If you have any familiarity with the terms “User Experience” or “User Interface,” “UX” and “UI” for short, what comes to mind? Maybe your favorite phone app that allows you to pay when you (never) forget your wallet? Or the website where you upload your workouts and not-so-patiently wait for a friend’s thumbs-up on your new King of the Mountain status? While I jest, what I’m getting at is that you’ll likely think of an application or website—something in the digital realm. But the truth is, user experience is all around us.

I was recently watching an episode of Bluey (there is a 7-year-old in our house), where Bandit and Chilli attempt to build a new piece of flat-pak (cough*Ikea*cough) furniture. They find the instructions difficult to follow and struggle to put the pieces together, growing increasingly frustrated with one another in the process. In this scenario, there’s no computer in site. Just two tired parents, a plethora of parts that supposedly fit together, and a single set of paper instructions. And it’s a bad user experience.

UX teaches us to think from the point of view of our end user. Unlike art, which is driven by the point of view of the artist and is intended to spark questions, design serves the user’s point of view. Good user experience should leave no room for questions. The process should feel as intuitive to the user as breathing. And once you learn to ask yourself the who, what, where, when, why, and how of your users, that thought process never leaves you.

It has been several years since I worked in “User Experience,” and yet, I have found that my time as a UXer fundamentally changed how I approach every design project I tackle. These days my artboards are filled with logos, brand colors, and social media graphics, all inevitably shaped by UX. All this to say that User Experience fully embraces the fundamentals of design, and everyone has the power to be a UX designer without touching a wireframe or high-fidelity mockup. Below are five tips for how you can apply UX thinking to your next project, whether it be a brand campaign or a piece of furniture:

Form follows function.
Speaking of our seven-year-old, she’s not the biggest fan of Legos. And I get it—they’re fun to put together, but then they often go up on a shelf to “display,” aka collect a thick layer of dust. If something is beautiful but can’t be used, and its purpose is to be played with, then it’s ultimately failed. If a product designer creates a chair that is aesthetically pleasing but uncomfortable to sit in, then the chair has lost its core function. Don’t sacrifice function. As Paul Hollywood says, “avoid style over substance.”  

Ask questions, lots of them.
Never assume. Do your research. What preformed associations does your audience have with color? If your design is for an elderly audience, remember that our perception of color fades as we age. Maybe four shades of off-beige aren’t the right call for this group.   

Don’t reinvent the wheel.
If something is working somewhere else, don’t feel the need to come up with something new just to be different. That’s not to say you can’t put your own design spin on it, but make sure that the fundamental functionality remains intact. We all know what a shopping cart in the upper right-hand corner of an ecommerce site means. Don’t go put it on the left. Make it fuchsia for all I care (do check your color contrast) but keep it on the right.  

Iterate. Try again, and again, and again.
Start with pencil and paper. Erase, strike through, tear out the page and try again. Too many designers are locked in once they’ve cracked open their computers. They’re too focused on if the boxes are aligned, what color or font to use. Leave your computer shut and start by sketching your solutions. One of my favorite challenges when creating a logo is to set a 20-minute timer on my phone and see how many different concepts I can sketch in that period. Key distinction here—I said sketch, not draw. These do not have to be masterpieces. Better if they’re not. Focus on getting what’s swirling around in your head down on paper. See what works. See what doesn’t. Just let the ideas flow.  

Keep it brief.
Think about how you feel listening to a long speech. After five minutes, your mind starts to wander. After ten, you’re looking at your watch. By the fifteen-minute mark, you’ve completely zoned out and are counting the seconds until you can burst out of your chair and run to the door. The same goes for the content in your design. The truth is, people don’t read, so keep it brief. Your content should be useful, usable, well-structured and easy to find. What is the bare minimum you need to get the point across? You get my point.  

Written by
Kelsey Marotta
Associate Creative Director