What does UX Design and your kitchen have in common?
By: Daniel Lee
Tags: UX Design, Organization, Design Thinking, Cooking

Photo by Nicolas Gras on Unsplash

Everything in life comes down to experiences. Whether we realize it or not, many of those experiences are the result of careful thought and planning with some end goal or purpose in mind. For example, that purpose might be to elicit joy, satisfaction, increase efficiency, or ensure safety.

Great planning often goes unnoticed, but its success is evident in the outcome of people interacting with its design.

That could be in the design of an ergonomic computer mouse that is a joy to hold in the hand, with convenient button placement that increases efficiency for its user.

Or even a well-planned wedding reception where the experience of the guests is meticulously considered and a plan executed to ensure efficient proceedings, maximum fun, and adequate safety for all in attendance.

UX design involves the thoughtful consideration of the end user to deliver something (a design) that solves a problem — Sometimes the solution to this problem is improving on a previous idea to create something that is more beneficial and useful. The process of going about designing these solutions starts with a simple activity: listening and observing — something all of us do daily.

It’s what we do with that information that begins the more tangible tasks of designing.

The process of cooking is similar.

You might be cooking for yourself, in which case, you may opt for a quick dehydrated noodle accompanied by a dry packet of seasonings topped off with some hot water. Some may be a bit more ambitious and go for an elaborate stir-fry.

Of course, some top ramen doesn’t involve much thought about the end user (a hungry, lazy, you) but at the very least it provides you with a time-efficient option that has arguably, a low risk to high reward ratio.

But what about, say, an at-home dinner date? A friendsgiving feast? Or an impress-the-in-laws meal? We might think about the experience a bit more. We have different problems to solve:

What kinds of food would my guests appreciate? Are there any allergies or problem foods that might ruin the entire event? How long should it take from one course to the next?

You might be thinking at this point, this sounds a lot like what chefs at a restaurant might consider. You’d be right. Chefs are also designers of experience. They just use a different medium to present. They use flavors and textures instead of wireframes and pixels!

To pull off either job well, you must understand your tools, your components or ingredients should be organized and at the ready to combine together into something useful and enjoyable by those you are preparing for.

The truth is, we are all designers on some level. When it comes to UX design, the most important thing to consider is the person on the receiving end of the design you are presenting.

Balancing all the other factors (stakeholders, logistics, developers) is equally important to being a successful designer, however, when it comes down to it, we all just want to enjoy the experience.

Good design, whether in UX or in the kitchen, keeps users coming back to use that app, and the in-laws dropping in for dinner — maybe a bit more often than is desired.