How to Make Interaction Design Relevant to Users
In the search for the perfect user experience, interaction designers are hyper-focused on the moment of interaction. How can we make interactions more intuitive? More enjoyable? Less likely to destroy the whole UX with one poorly-designed request?
But a big part of crafting interactions that are appreciated and useful to the user is ensuring the relevancy.
Image: UXDesign.cc
You may create a very well-designed, easy-to-follow lead-generating questionnaire, for example, but if that’s not what the consumer is there for, the beauty of the design isn’t going to save that interaction.
Relevance is a hot topic for interaction designers, because it plays a direct part in how well designers can do their job.
How To Define Relevance In Interaction Design
In general terms, relevance is defined as something that is closely connected to the topic at hand. It fits in with what is needed.
Interaction design is about bridging the gap between what the consumer wants and how they can get it. It is closely connected to the user, and fits in with what is needed to get the user from point A to point B. Not all users start from point A, though. So interactions that are designed to be relevant to the user take into account the starting point of all potential users.
It’s a way of identifying with the user. And real relevance, appropriately, starts with identifying the user.
Know The Audience
First and foremost, the only way to create a truly relevant interaction experience is to know who is going to be doing the interacting. You can’t design for a faceless audience.
To put a finger on the pulse of the audience, take into account the target demographics of the brand, business, or website as a whole.
Image: Interaction-Design.org
It’s also helpful to gather meaningful data on the individual consumers through analytics, such as engagement, purchases, searches, and other evidence of interest.
Focus On Good Communication And Empathy
Following closely on the first note, communication and empathy are important factors.
The principles of good communication underlie much of interaction design. Interactions, after all, are based on communication. And in the interests of a great user experience, you want that communication to be clear and effective!
To put these principles to work and improve relevancy, it helps to design from both sides of the interaction. Basically, IxD designers need to have conversations with themselves, playing the part of the audience as well as the other side of the interaction.
As a designer, the ability to put yourself in the user’s shoes and cultivate empathy may take time, effort, and research. But empathy is an invaluable tool for crafting interactions that make the UX easy, logical, and relevant for the individual.
The only way to build that empathy is by doing the research on the target audience, as mentioned before, and, if possible, interviewing individuals that fit that demographic. Ask questions about how they would go about using the site, what they might have as a goal, and how they want to be interacted with.
Almost always, the target audience has a specific need that must be fulfilled by means of the interaction. That need is the core around which the interaction should be designed.
Look At UX As A Whole
To create an excellent IxD, it takes more than a hyper focus on the minutiae of the interaction. It requires understanding of the system as a whole.
What are consumers using this site for? What is their goal? What suggestions do they have for improving their interactions with the site?
Getting feedback is incredibly valuable for making sure that the IxD is tailored to not only the consumer as an individual, but the consumer’s journey.
Keep It Simple
Of course, there are going to be exceptions to every rule. The saying goes that you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time — and unfortunately, this is true for IxD, too. You can design it to be relevant to 99.9% of users, but there will always be someone who stands out from the crowd.
The pursuit of relevancy to the vast majority requires a few design staples, such as simplicity.
The more simple an interaction is, the more users will find it easy to use, and the more it will fit into the criteria of relevancy for those individuals. This can even go to the extreme of minimalism — the more stripped-down the design, the less confusing and overwhelming the interaction becomes, and the more likely that users will be to follow through on the interaction. It’s the same basic principle that underlies minimalist graphic design — less intimidating, more approachable.
The connection between simplicity and UX as a whole is undisputed; UX design company Nielsen Norman Group even make it a part of their definition of a good user experience: “The first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother. Next comes simplicity…” with the culmination of creating products and experiences that are “a joy to use.”
The function of simplicity in interaction design is part of what makes it “a joy” for all users.
Provide Filters
Along with keeping the design as simple as possible, interaction designers can plan for outliers among users by including filtering systems, enabling the user to tailor the interaction to themselves.
Filtering can be built into navigation from the get-go, saving clicks. It’s also a good tool for product pages, especially if you allow consumers to search according to a variety of hierarchies.
Provide For Emotional Needs
Interaction design isn’t just about getting information from the user. It’s also about providing feedback in return: a conversation, not a monologue or an interrogation. Part of creating an interaction that satisfies the user involves taking their emotions into account, such as how they feel after the interaction, and whether they are satisfied with what they got from it.
To uphold our end of the conversation, we provide information to the user. If they made a purchase, for example, the interaction should let them know that the purchase was successful. But to really be relevant to the consumer, IxD should give them more than just a bland, fill-in-the-blanks acknowledgement.
How do you want the user to feel once they’ve completed the interaction? Using the example of a consumer who made a purchase, we want them to feel excited about what they’ve done. They need to know that the purchase went through, but they also may want to know what to expect next, what they should do now, and other details about what they just bought, such as product popularity, scarcity, or how much they saved. Consumers often want a verification that they bought the correct item, as well, so post-purchase interactions should also include the specific product for the purpose of reassuring the consumer.
This is just one example, but it makes it obvious that taking the emotional needs of the user into account is another important way to make interaction design relevant.
Good Interaction Design Promotes Further Interaction
The goal of any interaction design is to make the consumer keep coming back for more. None of us want our users to walk away from the experience saying, “Well, I’m never going back to that site again!”
By boosting the relevancy for the individual, and taking steps to make them feel valued and appreciated, each and every interaction can be another reason for the user to return.
Author Bio
Tarif Kahn is Head of Design at Logo Design who loves sharing his diversified pool of knowledge in graphic design, web design and development, and print design. He enjoys experimenting with new technologies and has a knack for photography. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
