Usability And User Experience

By Author: Susan Smith
Total Articles: 132
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There are a lot (and I mean a LOT) of applications in the world of mobility. However, a large portion of these apps fail to impress the users, and once downloaded, are either deleted, or if the user is too lazy to do that, simply reside as an untouched icon in there app lists. The big question mark is that a lot of these applications are neither buggy, nor do they not deliver what they advertise. They still just don’t cut it with the users. Two important factors that these developers overlook are application usability and user experience or mistake one with the other.

Although they are conceptually linked, they need to be addressed separately. They relate to how well a product (or service) is designed. They both need the developer to shift focus from the product to the user. The developers tend to get lost in the technical nuances of the code and the product teams start patting themselves on the back too soon looking at the finished product. No one cares about the one who is expected to pay for it, or use it.

Usability

This is the Ergonomics. It is about how easy user interfaces are to use. a highly ...
... usable product enables the user to meet their objective faster, and with minimum fuss or frustration and without error. This is all about the user-targeted efficacy. The critical factor here is that it is NOT enough to do what the app should be doing. It is critical to do what the user wants to get done, and to do it efficiently. For e.g. an app that provides the local weather does is of no use if it provides the temperature in Fahrenheit, when the local measurements are in degree Celsius.

To achieve higher usability, the demographic data of the target audience should be analyzed, and their choices, behavior and likes need to be taken into consideration. These factors must be baked into the solution.

User experience

It includes usability, but also encompasses a more emotional dimension: for example, the desire, joy, meaning, reflection, value or frustration that a user experiences. The key here is to promote positive emotions of the end users or reducing the negative ones, while they use your app. For e.g. even playing a game that’s too hard for you can leave you frustrated. Similarly, an app that has too brightly colored images may cause a headache.

Some of the straightforward things to consider are the basics, like making sure that the application is bug-free, and high performing. However, these just prevent negative user experience. The idea is to promote positive user experience. To do that, the user needs and requirements need to be well understood and executed. To design a user experience which is enjoyable, we need to perform a function relevant to the user. If the user’s needs are met, the user experience can be enhanced easily.

Striking a balance – Create happiness

To design a successful application, you need high usability and great user experience. The way to do it is to not focus on usability or user-experience. Forget about how to create synergies. Don’t focus on the product either. Change the paradigm. Focus on making the user happy, and usability, user-experience and greatness will come all by itself.

Instead of making an app for timesheet, make it easier for people to manage their schedules. Instead of making a retail app, make people’s buying experience easy and fun-filled.

The result is that you use usability to take away all the distractions in the way of happiness, and use the elements of user-experience to empower what people can do.

The author is associated with an enterprise application development company, one of top iPhone developers Dallas and iPhone development companies in Noida