Its not at all realistic to assume you’ll only have a small handful of user types interacting with your platform. To combat this, you need to design a platform that will accommodate a variety of user types.
Below are what we here at Codal, a UX design company in Chicago, deem the best practices for designing platforms for various types of users.
Design Thinking
According to the Interactive Design Foundation, “Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process which seeks to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.”
Begin design thinking via these steps:
- Empathize: research and identify potential problems your users may face and design in empathetic accordance with your discoveries.
- Define: gather and organize your findings from the previous stage. Analyze and draw conclusions in order to define problems.
- Ideate: challenge your findings and assumptions in order to solve a variety of problems amongst a handful of different potential users.
- Prototype: it’s time to experiment with solutions and prototypes as discovered in the previous three stages.
- Test: don’t just think about these possible solutions, try them out!
Personas
Make use of personas!
Personas are demonstrations of potential users in the real world. They help designers design for a variety of people and groups while still addressing individual needs. Personas are created via user research. (In search of user experience research services? Look no further than Codal!). They show the needs, wants, behaviors, etc., of who they’re representing.
Once your personas are created, give them some context: apply them to different scenarios. Scenarios will help designers understand user flows (see the following section), which is critical when designing for a variety of user types.
User Flows
User flows are a series of steps a user takes in order to achieve an objective. They communicate the intended sequence of steps that a user would go through within an application or website.
User flows put the user at the center of the design process by putting attention of the users needs and wants, demonstrating how users achieve an objective.
An example of success with user flows can be seen in Codal’s experience working with Showroom Squared.
Accessibility/Compliance
Designing for many types of users also includes developing a platform that is usable for those with disabilities. While this is certainly the ethical practice, it also one that is mandated by law. Make sure you site is ADA compliant!
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) make designing your platform accessible easy! An example of a WCAG guideline includes consistent navigation. More specifically, for users with visual impairments or cognitive limitations, having a predictable site or application makes it usability easier if repeated components (like an expanding navigation menu) occur in an identical order.
Accessibility allows all types of users to enjoy websites and web applications across many platforms without jeopardizing the quality of the experience.
Conclusion:
You can’t make everyone happy, but you can make your platform usable for a variety of user types. Whether you’re in need of custom software development services, UX research services, or anything else necessary to develop your platform, Codal has you covered. Checkout out our technologies and solutions!
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