Proper UX/UI design is at the crux of customer satisfaction, and companies must understand the importance of hiring tech-focused designers to maximize user experience.
With the introduction of modern digital business tools and the proliferation of online marketing, companies now need to create high-quality software products with good UX/UI design to ensure customer satisfaction. Securing user attention is inherently linked to providing optimal user experience in all digital products that involve customer usage.
UX/UI design was born from this need and has become a must when planning and executing online presence strategies for all startups, small, medium, and big companies alike.
CEOs, CTOs, and business owners have realized the importance of user experience, and the demand for UX/UI experts has grown steadily over the past years. As a matter of fact, research shows that every $1 invested on UX/UI design results in a return of $100, which represents an ROI of 9,900%. Subsequently, a light has shone on UX/UI design, and it has become increasingly important for companies to understand the relevance of hiring tech-savvy UX/UI designers and professionals to get all the perks of functional web and app development.
Before diving into the perks of hiring a tech-oriented UX/UI designer, let’s take a closer look at what UX/UI design i
What is UX/UI Design?
For software and mobile solutions, UX/UI design is at the core of a successful user experience and engagement. Both elements are bound to get used as one, but they are actually two different parts of a single consumer experience.
UX or User Experience Design: Focuses on the experience and interaction of consumers with the application. It includes the layout of the product acquisition, integration, usability, ease of navigation, troubleshooting, and overall accessibility of the user with the product.
UI or User Interface Design: Centers on building interfaces for mobile and software devices and applications. Said interfaces center on the looks and visual design of the product. UI overlaps with graphic design in that they both focus on what the user sees. Colors, text, backgrounds, and animations are some of the elements relevant to UI design.
The UX/UI Designer
A UX/UI designer merges both of these areas to create a usable digital product based on research, implementation of findings, mockups, wireframes, prototypes, tests, and user feedback analysis. When we add tech knowledge to the mix, these skills maximize, and the designer can also craft their ideas and thoughts without waiting for a programmer or developer to bring those ideas to fruition. For this reason, the relevance of tech-focused UX/UI design for customer engagement and experience is undeniable.
In the modern business environment, first impressions are crucial, and in the online world, the simplicity and usability of mobile tools can make or break profitability. Additionally, studies have shown that 52% of users will not engage with a company due to a bad mobile experience. Furthermore, 79% of people who dislike the visuals will go in search of another site. The bottom line is that hiring a UX/UI designer is, without a doubt, the definitive element for modern digital success.
Advantages of Tech-focused UX/UI Design
More Engaging and Faster Interfaces
It is a fact that the visual aspect of a website or app is crucial when it comes to getting substantial customer engagement. However, fancy graphics and large amounts of content can increase load times and jeopardize user attention. Actually, Uxcam’s statistics show that if a website takes more than 3 seconds to load, 40% of the people leave the website, don’t engage, and won’t return.
A tech-focused UX/UI designer can create an aesthetically pleasing application while also keeping an eye on speed optimization and loading times; needless to say, the benefits of this are manifold. For instance, a UX/UI designer with tech knowledge can balance style and performance while determining if a CDN is needed, optimizing image and video sizes, finding the best host, optimizing databases and redirects, detecting errors, and keeping overall functionality in check. He/she can even code, build, test, and troubleshoot without developer supervision. It is like getting two experts in one!
Better App/Site Architecture
Architecture patterns are techniques that define the full structure and multiple layers of an app’s ecosystem. Usually, these ecosystems have enormous amounts of information, and without the proper architecture analysis and layout, users won’t be able to navigate through the application and leave. As a matter of fact, one study by PWC found that 32% of users would dump a brand they loved after just one bad experience regarding the poor site or app navigation.
Architectural soundness can be vastly improved and maintained by a tech-focused UX/UI designer. He/she can create, program, and enforce the technical standards and the functionality of the application. The added value of tech knowledge includes performance optimization, SEO, connectivity, testing, and troubleshooting. Furthermore, architectural integrity is maintained on its many layers by only one professional, which means that technical implementations are no longer specific to software engineers or programmers.
Good Rapport with Programmers and Engineers
In the traditional enterprise layout, design and development departments are typically separate, which creates gaps that delay the entire process of application building. The importance of interdisciplinary interaction for efficient software development is undeniable, especially for DevOps companies.
A tech-savvy UX/UI designer will establish a valuable rapport with development teams ensuring consistency throughout the entire project workflow. Collaboration between these two teams gives them a better understanding of each other. It creates a two-way communication speedway, thus producing digital elements that behave better.
A UX/UI designer that knows how to use HTML or CSS, for instance, doesn’t have to attempt to explain his ideas and then wait for developers to bring them to life but can give them life by himself. Both teams can also make real-time decisions together without any limitations in language, terminology, and proper technology usage. Having this type of cross-disciplinary collaboration is priceless for any software and app development company.
More Efficient Troubleshooting
When developing an application, errors are bound to happen. Whether during coding, designing, or implementation, said errors derail the entire development lifecycle and hinder processes and efficiency. More often than not, mistakes are a product of gaps between teams, lack of interdisciplinary communication, or testing flaws. A 2018 study conducted by Statista found that 52% of development companies don’t have time to test or troubleshoot, and 28% want to fix errors but lack the experts to do so.
A UX/UI designer with tech knowledge can perform on several levels of the entire lifecycle process and be on the lookout for errors in coding, documentation, research, design, loading, prototyping, testing, and implementing. Troubleshooting can be done efficiently by the same person who worked on the layout, aesthetics, and functionality of the application.
Minimizes Hiring Costs
When starting a development project, budgetary limitations determine the amount of human and technical assets needed to employ. For clients and companies alike, budget optimization is crucial to guarantee a seamless flow of processes. Usually, human talent is what hinders budgetary control. It drains the larger part of monetary assets, which highlights the importance of hiring multi-functional employees.
One study from Clarion Tech found that 35% of hired employees (developers and designers) do not have the necessary technical skills to multi-task, which forces companies to hire additional professionals to supply the knowledge gap. A tech-savvy UX/UI designer integrates various skills into a single hire, which represents a big save in time and money.
Of course, the extra-tech skills can raise the salary, but it still represents a reduction in hiring costs and time spent looking for supplementary human talent. Depending on the complexity of a project, he/she can perform several tasks without the need for more experts to complement other steps of the development process.
The Takeaway
Whether you are running a startup or a big company, customer satisfaction boils down to the ability to capture and maintain user attention. Successfully developing an application that offers seamless navigation depends on the quality of the human talent you hire. A tech-oriented UX/UI designer can gather information, implement changes, and troubleshoot issues. They can also help to enhance the success of a company via customer engagement.
Hiring a tech-focused UX/UI designer is a smart move because you get all the benefits of a designer plus those of a developer. You get to work with someone who knows exactly how to deploy and maintain the integrity of your digital product. Basically, you’re getting the best of worlds in one!
At Foonkie Monkey, we specialize in software and app development. We work with experts on UX/UI who will bring your product to the next level. The benefits mentioned in this article are just a small part of the value we can add to your company by producing innovative applications with beautiful UI and outstanding UX that will keep your users coming back for more! Sound good? Let’s talk!