanding user behaviours, needs, frustrations and motivations through methods like surveys, interviews, site traffic statistics and observation.
- Information Architecture – Structuring, organizing and labelling content and functions in an intuitive way.
- User Flows – Mapping out the journey or steps users take to complete key tasks and achieve goals.
- Wireframing – Creating simple layouts of key pages to plan interface structure and layout.
- Prototyping – Creating interactive prototypes to demonstrate ideas and gather user feedback.
- Usability Testing – Testing prototypes or live products with real users to identify issues.
- Visual Design – Applying visual elements like typography, colour, spacing and imagery to enhance usability and aesthetics.
- Interaction Design – Designing natural, intuitive interactions and micro-interactions.
- Accessibility – Making products usable and accessible for users with disabilities.
- Responsive Design – Creating adaptive interfaces to provide optimal experiences across devices.
- Feedback & Notifications – Providing system feedback and status notifications to inform users.
- Consistency – Maintaining visual, interaction and content consistency across a product.
- Onboarding – Guiding users through initial product use with tutorials, tips and suggestions.
- Personas – Creating user archetypes to represent real target users and their needs.
- Journey Mapping – Visualizing the overall user experience across touchpoints.
- Card Sorting – Using cards to gauge how users mentally organize information.
- A/B Testing – Comparing two versions to see which performs better statistically.
- Contextual Inquiry – Observing and conversing with users in their environment.
- Design Systems – Documenting styles, components and patterns for unified, consistent designs.
- Jobs-to-be-Done – Focusing on the jobs users want to get done not just demographics.
