The origin of User Experience (UX) design can be traced back to the 1940s, when Human Factors Engineering, or Ergonomics, emerged. The idea was to apply user psychological and physiological principles in the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. By the 1970s, the concept of user-friendliness of technology gained momentum.

With the internet taking the world by storm in the 1990s, rudimentary websites grew as did the role of hyperlinks and the importance of easy navigation. The urgency to keep online experiences seamless was felt. This is when information architecture and interaction design became essential in UX practice. The 2000s and 2010s brought in digital content on screens of various sizes and resolutions, hence responsiveness gained in significance. 

With UX taking centre-stage, could user-centered design be far behind? User-centered design took a human approach to building websites, applications and products, and not just a technological one. User research, usability testing and even user feedback became a part of the design process. Now, what a user thought and felt while using an application mattered - studied through qualitative as well as quantitative data. Data-driven design is the norm for applications and websites now, led by fusing data analytics with UX design. 

You may also read: Game Design and Development Process: Pre to Postproduction

Why UX Design Evolution Matters

“The growth in UX is still to come. I’m predicting that we’ll be 100 million UX professionals in the world by 2050. This corresponds to 1% of the world’s population. Is it realistic to expect that an entire percent of the population will be occupied with something as esoteric as user experience? Yes, because UX won’t be esoteric in 2050. It will be a key driver of the world economy.” - Jakob Neilson, co-founder, the Nielsen Norman Group. 

Jakob Neilson started UX in 1983 and his 100-year view of UX is evidently bullish and ‘positive beyond belief’. Kbvresearch.com says the Global UX Services Market size is expected to reach $30.2 billion by 2030, rising at a market growth of 37.3% CAGR during the forecast period. In all of this, UX design is ruling the roost.

There are significant reasons to invest in UX design. Companies providing UI UX design services understand the pulse of the ux design industry, and businesses are convinced now more than ever why UX design is the thing to embrace. 

Here are some of the reasons why this is so.

Increased user engagement 

A thought-out UX design helps in boosting overall engagement. A design process driven by an understanding of user expectations is bound to resonate with customers. 

Reduced bounce rate

A bad design comes in the way of a smooth and useful experience of a website or app, leading to potential customers exiting. A good design holds them!

Increased user satisfaction

Intuitive and aesthetically made interfaces lead to satisfied customers, improving a brand’s perception and increasing loyalty.

Enhanced brand image

UX designs bring an element of contemporariness to products which helps with products coming across as in-with-the-times.  

More conversions

Intuitive designs play a big role in driving calls to action, thanks to streamlined user journeys and minimal to nil frustrations. 

Effective CRMs

UX design ideas are helping SMEs manage customer interactions, track leads, and streamline client communication, thus making Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems more effective.

Data-Driven decisions

Advanced UI/UX designs facilitate data collection and analysis. This data then helps businesses make informed decisions based on user behavior and preferences.

Adaptability

Contemporary User Experience trends are evidence of how UX adapts to evolving technology to ensure integration with changing platforms and devices. Latest UX ensures mobile-friendly interfaces in keeping with the growing population using smartphones. 

5 UX Design Principles Which Are Here to Stay

UX practitioners and UX designers have been on their toes trying to keep abreast of the flux in the UX industry. UX design trends 2024 point towards responsive designs with 3D designs for elevated realism, neumorphism for tactile interfaces, microinteractions for enhanced engagement, animated gradients, dark mode for aesthetic and functional appeal, minimalism and the carrying over of the metaverse, Voice user interface, AR, VR  and minimalism from previous years.

Apart from the trends and despite their ever-changing nature, there are core principles of UX design which constantly define the future of UX, including responsibility. 

Here are 5 dominant UX design principles which are here to stay:

Inclusive Design 

What was once a buzzword has today become a necessity in design - Inclusivity. A wider spectrum of users is being seen in this approach, beyond the ‘average user’. Digital experiences need to be accessible to all users - irrespective of age, needs and abilities. This means the design process is not just considering but also including different ages, genders, cultural backgrounds, physical and cognitive abilities in the design process itself - in order to open up digital experiences to larger audiences. 

Key aspects of inclusive design are:

Accessibility: Accessibility works in a two-fold manner. One, it considers a wide range of abilities and disabilities for easy access. Two, it seeks to elevate usability and create product experiences that are enjoyable for everyone.

Empathy: An empathetic approach begins with a better understanding of real people and their real needs. This deep understanding of user experiences translates into UX designs which prioritize user preferences and hence lead to more successful products.

Context and Environment: This mindset shift considers designing for different devices, network conditions, and environmental constraints. What is taken into account is the context in which a user may interact with a product or service.

Sustainability: Design decisions have a long term impact on users and society. Inclusive design aims to create solutions that can sustain changes in technology and societal norms.

User Feedback: Inclusive design gives importance to diverse user feedback throughout the design process. If done early on, issues in design can be identified and rectified. What ensues is a process of continuous improvement.

Growth Design and Hyper-Personalization

Growth design is a methodology that goes beyond the regular product design process, to also include business strategy and growth in it. At a basic level, it does so by focussing on user engagement and retention.

Hyper-personalization is the process of using AI and real-time data to display highly curated products and content. It is a key element of growth design and improves the overall business performance.

1. Relevant content highly personalized to the users keeps them more involved with a product or service, hence driving user engagement.
2. Personalized content, like tailored recommendations, has a greater chance of retaining user attention, and hence the user himself. 
3. Personalized promotions and calls to action based on user behaviors help with conversions. 
4. Hyper-personalization includes constant experimentation, testing and optimization of elements. 

User Autonomy

What is meant by user autonomy? Giving users a level of freedom when using a product or service. What does this mean in the context of UX design? Designing keeping in mind that a user should be able to control their actions, like correct mistakes, undo actions or choose easily. It is like fostering a feeling of control over the User Interface (UI).

Being allowed to exit a flow or simply undo his/her last action plays a significant role in encouraging the user toward further exploration, thereby increasing the chances of the user finding what he was looking for (say, on a product site) and getting converted. 

Usability 

The principle of usability is as simple as it sounds - how easy it is to use a product. A good user experience relies heavily on this UX design principle. It is measured by considering how well a certain user in a specific context can use a product or design to achieve a pre-defined goal. A UX design with a high level of usability means it guides users through the easiest and least laborious route towards that goal. 

Usability is measured throughout the design process. Broadly, there are five components of usability to consider in UX designs:

Learnability: How easy is it for users to comprehend your product the first time they use it? 

Memorability: How easy is it for a user to re-familiarise themselves with a product they are using after some time.

Efficiency: Is the user able to reach the desired goal efficiently and quickly? 

Errors: How many errors do users typically make when using the product? Are these errors serious? Can they be undone, as discussed in user autonomy above? 

User Satisfaction: Does the product provide a satisfying user experience?

Ethical Data Considerations

A good UX design makes our online experience easy, efficient, and enjoyable. Ethical design goes an essential step beyond this to include not just our well-being but also that of society and the environment. It is a kind of “conscious” design that gains the users’ trust, builds brand image, is socially inclusive, acknowledges diversity and values privacy.

With data driving designs from conception itself, issues of data privacy and data bias come into being. Data collection and privacy concerns are a balancing act. Collecting valuable data has to go hand-in-hand with respecting user privacy. This also includes complying with established data protection regulations. The solution is to collect only what is necessary with clear user content. Secure data storage and transmission methods are also important. 

Design decisions can be negatively impacted if bias accidentally enters predictive models. This bias can be socio-economic, gender based or even ethnic prejudice. Diverse samples which are cross-validated mitigate this bias. A multidisciplinary team in data analysis can help.

Validating assumptions and interpretations requires domain experts as an integral part of the UX design team. All decisions to do with design need to be made accordingly. 

UX Design With Logic Simplified 

Logic Simplified is a leading game design and development company with over a decade of experience in providing UI UX design services. Our game designers and  game app developers upskill in tandem with evolving UX designs and principles, always aiming to create products which drive user engagement and maintain user satisfaction. Write to us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com or call us here to know more.

 
Design is often looked at as an art rather than as science. In reality, it’s both. The art of design should be influenced by the science of data and information. - Cameron Chapman, author of two web design books: ‘Color for Web Design’ and ‘The Smashing Idea Book’.

Humans can be governed by two distinct forces when it comes to making decisions and acting upon them. One, we may act based on personal opinions, assumptions and intuition; perhaps a most natural thing to do. Two, we may do so on the basis of insightful data. The latter is what is referred to as a data-driven approach, where decisions are based on analyzed information and not variables like opinions or assumptions.

What is data driven design? Using quantitative and qualitative data to guide designs during digital product development is what is called data-driven design. Data-driven UX design involves studying user behavior, their choices and needs to strategize how best user-centric designs can be made for digital products. Both user satisfaction and business goals are to be kept in mind when doing so.

Think about it! UX designers around the world believe that without data, user experience design does not exist because without data the end product is simply a reflection of the design team's perceptions and experiences. And like it’s famously quoted on www - Designers aren’t users.

Data for UX Design

 
While UX design and Data Analytics are two distinct fields, both are absolutely essential. The foundation of successful products or services is built by intelligently integrating insights from data analytics into the UX design processes.

There are two broad types of data that UX designers depend on - Quantitative data and Qualitative data.

As the name suggests, Quantitative data is all about numbers. This includes objective insights into user behavior and interactions, to identify patterns and trends. For example, to make data driven website designs, designers can analyze website analytics to study which pages have high traffic, low engagement or high bounce rate and accordingly guide content and layout decisions for problem pages. Even when a page is re-designed, UX analytics data comes in handy to know if the new design is working or not.

Analytics tools, like Google Analytics, are excellent sources of quantitative data, like user demographics and engagement. Google Analytics also provides industry analytics to compare the performance of a website or an app in comparison to the industry average, and tools for exploring user behavior flows.

Heatmaps and click-tracking tools visually represent user interactions on a website or an app and are particularly useful to identify popular as well as problem areas for bettering design decisions.

A/B Testing compares two or more designs to help determine the most effective and intuitive design layouts or elements. Continuously running A/B or multivariate tests to improve a design can result in huge conversion increases, apart from deep insights into user behavior and experience.

Qualitative data is non-numerical and subjective. User feelings, opinions, perceptions and motivations come under this umbrella. How best to source this kind of data? User surveys and interviews are the best source for qualitative data. Focus groups can also help gather user feedback to improve apps or websites.

Big Data Strategy for UX Design:

Analyze - Integrate - Measure

What about Creativity?

 
Design is intelligence made visible. — Alina Wheeler, author ‘Designing Brand Identity’

While it’s easy to interpret Alina’s quote as giving precedence to data, creativity remains an integral part of UX design. The ability to see things from different perspectives, to think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas and solutions has no substitute.

The approach for creating empathetic designs pays significant attention to the user’s feelings towards a product. Intuition enables designers to anticipate needs and design accordingly. Thus, a visually appealing web or app design draws as much on intuition as it does on data.

As subjective as it may seem, striking the right balance between data and intuition is a must. Data provides insights, while the designer’s intuition coupled with expertise of UX design principles may guide innovative features for user engagement. Over reliance on data may not help with innovation and a product may thus lack novelty and simply be one among many.

Logic Simplified is a leading game design and development company with over a decade experience in providing UI UX design services. Our game designers and game app developers follow the big data strategy for UX design, creating websites and apps which drive user engagement and maintain user satisfaction. Our design experiments are based on insights and measured through real-time data. We de-risk product ideas! Write to us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com or call us to know more.

Have you ever designed a game? If yes, then what game design fundamentals do you prioritize in your own designs?

No idea?

Don’t worry; we’ll help you.

Game design is incredibly complex and fascinating, with countless nuances and techniques to master.

In their book, the authors of “Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals,” Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, underline the significance of design by stating that the design constitutes 50% of “game design”.

And if you're a fan of games like Minecraft, Fortnite, or Call of Duty, you might be interested in learning more about game design fundamentals. Understanding the fundamentals is crucial whether you're making games for fun or hoping to start a career in the industry.

In this article, we'll explore some key building blocks of game design fundamentals. We will cover everything from crafting intuitive and engaging game mechanics to creating immersive storylines and themes to prioritizing user interface and experience. Whether you're interested in designing platformers, first-person shooters, or role-playing games, these game design fundamentals are applicable to any genre.

Game Mechanics

Video game mechanics are the foundation of any game and dictate how players interact with the game world. They should be intuitive and easy to understand but also deep and engaging enough to keep players coming back for more.

They are the rules and systems that govern how the game works, including things like movement, combat, and interaction with the game world.

Here are a few examples of game mechanics to help you understand them better:

When designing game mechanics, it's important to keep the player experience in mind. Your mechanics should be intuitive, easy to understand and deep and engaging enough to keep players returning for more. The key is to create mechanics that are intuitive, engaging, and fit well with the overall theme and style of the game.

Story and Theme

While game mechanics are the backbone of any game, they're not the only important factor. A game's story and theme are just as critical as they provide context and motivation for players to engage with the game world.

Whether creating a deep, complex narrative or a lighthearted, whimsical story, it's important to keep your players engaged and invested in your game's world and characters.

UI/UX in Game Design

User interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are two critical aspects of game design that are often overlooked.

A well-designed UI can make or break a game, as it determines how players interact with the game world. Similarly, a good UX design ensures that players have a smooth and enjoyable experience while playing your game.

Let’s understand the importance of UI/UX in game design fundamentals with these two examples,

“When a player first starts a game, they typically have to navigate through menus to start playing. If the menus are confusing or difficult to navigate, it can be frustrating and turn the player off from playing the game”.

And, “Sometimes players need additional information about what's happening in the game world. For example, if a player picks up a new item or encounters a new enemy, the UI can provide information about what the item does or how to defeat the enemy”.

So, whether you're designing a console game or a mobile app, it's essential to prioritize UI and UX to ensure your players stay engaged and interested.

Level Design

Level design is the process of creating the game world itself, including the layout, environment, and obstacles players will encounter.

Good level design is crucial for creating engaging and challenging gameplay, as well as for keeping players immersed in the game world. So, if you're designing a platformer, an open-world game, or a first-person shooter, effective level design is key to keeping your players engaged and invested in the game.

Art and Sound Design

Finally, art and sound design are critical components of game design that often go overlooked. The visual and auditory aspects of a game are just as important as the mechanics and story, as they help create a cohesive and immersive experience for players.

For example, if you're playing a space-themed game and you shoot an asteroid, the art and sound design can make a huge difference in how satisfying that action feels. If the asteroid shudders violently, explodes with a loud sound effect, and fragments scatter in all directions, the game has effectively communicated the outcome of your action. (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003, #)

On the other hand, if there's no visual or auditory feedback, the action may feel unsatisfying or even meaningless. In this way, art and sound design can greatly contribute to the overall immersion and enjoyment of a game.

So next time you're designing pixel art, 3D models, or realistic environments, then it's essential to prioritize art and sound design to create a truly engaging and memorable game.

Conclusion

Game design is a vast and complex field, with countless techniques and best practices to master. However, by understanding these basic game design fundamentals, you'll be well on your way to creating engaging, immersive, and memorable games. Whether you're just starting out or have been designing games for years, it's essential to prioritize these fundamentals to create the best possible player experience. Logic Simplified, the top game development company in Dehradun, has an experienced team of game designers for hire that use the best game development engines for clients to build thrilling, entertaining and engaging games. To know more about us, contact us or drop us an email at enquiry@logicsimplified.com.

A well-constructed user interface can increase the conversion rate of your website or applications by up to 200% and a better UX design can achieve conversion rates of up to 400%. (Forrester)

There are numerous video games on the web, many of which users download and play regularly. Which is why gaming companies are working hard on the user interface of game applications and other aspects like branding, design, usability, and function. Game development companies understand the importance of the user interface. Over and above that, there is an imperative need for such companies to offer users a visually attractive, exciting and convenient-to-use application that gives them a good experience and makes them want to stay.

Even so, the UX and UI trends keep reshaping every year and something new and exciting changes the whole UI and UX design game. Let’s get deep into the dynamics that will rule the UI and UX design in 2024 and maybe beyond.

Integration of AI in UI Design

The implementation of Artificial intelligence in designing user interfaces allows the inclusion of valuable insights, streamlined design processes, and improved user experiences. AI is capable of breaking down massive quantities of data to offer insights into user behavior and preferences. These insights can then be leveraged by designers to make informed decisions about design improvements, layout changes, and feature enhancements.

Moreover, AI personalizes user experiences by analyzing user history, learning their patterns and behaviors, and adapting to their preferences. AI-powered tools such as chatbots and text analysis can also automate certain aspects of user research and usability testing. These tools can collect user feedback, heatmaps, and eye-tracking data to identify user areas of interest, as well as analyze behavioral patterns such as scrolling trends, click patterns, and session duration to identify design strengths and weaknesses.

AR and VR implementation into art and design

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality have paved their way into art and design just like they have in other industries. This means life-like experiences for the users! AR and VR promote human interaction by encouraging better communication among players. Game app developers are now able to design real-time games and enhance players’ experience manifold.

You may also read: AR-powered Games: The Next Generation of Video Games for Immersive Gaming Experience

Adaptive User Interfaces

Adaptive UI uses AI algorithms and data analytics to adjust its interface in real-time based on the user's behavior, preferences, and context. By doing so, Adaptive UI enhances the user experience by delivering the most relevant content to each user. This approach marks a significant shift in design philosophy, as it prioritizes personalized and context-sensitive interactions. For game designers, adopting Adaptive UI can significantly improve user-friendliness, user engagement, and overall satisfaction.

Neumorphism

Neumorphism is a modern design trend that combines the best of skeuomorphism and flat design, creating a unique interface that is both realistic and minimalist. It provides users with a visually appealing and user-friendly interface that is intuitive to use. The technique of Neumorphism involves using subtle shadows and highlights to create a 3D effect that adds an extra layer of realism to mobile app design. This style of design offers a soft, almost tactile experience that makes digital interactions more comfortable, especially during long periods of use.

Dark Mode And Color Schemes

UI and UX design have seen a rise in popularity when it comes to dark mode and color schemes. Dark mode has gained a lot of attention due to its many advantages. It's easier on the eyes, especially in low-light settings, as it reduces the amount of bright light that screens emit. Dark backgrounds with lighter text can enhance readability and focus, making content stand out more effectively. When it comes to OLED screens, dark mode can conserve battery power because individual pixels are turned off when displaying black, resulting in lower power use.

Microinteractions and Animations

Microinteractions and animations enhance player engagement and enjoyment by providing dynamism and responsiveness that contribute to a more immersive gaming experience. Players receive immediate feedback from microinteractions, which notify them that their actions have been recognized by the game. This feedback is crucial for keeping players informed and engaged, whether it involves confirming a button press, acknowledging a completed action, or indicating progress. With the increase in mobile gaming, where touch gestures and small screens are prevalent, microinteractions and animations are particularly important for creating intuitive and responsive interfaces that function seamlessly on touchscreen devices.

Developments in voice user interface

According to the new market research report "Speech and Voice Recognition Market by Technology (Speech and Voice Recognition), Vertical (Automotive, Consumer, Government, Enterprise, Healthcare, BFSI), Deployment (On-Cloud & On-Premises/Embedded), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2025", the market is expected to grow from USD 7.5 billion in 2018 to USD 24.9 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 18.72%. (Marketsandmarkets)

Big tech and gaming companies are investing heavily in voice interfaces. Interaction with voice user interfaces like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Siri are taking over the design space like never before. Moreover, UI and UX designs are adopting VUIs which is showing another aspect of design that is voice interface and not visual interface this time. Voice interface works with context and not actual design, which enables voice interaction between players and the game with or without a visual component. This is coming forward as a great medium to improve gamers' experiences with the help of Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech. 

Adoption of Minimalistic & Functional Designs

Minimalistic UI has been trending for some time now. Overcrowded designs with too much information most of the time become overwhelming for gamers and that is the reason game designers are starting to avoid complexity and indulge in simplicity. To keep it minimalistic, designers are limiting the number of colours and elements being used, trying different proportions and compositions, and focusing on functionality rather than decorative components—this new trend works by keeping gradients lighter and illustrations specific for that minimalistic display.

The expedited digital environments of UI and UX design trends are growing into new dynamics. And, every designer needs to stay updated with relevant information and the latest gaming trends. The incursion of mass data and digital media gives out massive amounts of information and it is up to the designers and developers to leverage that data to its full potential so that it helps them make a great user interface. A user interface is capable of impressing the users in the first few seconds of its encounter as it is this aspect that decides whether the user stays on your website or leaves.

Logic Simplified has the finest, most creative Game Concept Artists, 2D and 3D Game Designers and User Experience (UX) Designers. Hire game designers who are proficient in every facet of game design, including the mobile game UX design concepts and trends that shape the future of game design. For more information, email at enquiry@logicsimplified.com 

This is the question that often comes up when I tell people what I do for a living. And if I try to explain what my job is really about, I often see them scratching their head, and I end up cutting it short.

However, the reality of what I do is much more complicated and requires a better and more in-depth explanation. That is why I wrote this article about UX (user experience) design.

To fully understand a UX design process, it is imperative to begin with a definition of the user experience. 

Today, user experience is everything. Anything one does must be optimized to develop an excellent digital understanding. User experience refers to the emotions and behaviour that are evoked in the consumer while using the service or product. 

Coming back to UX design, “UX” or “user experience”, is how a user feels when they use a certain product or service. A method of designing physical and digital products while keeping the target audience in mind. It involves a spectrum of feelings like senses, emotions, and physical interaction. This term was introduced by Donald Norman, who said:

“I invented the term because I thought human interface and usability were too narrow. I wanted to cover all the aspects of the person’s experience with the system including industrial design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction, and the manual.”

Why Must One Invest in User Experience Design?

It is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that design is only about how the products look. But the truth is, the design is much more than that. Here is a quote from Steve Jobs that represents the importance of the design perfectly:

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

The aim of UX design not only shows and promotes your product, but it has also become a vital component of creating and increasing customer confidence. The best product that does not deliver an engaging user experience may affect a company’s ability to achieve its business objectives. 

User experience design is crucial because its main goal is to meet the needs of the customers and provide them with an experience that is meaningful and builds loyalty. Furthermore, by providing a positive experience in the product, you can direct users through your product in a way that realizes your most critical business objectives.

You can also read about: User psychology in UX design

Step-by-Step Guide to User-Experience Design

To start a new design project may seem challenging. Some may have a vague idea in their head that they believe to be a good one, but after some time, they might realize that it would have been much simpler and possibly less messy if they followed in a specific direction. Having a proven process of UX design concepts can save a lot of your energy, time, and money. Of course, now the question occurs: how do we do it? Well, there are some techniques that we follow, and they work really well. So, we decided to share with you in this article. Let’s begin:

1. Research: 

The research is the main step to design the user experience. A UX designer must research, discuss, and understand the product domain, competition, and marketplace. Our team of UX designers starts by collecting details from our clients, conducting surveys, etc. Below are some of the most widely used research methods in UX:

Clients interview: One of the most critical steps in UX design is already done before the product team starts creating anything. Our UX design team begins their research by collecting information from our clients, i.e. preferences, genre, goal, desires, mindset, etc. Doing so helps the team to learn its context for existence. Also, the research allows them to know what they need and what they want. We start with questions and interviews with our clients to gain insight into their business goals. 

This phase is the process of UX design which helps in providing ideas and materials from which you can start to sketch and design your ideas. Since UX is a user-based approach, you are not likely to get any answers out of the clients. In the end, they will be the one who will determine the goals, whereas user research will help in providing solutions to reach those objectives. 

User Interviews: A user interview is a detailed one-on-one interaction between an interviewer and participants from the target customer. It is designed to find out the user’s fundamental needs and requirements when using the product. This approach is particularly useful when the target group is new or unfamiliar to the team.

Survey: A survey is a questionnaire consisting of a set of particular questions sent over the internet to a sample of your ideal customer, usually through a form. The format, as well as the length of the digital survey, may vary from project to project. Regardless of the design or length of the form, the information is collected in a database that is checked at a future stage by the UX designer or the UX design team. 

Focus groups: In this, multiple interviewees are involved at the same time. This makes it possible for the researchers to collect as different views as possible. They talk about their impressions, emotions, and frustrations with a product. This typically works better to collect quantitative response rather than qualitative.

2. Analyzing the results: User personas and user journey mapping 

Gather and examine the results you obtained during the initial phases. You can use two methods for this purpose:

User personas: A user personas describe your target audience that can include the following data: gender, age, profession, goals, behaviours, needs, etc. All the design decisions revolve around the user personas. 

User journey mapping: User journey mapping shows step by step how the user will interact with the service or product. This mapping offers a guide that shows the sequence of interactions that a user takes from a landing page to the other parts of the site. 

3. Designing

Once the user’s needs, wants, and expectations from a service or product are clear, product designers move to the design stage. At this point, the product team starts working on multiple activities, from building the IA (information architecture) to the actual UI design. A successful design process is both collaborative (all team players involved in product creation need to be actively involved) and interactive. The stages that include in the design process are:

Sketching: The simplest and quickest way to visualize the UX design ideas is through sketching. It is an essential part of the design process. Sketching is very helpful at brainstorming sessions because it helps the team imagine a wide variety of design solutions before choosing which one to go with. We usually create three or four different versions and always show everything to the client. Even the sketches also help them understand the progression of the process and also our style of thinking.  

Creating wireframes: Now comes the most exciting side. There is nothing better than something that gives everyone a first visual experience of the product. Creating a wireframes presents the blueprint for each page. It is a visual guide with the basic structure of the future page, including the main elements and how they fit together. 

A wireframing is known to be the product’s backbone and is all about the final product’s complete look. The wireframes focus on the position of the content, buttons, images, and other visual features on the page. Apart from this, it also gives a clear picture of how the user will navigate through and between the pages on the site as they progress towards their ultimate goal.

Prototypes: Although wireframes are mainly about the framework and visual design (the look), prototypes are about the real experience, i.e. the look and feel of the product. A prototype enables the UX researchers to analyze and find any flaws, mistakes, or discrepancies in the overall design as well as experience before the development team translates it to the final version. The most significant benefit of creating a wireframe is that it provides you with an advanced phase of the product for review with the clients.

You may also read: Mobile Game Development Process

4. Testing:  

At this stage, you have reached a point where your assets are ready to ship. This means it’s time to implement. Pass everything to the development team who will build a high fidelity version of the user experience. Once it is delivered, there are many ways you can make sure that the product is flawless (or even close to it):

User testing: Much like the usability testing, this includes observing the target group using the actual program. 

Beta launch: Beta launch is a release of the product to a limited number of individuals with the aim of identifying bugs and fixing them up before the product is launched to the public.  

Internal testing: When the product is used by the product development team and evaluates each aspect of it.

5. Implementation and Launch: 

Once done with the testing, the approved prototype will eventually be transformed into a final product for UAT testing before an official launch. Therefore, the work of the UX researcher does not stop here. Research activities continue to:

• •  Recognize the improvement area through user testing.

• •  Track the industry trends and benchmarks against the competitors.
  • Suggest new features to be introduced with user recommendations in mind.

You cannot create a product that your intended group will love without having a game UX design process. A UX design process will help achieve product-market fit quicker and increase your conversion and have a positive effect on your brand image. Having said that, Logic Simplified is a game development company that has hands-on experience of designing and creating various genres of video games and mobile apps. We have a team of game concept designers that are innovative, highly productive, and provide full-scale design and development services. Hire game designers from us and have a highly creative game design at extremely competitive costs. For any query related to game development services, please contact us here or write to us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com

Jakob’s Law

Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group came up with one of the many rules of UX design psychology that says that most users do not like changes and appreciate familiar experiences every time they visit a game, website or an application. Thus, it is important to create a balance between newness and creativity. Artistic designers look for reinvention and ways to make their user interface stand out from the rest but this zeal is not appreciated and accepted by many users. And, it is said most internet users like to read and absorb information in a similar fashion.

Hick-Hyman Law

The Hick’s Law states that the time taken to decide increases logarithmically by increasing the number of choices. In other words, when the number of choices increases, the decision time taken also increases. For UX that means if you are giving a user too many choices or options that might not work well for your brand. Instead of bringing engagement, it might confuse them and annoy them as too many options makes it hard for a user to make a decision.

Image source: https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Hicks-law

The Gestalt Principle of visual perception

In German, Gestalt means to form or shape. The principle came into being based on the finding that the human brain has this great ability to fill spaces, find shapes & patterns, and simplify complex designs and structures. It subconsciously arranges parts into whole structures to better understand the surrounding. The principle is guided by laws of Proximity, Similarity, Continuation, Closure, and Figure/Ground that have individual uses in UX that improve functionality and bring clarity in the user interface.

Image source: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/gestalt-principles

Miller’s Law 

Miller’s Law is all about keeping it simple. George A. Miller is a psychology professor at Princeton who wrote a popular paper “The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information”. In his article, he proposed a law that stated “humans can effectively process no more than seven units, or chunks, of information, plus or minus two pieces of information, at any given time.” This law lays attention on the working memory rather than on the long-term memory which means the things that can be proactively nabbed by humans in a moment. When applied to UX design, the law says to keep it simple because more than seven elements on a single page might force the user to forget the rest which might not work in favour of the brand.

Image source: https://userinterfacedesign.ch/millers-law/ 

The Color Psychology

Colors play an influential role on a human mind and thus understanding colors and the psychology behind it is important to create a color palette that works well for the brand and their designs. Businesses nowadays have specific colors associated with their brand which they call brand colors. To choose the right colors for your brand, it is absolutely important to know their meaning and significance and how their shades affect them. Human’s emotions are connected with colors and they are not just a part of art but they also involve science. There are ways in which colors are perceived by the viewer. They are associated with a feeling or mood and that’s not it. These emotions and perception impact a design, gingerly. In a way, they are not just looked at but are thought about, understood, felt, and influences user experience. 

The Von Restorff Effect or the isolation effect

They say our brains group similar objects and basis this prediction this rule states that one different element from the others stands out from the rest unlike in the case of similar objects that are paired together. Applying this effect into UX designing will get users to remember certain elements over the others. This can be done by highlighting most elements and leaving a few unhighlighted so that the unhighlighted elements grab maximum attention. For instance, when you are reading a paragraph you are more likely to remember the words that are in bold or italics rather than the ones in regular font.

Image source: https://blog.42courses.com/home/behavioural/the-von-restorff-effect 

Mental Models

A human brain works in mysterious ways. This approach is based on how an individual’s thought process works in the real world. Well, there are expectations that every user has when they first land on a website, download an app, or play a game. Those expectations and basic knowledge in the head regarding the same are what you can call a mental model of how the user interfaces will work. The customers refer to these mental models in their head so that every time they undergo a new experience, it takes them less time to figure out everything from the scratch. When we relate this psychological trend to UX design, the mental models that a user creates in his brain lets them act in the most obvious manner. And, it is a UX designer's job to come up with a UX strategy to understand the user’s mental models and work around that making the user experience engaging and intuitive.

Brands and technologies perpetually update the mental models. To understand this better, a great example to go with this would be the right and left swipe on tinder that are associated with certain outcomes. Reversing the outcomes with the right and left swiping in any case would just confuse the users. To provide a lucid and smooth experience, the UX developers must comply with the commonly understood drill.

The above mentioned psychological trends are simple ways to provide a meaningful and relevant user’s experience but other than that, it is also crucial for a company to understand the user experience design psychology, in all. Social, behavioral, and cognitive psychology plays an important role in UX. One might have to put oneself in the user’s shoes to get a better understanding of the same. They say without psychology, a great design isn’t great. A design impacts the viewer’s mind in ways we are unaware of. Games, websites and applications have become complex as technologies have become more advanced. Thus, for a UX analyst it becomes absolutely essential to understand the user’s feelings, thoughts, and actions. 

Having said that, Logic Simplified is a game design and development company that has user experience design professionals and game designers for hire who understand user psychology and implement solutions to create a win-win for both the client and the business. We start with the understanding that UX is one of the most important mobile game developer qualities and thereon, build and offer impeccable game design services at highly competitive costs. To know more, drop in your queries at enquiry@logicsimplified.com