To better understand how strategists think about UX design on a day-to-day basis and how it can make all the difference to your business, here's an overview of user experience work.
Why a strategist, not a designer?
At Nmédia, the work of our UX strategists is centered on the user and functional thinking. According to Louis-David Noël, Vice-President, Digital Experience: "Like any UX designer, our strategists carry out a prototyping phase, but their added value lies more in their analytical strength." Indeed, they focus their interest on the relationship between the user and a digital product to design a user-centric experience.
That said, the work of nmédian strategists goes far beyond the creation of wireframes! They focus their efforts on the creative process of ideation and hypothesis validation to ensure that the visual appearance matches the needs, the interface's usability, and the navigation's reliability.
The aim of a web platform is usually to create a pleasant experience and to be easy to use. With this in mind, analysis of the ergonomics and quality of the digital experience is essential. Once the strategists have imagined and created the interface in a way that is effective and adapted to the target audience, the magic of the graphic designers can work to make the site attractive!
UX for understanding your target audience
The answer is simple: relying on transparent methodologies that serve as the basis for user analysis. This methodological framework is then used to make assumptions.
The main difference at Nmédia is that our UX strategists directly involve users in the hypothesis validation process. Once validated, these hypotheses materialize into requirements, which will be used to develop the interface.
- Louis-David Noël.
Without going into too much detail, this analysis considers all the factors that ensure the quality of the interface and, by extension, the user experience. Several methodologies can be used, depending on the user context, but the creation of personas and empathy maps are just a few examples.
What are personas? They are used to build a user profile with socio-demographic data that define them. These profiles enable us to understand better the consumption habits of a product's users and their skills and knowledge when it comes to technology or interface use. At Nmédia, personas are generally complemented by empathy maps, enabling us to understand the issues surrounding users (their fears, emotions, desires, thoughts, etc.).
Design, the touch that makes all the difference
The work of graphic designers is of paramount importance in the operational workflow. For users, aesthetics impact their perception of an interface's usability. As you can see, while ease of use remains paramount to delivering a pleasurable customer experience, more is needed to guarantee the success of a product or company on the Web. Other factors are necessary to improve a company's conversion rate. This is where user-centered design comes in.
What difference does the user-centered design make? Quite simply. Our designers give free rein to their creativity and work hand in hand with the user experience team to ensure that the graphic elements support the web ergonomics work done by our strategists beforehand. This collaboration brings added value to the smooth running of the interface.
User-centered design
The team receives new customer requests throughout a digital project and encounters technical pitfalls, deadlines, or budget constraints. It's not uncommon for the user to be left out in the cold to get on with the project. However, if the user needs to understand the usefulness of your product, is unable to use it with ease, or does not derive any satisfaction from it, the project will not achieve the desired results.
The role of the UX strategist is to keep the user at the center of design decisions, no matter what path the project takes.
We must be careful not to let our subjective tastes or desires take precedence over the objectivity of user analysis. The fundamental principle of a UX strategist is not to take it for granted that his evidence is necessarily that of the user
- Louis-David Noël.
After all, it's the user who will decide your success!
For more information on our ergonomics and design services, visit our services section or contact one of our team members!