Somu Arumugam, UX Architect, Photon InfoTech. Somu has spent the last 15 years focussed on Design in a variety of roles and companies – Experience-Designer, Nalashaa Solutions, Sr. Interaction Designer – 247-ilabs, Sr. User Interface Design Lead – Infosys, Sr. UI Designer – Zynga, Sr. Project Lead – ADYes, Interaction Designer – Mahindra Satyam, Interaction Designer\Animation – Nipuna services Pvt. Ltd., Senior Associate – ITC Infotech- NewMedia, Visualizer -JadooWorks, Visual Designer – DLM digital studios.
At this session, Somu will take a case study approach towards understanding UI/UX Design.
Somu Arumugam’s session was interactive with insights built from both speaker and audience inputs. Here are the Lounge47 key takeaways:
1.UX – Can be understood as You and X: A holistic understanding of who you are as a brand, product, service combined with an intangible “X” defined by the UX process, that makes the user “feel” and experience you
2. UX is much used and could mean more narrowly visual/ interface design or broadly – to include design at every user touch point
3. What is UI then? You and I – the specific layouts, aesthetics and functions – that drive the interaction between the user and your brand/product/service. UI can be seen as a piece of UX
4. UX strategy would drive and define UI detail
5. There are several approaches to UX – one way is to get to minimal and bare bone design – extra features would be added in a considered and deliberate fashion
6. In arriving at design solutions there is the battle between emotion and logic. Then there is the battle between ideas and team members strongly attached to the idea. If managed well, conflict could lead to good design
7. User-led design is an approach, however in disruptive models where the user could be unknown – the hypothesis, backed by the conviction of the Startup team would provide the starting points for UX
8. To get the UI/UX differentiation even clearer, a UX designer is concerned with “how the product/service feels” and the UI designer is concerned with “how the product/service is laid out”
9. UX has grown to be an asset of the company Eg. Facebook, Twitter, Uber – what would they be without great UX?
10. While brand is high level and top down, UX is more entrenched in the product development process and works from the grassroots up and from the outside inwards. It converts consumer and environmental insights powerfully mingled with team expertise and experience, into design that delights
11. Just like successful brands have entrenched the understanding of brand through strategy, people and process, UX requires leadership and evangelists
12. UI/UX is a space that requires almost divine intuition. There are no guarantees that things will work. The litmus test however is – do the majority users like it or hate it?
