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How to spot good UX
Good user experience can be easy to spot, but difficult to define. These characteristics can help you evaluate products to determine whether or not they employ good UX.
Good UX is, first and foremost, user-centered. User-centered designs are clear, efficient, and solve the actual, fundamental issues faced by their users. Good UX can be hard to pin down. The biggest indicator of good UX is when users don’t notice it at all. On the other hand, users recognize bad UX almost instantly. But how can that be qualified? How can we recognize good and bad design more objectively?
The following is a list of characteristics that can be used to identify good UX. This is not an exhaustive list of characteristics that can be attributed to good UX, but it does provide a big-picture model that can help you evaluate products and spot good (and not-so-good) UX.
Good UX is intuitive, useful, consistent, accessible, enjoyable, valuable, and desirable.
Intuitive
An intuitive product has clear and usable design, structure, and purpose. You can evaluate a product’s intuitiveness by asking:
- Is everything in the product easy to find?
- Is the product’s functionality easy to understand?
- Do I know what buttons and functions within the app mean without having to ask?
- Can you quickly and easily accomplish specific tasks within the product?
Example: if you download an app whose primary purpose is to purchase clothing, the design and user flow should provide a clear and intuitive path to complete that task. You should be able to navigate to different clothing items and sections with ease and check out quickly and efficiently. Additionally, you should feel confident with each press of a button that you’re getting where you’re supposed to go.
