Annotations: Google UX design professional certificate course (2/7)

Notes for the ‘Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate’ course, under the Google UX design professional certificate.

In today’s digital age, the importance of user experience (UX) design cannot be overstated. A well-designed user experience can make all the difference between a successful product and a failure. However, UX design is not just about aesthetics; it requires a deep understanding of the user’s needs, wants, and pain points. As the second of the seven courses in the UX design professional certificate program, this course is designed to equip learners with the necessary skills to ideate and design an effective user experience.

In this article, I will share my consolidated notes and course learnings from each course week, including topics such as integrating research into the design process, empathizing with users and defining pain points, creating personas, creating user stories and journey maps, defining user problems, and ideating design solutions.

Explore more from the Google UX Design Professional Certificate courses

1. Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design: Notes | Course
2. Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate: Notes | Course
3. Build Wireframes and Low-Fidelity Prototypes: Notes | Course
4. Conduct UX Research and Test Early Concepts: Notes | Course
5. Create High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma: Notes | Course
6. Responsive Web Design in Adobe XD: Notes | Course
7. Design a User Experience for Social Good & Prepare for Jobs: Notes | Course

Week 1: Integrating research into the design process

Understand the role of research in UX design

A product design should be built upon research and facts, not assumptions. UX research aligns what you, as the designer, think the user needs with what the user actually needs.

• UX research focuses on understanding user behaviours, needs, and motivations through observation and feedback.
• UX research prioritizes the user while also ensuring business needs are met.
• UX research is a continuous part of the product development life cycle and takes place before, during, and after the design phase.

Key qualities of a good UX researcher include empathy, pragmatism, and collaboration.

The product development lifecycle and the various research stages, image sourced from the course

Foundational research:

• Also known as strategic or generative research.
• Occurs at the brainstorming stage of design.
• Takes place before any actual design and is used to empathize with users, create personas, and define the problem that needs to be solved through the design process.
• Research methods for foundational research include interviews, surveys, focus groups, field studies, and diary studies.
• Questions to consider during foundational research: What should we build? What are the user’s problems? How can we solve those problems?

Design research:

• Takes place during the design phase.
• Involves gathering user feedback to inform the design process and reduce risk by ensuring that the product is built to meet user needs and expectations.
• Usability studies are the most common method used for design research. Other research methods include A/B testing, cafe/guerrilla studies, card sorting, and intercepts.
• The goal of design research is to answer the question: How should we build it?

Post-launch research:

• Takes place after the launch stage and evaluates the success of a launched feature.
• Focuses on measuring how well the feature is meeting the needs of users and whether it was a positive or negative user experience.
• Uses metrics to validate that the product is meeting user needs and inform future design iterations.
• Metrics for post-launch research include adoption, usage, and user satisfaction.

Choose the right research method

Hierarchy of research types, image sourced from the course

• User research methods can be categorized by who conducts the research (primary vs secondary) and the type of data collected (quantitative vs qualitative).
• Quantitative research focuses on numerical data, while qualitative research focuses on observations and detailed information.
• Secondary research can provide already existing stats, facts, and figures about users, saving time and money.

The choice of research method depends on the questions being asked.

Interviews:

• Interviews offer a clear understanding of user experiences and allow for follow-up questions and direct suggestions.
• Interviews enable in-depth exploration of user thoughts, motivations, and needs, providing valuable insights.
• However, interviews can be time-consuming and costly and typically have a small sample size.
• Care should be taken to avoid bias in the interview process. For instance, group interviews can be influenced by the bandwagon effect.

Surveys:

• Surveys offer the advantage of collecting feedback from a larger sample size of users quickly.
• Remote surveys can provide insights into users’ demographics, goals, and information needs with minimal cost.
• However, surveys may not provide in-depth feedback as they typically rely on closed-ended questions.
• Surveys are useful in scenarios such as site redesigns, post-launch evaluations, or assessing user satisfaction with content or features.
• It’s important to keep surveys brief and include a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions with progress indicators.
• Effective survey questions can focus on users’ ability to find information, satisfaction with the site, likes/dislikes, recommendations, and suggestions for improvements.

Usability study:

• Usability studies provide firsthand observation of user interaction with a product, allowing for in-depth feedback and challenging design assumptions.
• However, usability studies are focused on measuring the ease of product use but may not accurately reflect real-life use and can be expensive.
• The goals of usability testing may include identifying problems, uncovering opportunities, and understanding target user behaviour and preferences.

Other research methods:

• A/B testing: A research method that compares two aspects of a product to determine their effectiveness, such as evaluating different layouts for a homepage.
• Cafe or guerrilla studies: A research method where user feedback is gathered publicly by showing design prototypes to passersby and soliciting their thoughts.
• Card sorting: A research method that involves participants sorting labels on notecards into categories to inform the information architecture of a project.
• Intercepts: A research method that gathers on-site feedback from users as they engage in activities being studied, often conducted in the field for quick, high-level feedback.

Identify biases in UX research

• Bias is favouring or having a prejudice against something based on limited information
• Biases can hinder UX designers’ ability to put themselves in the user’s shoes
• Confirmation bias: Occurs when looking for evidence to support a preconceived hypothesis; it can be avoided by asking open-ended questions and including a large sample of users.
• False consensus bias: Assuming others will think similarly, it can be avoided by identifying and articulating assumptions and surveying diverse and large groups of people.
• Recency bias: Remembering the last information heard in an interview; it can be overcome by taking detailed notes or recordings.
• Primacy bias: Remembering the first participant more strongly; can be overcome by taking detailed notes or recordings and maintaining consistency in interview approaches.
• Implicit bias: Unconscious association of attitudes and stereotypes to people; it can be overcome by self-reflection and seeking input from others to identify and address implicit biases.

Identifying bias should become a habit to avoid biases in the design process. Overcoming biases can involve asking open-ended questions, avoiding assumptions, and reflecting on behaviours

• Sunk cost fallacy: is the idea that the deeper we get into a project we’ve invested in, the harder it is to change course without feeling like we’ve failed or wasted time. To avoid sunk cost fallacy, break down the project into more minor phases and outline designated points to decide whether to continue or stop.

Avoiding biases

• Use neutral language in questions to prevent leading users in a certain direction.
• Encourage independent thinking in group interviews to avoid the bandwagon effect.
• Be mindful of confirmation bias when designing surveys and avoid specific language that may lead to biased responses.
• Limit guidance in usability studies to prevent false consensus and allow participants to provide honest feedback.
• Note down assumptions before beginning a study to be aware of potential biases.
• Choose participants who are representative of the target audience to ensure a more accurate and unbiased research outcome.
• Structure and write user test scripts to minimize user research bias.
• Collect a mixture of quantitative and qualitative metrics for a well-rounded understanding.
• Space out the scheduling of interviews and invite colleagues to join for additional perspectives and notes.
• Consider users’ tone and body language, as well as your own, during interviews to better interpret responses without bias.

Week 2: Empathizing with users and defining pain points

Understand empathy in UX design

UX design is not about solving assumed problems but solving problems users actually want to be solved

• Empathy is at the core of everything UX designers do and is important in every step of the design thinking process.
• Empathy involves sharing someone’s mental and emotional experiences and goes beyond pity and sympathy.
• Designing with empathy helps build deeper connections with users and guides the right design path.
• To empathize with users, ask lots of questions, become more observant, be an active listener, request input, and keep an open mind.

Structure user interviews

• Have clear interview goals and aim for a representative sample of study participants.
• Use a screener survey to select participants based on research goals and target users.
• Include user groups that have been underrepresented in previous research to ensure a representative sample.
• Utilize personal networks, existing user base, and online platforms like social media, UserTesting, and User Interviews for recruiting participants.
• Hallway testing can be a less formal way to recruit participants but may not be effective for gathering feedback from potential users.
• Once you’ve identified potential research participants, send an introduction email to potential research participants, explaining the project and introducing yourself as the researcher.
• Consider providing incentives, if the budget allows, to motivate or encourage participation in the research study.
• Prior written consent is required for recording interviews.
• Send timely email reminders to participants before the scheduled interview.

Prepare for user interviews:

• Preparation is the key to success when conducting a user interview.
• Script the interview questions and keep them consistent for each user.
• Collect necessary supplies and test any equipment or technology beforehand.
• Research the users and take note of their personal information and experience with the product.

Conduct user interviews:

1. Build a good rapport with participants by being friendly and professional, making sure to break the ice and make participants comfortable.
2. Conduct the interview by speaking clearly and concisely, asking open-ended questions, taking notes and asking follow-up questions.
3. Take notes, highlight compelling quotes, document observations about participants and consider recording interviews.
4. Wrap up the interview, give users a chance to share final thoughts, thank them for their time and offer incentives if applicable.

Document user interviews:

• Recording interviews allows for easy access to important feedback even after the interview is completed.
• Taking notes during the interview is crucial to capture useful responses on key interview topics.
• Documenting information after the interview can include creating interview transcripts or reviewing recordings and adding to your notes. They are also effective ways to save and revisit the information gathered from participants.

Empathy maps

Empathy map template, sourced from the course

• Empathy maps are visualization tools used to understand user experiences and identify pain points.
• They can be created for single users or aggregated from a group of users.
• Each empathy map should represent a different user segment with specific thoughts and needs.
• Empathy maps are best used from the beginning of the design process.

Empathy map quadrants:

• Empathy maps have four squares: says, does, thinks, and feels, with the name of the user in the middle.
• The “SAYS” square: contains verbatim quotes from the interview.
• The “THINKS” square: summarizes the user’s thoughts and feelings, including non-verbal cues.
• The “DOES” square: outlines the user’s actions or behaviours shared by users.
• The “FEELS” square: lists the user’s expressed feelings, even if not explicitly mentioned during the interview.
• Users are complex humans and may exhibit inconsistencies between quadrants.
• Some quadrants may seem ambiguous or overlapping, but it’s essential to focus on understanding the user and not on being overly precise.
• If there is nothing to put in a quadrant, it indicates that more user research is needed.

Understand user needs

• UX design is centred around understanding and meeting the needs of users.
• Users may not always be able to articulate their needs, making research critical for anticipating their requirements.
• Setting clear and actionable goals based on addressing user needs is crucial for effective UX design.

Identify pain points

• Pain points are UX issues or friction that frustrate users and hinder them from achieving their goals.
• Pain points can be minimized to keep users happy and encourage continued product interaction.
• There are four types of pain points: financial (costing), product (quality), process (user journey), and support (customer service).
• Empathy maps are useful tools for understanding user mindsets and identifying pain points.

Develop personas

User persona template, sourced from the course

• Personas are fictional users representing the needs of a larger group of users in UX design.
• User groups are sets of people with similar interests, goals, or concerns.
• Personas humanize users and build empathy for them, making them useful for storytelling in stakeholder presentations.
• Personas can help identify patterns of behaviour and common pain points among user groups.
• Research is essential in creating personas that accurately represent potential users.
• A set of 3 to 8 personas can effectively represent the majority of a product’s user base.
• Personas should be context-specific and focused on user behaviours and goals when interacting with the product.
• Use personas to guide designs that directly address user needs and provide the best user experience.

Week 3: Creating user stories and user journey maps

Craft user stories

User story formula, sourced from the course

• User stories are one-sentence stories told from a persona’s point of view to inform design decisions.
• They prioritize design goals, unite the team, inspire empathetic design decisions, and personalize pitches to stakeholders.
• The type of user describes who we are designing for, action is what the user hopes will happen, and the benefit is why the user wants the action to happen.

Consider edge cases

• Edge cases refer to unexpected problems that interrupt the standard user experience.
• Good UX anticipates and resolves edge cases to keep vulnerable users on the happy path, where they achieve their goals without issue.
• Tips for spotting and resolving edge cases include creating personas and user stories, reviewing the project before launch, and using wireframes.
• UX designers aim to anticipate users’ needs and problems to provide a seamless user experience.

Create a user journey map

• A user journey is the experiences a user goes through to achieve a specific goal.
• User journey maps illustrate the user’s journey and help designers create obstacle-free paths.
• User journey mapping reduces designer bias and highlights pain points and improvement opportunities.

To create a user journey map, follow these steps:

1. Identify the first task the user needs to accomplish in order to reach their goal.
2. List all the things the user needs to do along the journey, including smaller actions or steps.
3. Describe the user’s emotions at each stage of the journey, noting any frustrations or positive experiences.
4. Identify improvement opportunities, such as pain points or areas where the user experience could be enhanced.

Sample user journey map, sourced from the course

Consider accessibility while empathizing

• Accessibility is important for all users, including those with disabilities, temporary or situational impairments.
• Understanding the different needs of users with disabilities is crucial in designing accessible products.
• People with disabilities may have different user journeys that need to be considered during the design process.
• Assistive technologies play a crucial role in enabling people with disabilities to use digital products.
• It’s essential to conduct research to understand how people with disabilities interact with your product.

Design for accessibility

• Design for touch-related limitations by placing buttons appropriately and allowing customization.
• Design for sight-related limitations by using larger fonts, high-contrast colours, and alternate text.
• Customizable text can help individuals with dyslexia or other visual processing disabilities.
• Design for hearing-related limitations by using haptics, closed captioning, and text messaging.
• Design for speech-related limitations by providing written instructions and in-app messaging.
• Assistive technologies like real-time texting and alternative text can help bridge the gap.

Understand the curb-cut effect

• Curb cuts, which were designed for people with disabilities, benefit everyone.
• Design features for people with limited mobility, like elevators, can also benefit a broader range of users.
• Signals at crosswalks designed for people with vision disabilities can also help distracted pedestrians.
• Closed captioning on TV can help people who are hard of hearing and multilingual users.
• Inaccessible websites that automatically time users out can be improved for neurodiverse individuals, multitasking parents, and senior citizens.

By designing with accessibility in mind, UX designers can create products that are not only inclusive but also provide a better user experience for everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.

Week 4: Defining user problems

Design process: empathize, define problem statements, brainstorm solutions by creating hypothesis statements.

Problem statements

Problem statement formula using The 5 Ws and H framework, sourced from the course

Effective problem statements are human-centred, narrow in focus, and help establish goals, constraints, deliverables, and benchmarks for success.

• Problem statements are clear descriptions of user needs that can be addressed through design solutions.
• The 5 Ws and H framework (who, what, when, where, why, and how) can be used to create problem statements.
• Empathy and user research are essential in understanding users’ needs and context for problem statement development.
• Understanding the user’s background, physical context, when the problem occurs, and potential consequences is crucial in addressing pain points.
• Problem statements provide clarity about user goals and help measure success.

Hypothesis statements

Hypothesis statement formula, sourced from the course

• Hypothesis statements are educated guesses on the solution to a design problem.
• Common formats for hypothesis statements include “if/then” and “we believe” statements.
• Hypothesis statements can be adjusted as more user research is conducted.
• Multiple hypothesis statements may be created for one problem statement.
• Hypothesis statements help narrow down research insights into specific product goals.

Value proposition

• The value proposition is the reason why a consumer should use a product or service.
• A clear value proposition is essential for UX designers to create products that provide value to users.
• Building value propositions involves researching and answering the questions “What does the product do?” and “Why should the user care?”
• They should be short, clear, and easy to understand for users.
• Creating a unique value proposition involves listing and categorizing possible features based on user needs.
• Value propositions should be tailored and connected to specific users and their pain points to be effective in attracting and retaining users.
• Unique value propositions can help products stand out from competitors by offering distinct features and benefits.

Sample value proposition brainstorming, sourced from the course

Understanding Human Factors in UX Design

• Human factor refers to the range of variables that humans bring to their product interactions.

Human factors inform design considerations such as impatience, limited memory, need for analogies, limited concentration, changes in needs, motivation, prejudices, fears, errors, and misjudgment.

• TL;DR in business email shorthand is an example of a design that considers human tendencies.
• Mental models, feedback loops, nostalgia, and other psychological concepts should be considered in UX design to create experiences that align with human tendencies.
• Mental models are internal maps that allow humans to predict how something will work and should be considered in UX design.
• Limitations imposed by human factors can also present opportunities for better user experiences.

Psychology principles that influence UX design

• Several psychological phenomena can impact UX design, and it’s important to be informed of them to make accurate experiences for users.
• The Von Restorff effect: states that unique items are more likely to be remembered
• The serial position: effect suggests that people tend to remember the first and last items on a list.
• Hick’s law: suggests that more options can lead to longer decision-making time, which should be considered in UX design.
• The “magic number 7±2” law: suggests that the capacity of short-term memory is limited to about 7 items, which should be taken into account in UX design.

Ethical considerations in applying psychology to UX design

• UX designers should use psychological principles ethically to encourage and empower users rather than exploiting or overpowering them.
• Creativity, empathy, and a thoughtful approach can turn limitations imposed by human factors into benefits in UX design.
• Consideration should be given to the ethical implications of using psychological techniques in UX design to ensure that users’ well-being and rights are respected.

Week 5: Ideating design solutions

Begin to ideate

• Ideation is the process of generating lots of ideas on a given topic with no judgment or evaluation.
• Ideation involves brainstorming out loud and documenting every idea.
• The quantity of ideas is more important than quality at this stage.
• A diverse team should be gathered to brainstorm different perspectives.
• Before ideating, empathize with your user and define the problem you are trying to solve.
• The more ideas explored, the higher the chance of finding feasible solutions when constraints are introduced.
• Design ideation is important because it encourages unique solutions and lays the foundation for product design.
• Ideas should be evaluated based on feasibility, desirability, viability and business needs.

There are no bad ideas, and crazy ideas can sometimes be the most valuable.

Recognize brand and business needs

• UX designers work with marketing and branding teams to create a brand personality that affects the user experience.
• Voice and tone have a big impact on a user’s experience with a product.
• Small changes in language can communicate a brand’s voice and tone and improve the user experience.
• The design should benefit both the customer and the business. Hence there needs to be harmony between them.
• Researching competitors can help influence design decisions.

Scope the competition

• A competitive audit provides an overview of competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Key components of a competitive audit include identifying competitors, reviewing products, understanding market positioning, examining strengths and weaknesses, and considering how competitors talk about themselves.
• Direct competitors have similar offerings and target the same audience, while indirect competitors may have different offerings or target a different audience.
• Competitive audits are important in UX design because they inform the design process, help solve usability problems, reveal gaps in the market, and provide reliable evidence.

Benefits of competitive audits in the ideation phase:

• Gives an idea of products already in the market and their designs.
• Suggests ideas to solve early problems with your own designs.
• Reveals ways that current products in the market are not meeting users’ needs, providing a gap for your product to address.
• Demonstrates the expected life cycle of a product in the same market as yours.
• Informs different iterations your product could take and how those performed for your competitors.

Limits to competitive audits:

• Competitive audits can stifle creativity if you focus too much on what others are doing.
• The success of the competitive audit depends on how well you interpret the findings.
• Not all designs work in all use cases.
• Competitive audits should be done regularly to stay on top of competitors and new competitors that may emerge.

Steps to conduct a competitive audit:

1. Outline specific goals for the competitive audit, breaking them down into product aspects to compare.
2. Create a spreadsheet with 5–10 competitors, including both direct and indirect competitors.
3. Call out specific aspects to compare, aligning with goals for the audit.
4. Research and take notes on each competitor’s aspects, including screenshots and links in the spreadsheet.
5. Analyze findings and identify trends and similarities.
6. Summarize findings in a report, including screenshots and simple charts or graphics.

Use insights from competitive audits to ideate:

• Competitive audits give an edge in the UX design process by providing valuable insights into competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Learnings from a competitive audit can be used to ideate by identifying opportunities to improve upon competitors’ weaknesses or address gaps in the market.
• Bring together a team with different perspectives for ideation.
• Sort ideas to uncover patterns and identify top ideas that align with your product goals and offer unique value propositions.
• The goal is to generate ideas that make the product stand out from the competition.

Brainstorm ideas based on competitors’ weaknesses, using the insights gathered from the competitive audit to identify areas where your product can outperform the competition.

“How Might We” exercise for ideation

• The “How Might We?” exercise is a design thinking activity to turn problems into opportunities for design.
• The exercise involves asking specific, broad questions that leave room for innovation.
• Ways to create “How Might We?” phrases include “amp up the good”, “explore the opposite”, “change a status quo”, and “break the point of view into pieces.”
• Best practices for thinking of HMWs: be broad, make multiple drafts, be creative, and write as many HMWs as you can.
• HMWs are a great way to start thinking of potential solutions during the ideate stage of the design process.

“Crazy Eights” exercise for ideation

• The Crazy Eights exercise involves sketching 8 ideas in 8 minutes to solve a problem statement.
• It is often done in a group setting to generate more ideas and foster collaboration.
• Best practices include warming up, defining the problem well, not judging ideas, having a diverse group, and ideating in a comfortable environment.
• Benefits include generating a lot of unique ideas quickly and thinking outside the box.

Conclusion

The “Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate” course provides valuable insights and practical tools for UX designers. By emphasizing the importance of understanding and empathizing with users, defining clear goals, and generating innovative ideas, this course equips designers with the skills necessary to create exceptional user experiences.

Through techniques such as user research, journey mapping, wireframing, and considering accessibility, designers can anticipate edge cases, create obstacle-free paths, and ensure inclusive designs. Collaboration with marketing and branding teams can also help align the brand personality and tone with the user experience, resulting in a cohesive and harmonious design that benefits both customers and the business.

Overall, this course serves as a strong foundation for UX designers to kickstart their design process and create meaningful and delightful experiences for users.