What is UX design?

My friend and colleague, Paul Gataaura, recently asked me “Is UX design about fitting things into the correct place or is it about guiding the user to the information that they may find valuable? Or are these two considerations the same?”

That got me thinking about the difference between User Experience and Information Architecture.

I’d say “fitting things into the right place” is Information Architecture which is only one aspect of User Experience.

In my opinion, the overall aim of UX design is to give users an experience that is:

• Effective - They get what they want…
• Efficient – With minimal fuss…
• Satisfiying – And they feel a warm happy glow about the whole thing

The last point is the hardest to get right but what people like Apple seem to do so well!

But the question is how can you get all three right?

Put simply, ask your users.

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