What is User Experience (UX)?
User experience is the process that the user carries out when interacting with a product. This concept has its origin in the field of online marketing, being closely linked to the concept of Brand Experience (pretension of establishing a familiar and consistent relationship between consumer and brand).
This video will help illustrate the subject for you:
Sometimes we confuse the concept of user experience with that of usability. Let's see how they differ to better understand what the user experience is:
- Usability: It is the ease with which people can use a particular tool or any other object manufactured by humans in order to achieve a specific objective.
- User experience: A set of factors and elements related to the interaction of the user with a specific environment or device, the result of which is the generation of a positive or negative perception of that service, product or device.
Therefore, when we go into a web project, in its final result we can find the following situations:
- The product is usable but does not generate a great user experience.
- The product is usable and also generates a great user experience.
- The product is not usable but it generates a great user experience: This does not make sense that it happens and that it would denote that something is being done wrong.
The perfect combination would be the second one: The product is usable and it also generates a great user experience. If we achieve this tandem we will be generating unique and noticeable experiences for the user, which will return to us in a tangible benefit, not only in our brand reputation but in a real medium to long term benefit.
In addition, we must take into account that emotional aspects play a fundamental role in user interaction because emotional states affect the cognitive processes that influence the relationship of a user with a product.
As a conclusion we can say that the User Experience:
- Is the result of an interactive phenomenon in which a multitude of factors intervene: individual, social, cultural, contextual and product-specific.
- It will be conditioned by the user's previous expectations and experiences.
- It offers a broader perspective on the use and consumption of interactive products, and therefore more in line with reality.
- It is concerned with factors that are little considered, such as the emotional behavior of the user and the importance of design and aesthetics in this behavior.