Starting as a UX Rookie

User experience (UX) is a discipline that focuses on how people interact with products, services, tools, and even their environment. Although UX is most often associated with digital products like websites, apps, and software, it can apply to any product that a person uses.

Understanding users (the real people who use products) and learning about their needs and goals forms the basis for user experience. Without this focus, we (the people who create products) wouldn’t have a shot at making easy-to-use digital tools.

If you’re new to UX, do not fear! Everyone who practices UX started somewhere. That’s why we’ve created an easy plan to help get you started, one that doesn’t require intensive schooling.

Adopt a User-First Mindset

The first rule of UX is that you are not the user. Prioritizing users first relies on understanding what they need and want from a digital product—and learning this as early as possible. This means you must constantly put yourself in your users’ shoes.

The earlier you observe and understand users, the earlier and more often you can shape the product to their unique needs. Those who gather user feedback, observe users’ behavior, and study them endlessly will learn these patterns and be able to transform a product’s overall user experience.

Accept Human Behavior

Each digital product is different, but the human brain’s process for successfully navigating sites, apps, or software is pretty much the same every time. Technology changes; people do not. Having some basic psychology principles under your belt will help you better understand users in general. Recalling this knowledge will be critical when you’re interpreting feedback and sketching UX pathways.

Spend Quality Time with Users

Don’t make assumptions about user behavior. You have a super ability to understand technology because you work with it every day. But most users are ordinary people who struggle with technology. They have different needs and struggle more than you might assume.

That’s why it’s vital to spend time with users. Ideally, you want to spend time with the real people who use your specific digital product. But you can get started by simply spending time with anyone who uses digital tools. Observing them as they attempt to get things done online will provide great insight into how people use technology.

Fortunately, users are all around us. Everyone uses digital products these days (including your grandparents). Take the time to observe friends, family, or colleagues using websites or apps. Find out what frustrates them. You can even conduct some impromptu testing by asking them to try out your own digital product. No one can replace your real users, but this is a helpful starting point for locating potential UX gaps.

This simple exercise will offer insight into what people find incredibly annoying or unbelievably helpful. Over time, you’ll grow your understanding and appreciation of users. You can use the results of your study to improve your digital products. This information can even be used to prove to your organization the value of spending time with users and investing in UX.

No matter what, you should always prioritize getting user feedback. Even if your organization doesn’t have a large budget or much time, user testing can still be done in a frugal manner. In fact, it can even be done with zero budget. User feedback is just that important.

Take Advantage of Free Resources

Soak up knowledge from seasoned experts at every opportunity. Go to your local library and find UX books to familiarize yourself with the industry’s wide variety of practices and approaches to solving usability problems. We recommend these classic UX books to get you started. It’s not a long list, just straightforward books that will help teach you the basics of UX. You can also study organizations that practice UX, read case studies, and take free online courses to learn the essentials.

Remember Your Reason

Many people earn degrees in UX these days. But starting out and gaining affinity with the principles of UX is not a complicated process. It doesn’t require intense studying or lots of reading. UX is not even an exclusive specialty. Everyone, no matter their role in digital production (designers, developers, writers, business analysts, directors) can and should get involved. Digital products benefit from UX thinking at every stage of development.

Your work should always be rooted in empathy for others. That’s the secret of UX. Real people interact with digital products every day, and they need people on their side to help them get things done quickly and easily (and without pulling their hair out).

That’s where you come in. UX is not just something that helps make digital products stronger; it has a true purpose dedicated to helping others.