User experience (UX) design is a complex “socio-technological” process. It involves the creation of experiences between humans and systems, and in modern parlance, interfacing with a computer-based system.
However, the field of UX design has grown considerably and creatively as such that a modern UX design agency now also effectively markets the digital experience. In other words, UX designers are no longer simply planning, engineering and building the ways people interact with devices but also have become more holistic as “innovation brokers” who connect technology creators with users, and companies with their markets.
User Experience as Socio-Technological Innovation Process
Designing UX is fundamentally a process that successfully delivers the intended user-centered positive experience for the said system’s users. It involves planning, developing and ultimately creating innovative solutions that address more than just user needs, but also make the system feel usable, valuable, and helpful.
But as the principle implies, a user-centered approach to creating digital solutions also requires understanding human needs and actual psycho-social experiences with a product. Desirability and convenience are, therefore, critical variables of digital creations.
This mindset is consistent with newer definitions of innovation that breaks away from the traditional worldview that innovation is driven primarily by science and technology (S&T) and formal research and development (R&D). Instead, new perspectives about innovation see it as a process of co-creation where developers or policymakers interact with users or the public to continually improve or enhance social and technological solutions (Sanders & Stappers, 2008).
Following this blueprint, designing experiences now merge the process in the creation of user interfaces (UI) into UI UX design, implicating the mix of non-traditional IT activities. Market profiling, user surveys, social and individual needs assessment, and creating interaction platforms are now integral components of various user experience consulting services offered by digital solutions agencies.
User-experience Design Services
UX design has therefore evolved into a complex ‘design thinking’ process which transcends traditional procedures of technology development. Today, user experience design services stretch from software development into user research, planning consultations, usability tests, and cycling through feedback and improvement where input from actual users are also incorporated into the product’s continuous improvement.
Institutions such as the Stanford School of Design come up with innovative ways to improve UX, such as their “design thinking” model. New innovation processes like this assume that every user has particular needs and their participation is essential for satisfactory output. This assumption is carried out in an iterative process of interaction which begins by understanding target users. It then continues with the natural flow of product building, from exploratory brainstorming to design, building, validation, deployment, and evaluation.
Therefore, contemporary UX design has become a digital co-creation process that combines user-centered planning and creative solutions-building. This means that UX designers today do not only function as engineers, architects or computer scientists who build products, but also as knowledge or innovation brokers who facilitate the continuous involvement of users in the design process.
Interestingly, UX designers are now performing new “brokering” functions as their roles in the planning and design process expand. More importantly, they now need to stimulate the formation of partnerships and connections between solutions providers and industries as essential activities for meaningful innovation.
Finding Innovative Solution Partners
To understand more about the intricacies of UX design and find more co-creative options in making innovative solutions personal, it is highly recommended to contact a reliable user experience design agency today.
User Experience Researchers Singapore (USER) is a Singapore-based UX design firm that delivers innovative solutions for local and international clients, which include government and large-scale enterprises. For related information, visit https://www.user.com.sg/.
