Wondering if your business could benefit from UX design? This guide's for you, especially if your organisation has never really focused on UX or if it's all handled by a product team without a dedicated UX designer. We've packed it with critical business management level insights, to help you understand better if you should invest in UX and how you will know it was worth it.
⏳ Reading time:
5 minutes
UX design is just visual design under a fancy name, isn’t it?
You’re right to get straight to the point! User Experience, often referred to as UX, is a term that can be a source of subtle confusion. Are we discussing UX as a design discipline, or are we referring to the actual experience of users interacting with a product?
The goal of UX design is to influence and shape each individual's experience and align it with the brand. As a specialised discipline, UX design is sometimes thought of solely as the production of documentation (wireframes, sitemaps, personas) for developers and stakeholders. Its real value however is before those, as it engages into a comprehensive process aimed at imagining, validating then documenting the overall experience of a product to evoke specific positive emotions and responses in users. This includes researching user needs, designing the interaction, and testing the usability of a product, in addition to producing detailed specifications.
On the other hand, an actual user’s experience is the range of emotions and reactions that users have before, while and after engaging with a product. Everyone has their own way of going about things, however people are more alike than they think, especially when interacting with computers, phones, kiosks and other sources of content, and it’s always possible to find a common ground and design for it.
Achieving this alignment of design and experience is a complex and nuanced task, requiring a deep understanding of both the users and the product, whereas visual design is graphic discipline concerned with aesthetics and communicating key message values through visual content. We could insult graphic designers and say “they only make things pretty” but in truth their work critically shapes our entire perception of a brand or product, however it stops at directing us through subsequent engagement steps: feeling confident you can proceed with a purchase, feeling safe enough to share critical information, feeling satisfied the process is going where they’d like it to.
Why should we invest in UX design?
The short answer: to save time and effort, and increase business success. Seriously. It is a business activity, not an artistic endeavour.
UX design done well is invisible to users, they really should walk away from your site delighted that, for example, booking a pet groom was easy, fast and they’re confident they have both the right groomers and the right appointment for their pet’s unique needs. The goal is to meet users' needs so smoothly that they remember the convenience of the experience, not the specifics of the design, for example the intricacies of the calendar module.
By focusing on details and transitions beyond the purely functional and aesthetics, UX design works at both removing or reducing friction and frustration, and increasing confidence and delight. It smoothes interactions and helps ensure users can complete their goals and objectives when visiting a site or using an app.
UX design done well reduces errors, fosters users' trust, encourages repeat engagement, and builds brand loyalty. In preparing documentation that will be used by stakeholders and team to understand the solution, visualise it and prepare its implementation, the UX designer will also help the business cut costs and gain efficiency by identifying and describing only the most valuable elements, and documenting them in a way that will help fast and precise updates later. UX design is a collaborative discipline so all along, critical discussions must be held with stakeholders across the business, from Product to IT to Legal to Customer Service, to ensure full alignement to existing and future processes and compliance wherever necessary.
The return on investing into User Experience Design can be calculated by considering two key factors: increased revenue and reduced costs. The increased revenue comes from higher sales due to improved user satisfaction, leading to more repeat customers. The reduced costs are realised as developers spend less time defining features and functionalities, allowing them to focus more on building them efficiently.
Additionally, UX investment mitigates risk costs: consider the potential loss if users are so frustrated that they don't return or leave negative reviews. Or, consider the cost implications of spending excessive time identifying the most valuable features or functionalities. Both scenarios can significantly impact the bottom line.
What’s the ROI of UX design?
But I already have excellent developers and designers, why add UX designers?
We have seen a trend in recent years in hiring “UI/UX designers” who need to be primarily specialised in UI or Graphic Design in order to create all the visual elements of the site, app or product, and also “do UX design”. While they likely have received some UX design training, it's crucial to consider whether they have the dedicated skills, experience, time, scope and relevant goals and support from management to delve appropriately into interaction design, information architecture, and user research – the 3 sub-disciplines of UX design, in order to produce the experience part first.
UX designers and UI designers ideally work closely together, merging functionality, behaviour, and visuals. Over time, it's common for their skills to intersect and evolve through experience, however it's important to remember that each role has its distinct purpose and should be managed individually; just as a baker wouldn't try to mix and knead bread dough from inside a hot oven to speed up the process, in digital design, it's inefficient to expect UI designers to delve into intricate UX design tasks while figuring out individual elements graphical composition. Each role has its specialised function.
Meanwhile, your development team may be spending precious time on defining features and behaviours instead of focusing on the real job: building and maintaining the most efficient tech stack, processes and code, ensuring speedy releases, ease of maintenance and update as well as flawless execution at the user’s end. Critically, your tech team should be tasked with building “it” right - “it” being the output from your UX designers, copywriters, and UI designers. By providing developers with clear and detailed deliverables like sitemaps and wireframes, UX designers streamline their workload. This clarity eliminates guesswork, simplifying the development process, and ensuring that the final product aligns perfectly with the envisioned design and holistic goals.
Involving software engineers in a timely manner in the UX design process is crucial and the key to many successes, as in this way the designers can select an approach that the technology easily supports, again saving time and money!
OK, Baguette UX, how can you help me with my UX design needs?
Have a chat with us at the ideas stage, ideally. Having UX in the team at the start of your new product, website, or app development can make a significant difference to the cost and success. While many businesses prioritise assembling a dev team first, having prepared beforehand key UX concepts and flows early on helps them in selecting and setting up the appropriate platform and technologies. This alignment is crucial for delivering the content and experience your target audience needs, and your ROI.
We provide the initial heavy lifting in ideation and processes, setting up both your product and team for success. We also guide you in maintaining and progressing these initiatives.
If you already have a product or app up and running, remember that integrating UX design for improvement isn't straightforward. Often, significant enhancements are found in numerous small details. This process requires time, involving code rebuilding, process changes, and extensive background work before users notice any changes and your success metrics reflect a difference. A suitable metaphor is the distinction between engaging an architect at the start of a home renovation and opting to hire only an interior decorator after all the plumbing and electrical work is completed based on standard and generic notions of room furnishing and optimisation. In the latter scenario, it's all too common to encounter moments of regret, marked by thoughts like 'if only you had positioned this… over there… you would have the ability to…'.
For an 'in-flight' product, we collaborate closely with senior stakeholders. Our focus is on correctly planning and budgeting changes and updates in order to meet business targets. We pay particular attention to maintaining what works, while enhancing areas that can perform better.
And why should I engage you?
We are a senior product design team with combined decades of experience across a wide variety of organisations, products, teams, and audiences, worldwide. We bring a comprehensive toolbox and expertise, ensuring you benefit from best practices while offering a unique, on-brand experience to your users.
Engage with us for a pragmatic approach to innovation and improvement in your business. We excel in two key areas: transforming initial concepts into fully realised products and services, and significantly enhancing existing offerings.
Our expertise lies in guiding new developments from the idea stage to launch, ensuring your new ventures are user-centric and market-ready. For existing products or services, we bring a fresh perspective, identifying and implementing impactful changes that elevate user experience and functionality, resulting in a strong and positive brand appreciation.
Our goal is to partner with you in creating or refining offerings that resonate deeply with your users and stand out in the competitive market, and being the “secret ingredient” in your success.
Our approach is always tailored to fit your organisation’s teams and processes, in order to deliver the results you need to succeed.
Ready to take a first step towards an outstanding user experience?
Book today a free, no-obligation 30-minute confidential consultation with us. This is your opportunity to discuss your project, ask questions, and see how our expertise can make a real difference. There are no strings attached, no newsletter subscription – just a friendly one-time chat.
In the consultation we'll explore your needs and provide insights into how we would tailor our engagement to deliver your objectives. Our approach is flexible, ranging from defined-scope projects with phased engagement, to regular coaching, to embedding ourselves within your teams for specific actions and results. Protected by a mutual non-disclosure agreement, this conversation is an opportunity to explore practical and cost-effective design approaches for your business. Let's talk and unlock how UX design can help your organisation succeed.