In a technical world we can easily get lost in pixels and business statistics and lose sight of why we’re building products.
An empathetic UX designer plays a key role in continually improving products by truly understanding who the products are for.
Here are 5 reasons consumer empathy is everything when jumping into UX design as a beginner.
“Why?”
Being comfortable with asking “why” is a key trait in being an excellent empathetic UX designer. Always being ready to push back against developers or probe deeper when talking with users let’s you make sure you’re building the right features.
Open mind
A key part of being a UX designer is doing user research. Being open-minded allows you to gather fair, honest feedback without your expectations getting in the way. Accepting the results for what they are, not what you expect, lets the team build the products that are truly needed, not just what they think the users want.
Bridging goals
The role of the UX designer sits between the consumer and the company. It can feel like the consumers want one thing while the company wants another. By being empathetic to both sides, you’re able to guide the company to understand that being consumer focused is truly the most successful path. A company that forgets who their customer is will ultimately lose users.
Lack of bias
More often than not, you will be working on a product that you yourself may not use. This happens in every field, but as a UX designer, it is your job to make sure that the teams continue to make a product that is for the actual customers, not just the ones they want. Often times, as products evolve and grow, the user base can change significantly. Understanding who the users really are is key to building the right features and making the right updates.
Observation
You read comments, listen to customer complaints, and conduct research to gather information. The role of the UX designer is to distill these pieces of communication into actions that the business team, developers and designers can take to improve the product. A UX designer really familiar with the field, customers and product will be able to pre-emptively suggest improvements that keep customers happy and coming back.
Are you interested in learning more about UX Design?
Tech Talent South offers a UX Design Course for beginners.
