The process of finding a trustworthy and reliable user experience design firm can be very challenging when you consider the meetings, discussions, and interviews involved. When you aim to make your product or service stand out to your audience, you may also find a UX design partner armed with the set of skills to attend to any user experience and feature-based aspects you envision providing for the end-user.
A lot of UX design teams have an encyclopedic knowledge of skills to create a wonderful design, but to select the right designers for your project, there is a specific set of factors that will help you decide whether or not to hire a particular agency.
Here is an essential (though incomplete) list of skills that you should look for in a UX company before choosing them as your partner.
Wireframing And Prototyping
Part of the process employed by the UX agency should be wireframing and prototyping. Wireframing is the establishment of a basic layout and structure of the product, while prototypes are those same structured and layouts supplemented with visual and interactive details. These are key steps to perform during a UX formulation process and should be done to establish a type of ‘blueprint’ up the project is handed off to a developer.
UX Writing
An important part of the UX design process is writing. Great text enhances the user experience significantly. If you were to check the apps on your smartphone, you would find that they are carefully crafted with superb text written by skilled writers. This is especially pertinent in terms of a website and seeking to keep a visitor engaged enough to be led down a funnel.
Visual Communication
One of the bedrock components in UX design is visual communication. When a user first accesses a website, the very first thing that stands out to them and captures their attention is what they see, and first impressions are extremely important. If the user is not captured by what they see visually, spectacular UX writing and a smooth flow won’t be all that relevant if the initial visual is a turn-off. A UX design company will put in the work into researching the audience and the market niche. This will assist them in defining which color patterns and visual components suit your audience best. This puts the focus on the visual aspect of the project which, as noted, is vital, since the user will be studying the design primarily with their eyes.
User Empathy
One of the keys to catering to the needs of any audience is the ability to understand the problems a user experiences from their point of view. Any UX firm you consider hiring should possess this skill. Understanding the users’ problems allows the designer to have a better understanding of how they approach putting the design together. If the team of designers does not empathize with or respect the user’s needs, they cannot hope to accomplish a successful end product.
Analytics
Another key aspect of a design project is being able to test how well the design performs, so any UX agency you choose to employ should be able to run such testing on a completed project. The key to proper analytics is the ability to understand the function of the design and how it will be received by end-users. Analytics are closely tied to user empathy because it gives the designer a firm, clearer understanding of the users’ perception of the product.
Analytics are essentially a data-driven approach to design that can help a designer make informed decisions about which designs work better and which can be done away with. In order to perform such analytical testing, the UX agency should have a team that is able to analyze the project’s performance, and help designers key in on the important areas of focus.
Other Skills
The above skills are pivotal pieces to consider when considering the best UX design company choice. Those are the ‘intangibles’ that correlate with additional solid skills that the UX company’s staff should possess. The listed skills often promote other skills like communication, interaction, collaboration, and coding.
Conclusion
If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that the future is highly unpredictable. But while the world may endure challenging times, trends may evolve, and new solutions can develop, the value in hiring a good designer is an essential piece to help you create a great design product or service.
There are many articles online about why you should use a user experience design company to help you in your design-related endeavors, but they seldom tell you what to look for when searching for one. We hope this article provided some more insight into that aspect of your search and we wish you luck!
This article was originally published on The Southern Maryland Chronicle.
