I’m a UX designer based in Sydney, Australia.
I’m originally from China and have studied, worked and lived in Australia for more than 10 years.
Prior to devoting my work life to UX design, I have worked as a project management consultant for more than 3 years. The work is alright, but I do find something is missing. The longer I have observed the process of creation, the more desires I have to be part of it. I want to create things.
After participating several hackathons and attending several meetups, I have finally decided to switch my career to UX design and fully embrace both my creative and logical thinking sides.
Understand Users & Problem
It is a no brainer that we need to start the UX design by looking at users. Afterall, "user" is the first word of UX.
On top of that, I do believe it is important to understand the business problem we need to resolve as well.
In my opinion, UX designer needs to balance the needs from both users and the business.
Design Iteratively & Progressively
A perfect design does not exist on the first run of creation.
I believe design should be progressive and iterative. In each step, more detail
For me, the general steps looks like this: user flow -> paper sketches -> wireframes / low-fidelity prototype -> high-fidelity prototype.
Test and Observe Users
Don't just trust what users have said, see how they perform with your prototype.
Quite often, I will see how my interpretation of things is largely different to that of my users. The trigger could be many things, but without conducting proper user testings, I would never know that.
It is important to put your work in the hands of your users to gather feedback for improvement.