What is UX design strategy? Charting the path to success
Tags: webdev, beginners, uiuxdesignservices, uiuxdesignagency
Published: 2024-02-05 03:52:59


Four principles of UX design strategy

In his 2015 book “UX Strategy: How to Devise Innovative Digital Products That People Want,” Jaime Levy defines four principles of [UI UX design services](https://www.sparkouttech.com/ui-ux-development/) strategy: key elements that work in harmony for a strategy to be effective.

1. Business strategy : These are the basic principles of the company, as well as the competitive advantage, sources of income and high-level business objectives. 

2. Value innovation : Companies achieve value innovation by simultaneously pursuing value for customers (differentiation) and lower costs for the company.

3. Validated user research : Instead of assuming what is valuable to a client, get direct feedback from key users before starting a design. This prevents designers and companies from spending time, money and effort on a product that no one really wants.

4. The best user experience design: With the other principles established, it's time to create an exceptional user experience focused on the key features of the product. This experience must not only provide value to the client, but do so perfectly.

Why is UX strategy important?

Having a solid user experience strategy helps ensure that a product team is focused on solving the right problem for its target users. If you take the time to create a user experience strategy, you'll find that it brings other benefits too:

Get executive buy-in. A user experience design strategy ties the intended design directly to business objectives, helping managers see the value in what is being done.

Align business objectives, user needs, and technological capabilities. This can help prioritize time and resources throughout the design process.

Provides a clear metric of success. Knowing how success is measured from the beginning—and how it will be measured—makes it much easier to gauge the impact of design decisions to keep the product moving in the right direction.

Create a user-first mindset. Validated user research helps UX team members better understand the user, including their pain points and goals.

Connect all touch points. UX design strategy reminds you to take a step back and look at all the ways a user interacts with your product or brand.

How to create a UX design strategy

Whether you're planning to start a career in UX or already working as a UX designer, the ability to craft an effective UX strategy can be a valuable (and marketable) skill. Before you start your next UX design project, follow these steps to create your UX design strategy.

1. Define the business strategy through interviews with interested parties.

Get decision makers and company leaders involved in the early phases of the project. As a UX designer, you'll often focus squarely on the user, and rightly so. This is the time to pay attention to the business side.

How is the product you are designing positioned in the market? What are the company's high-level goals and objectives? How do stakeholders measure product success?

Answering these questions ahead of time ensures that when you turn your attention to the user, you do so with the brand and the company in mind. 

2. Identify how to differentiate yourself through competitive research and analysis.

Once you know how to align your design with the company's brand and strategy, you can begin to evaluate where the product sits in the competitive landscape. You will have to offer value for a user to start using your product. Where will that value come from? What is your competitive advantage?

Research what exists on the market to solve this user need and think about the key features that will differentiate your design from other options.

3. Stay user-centric with validated user research.

Make sure you design a product that people actually want to use. To do this, collect the opinion of the users you target from the beginning. There are several ways to do this: surveys and questionnaires, focus groups, A/B testing, card sorting, interviews, or field studies.

Take the value you think your product will offer and validate it with real users. If the data doesn't support that assumed value, take a step back and rethink your product.

4. Set specific design goals to get where you want.

Knowing where you want to go is as important as knowing where you are now. Using the data you've collected from users and stakeholders, define some specific metrics by which to measure the success of your design. Be specific about what you want to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, and how you will know if and when you have achieved it.

5. Perform structured experiments and repeat the results.

Designing that dream product that users love often involves a willingness to experiment and fail. As you work on the design, let your UX strategy guide your efforts. Continue to validate both the strategy and the design as you work. Create a minimum viable product ( MVP ), test it with real users, and improve based on the results.

How do I become a UX strategist?

As more and more companies begin to recognize the value of well-thought-out UX design, UX-related roles are becoming increasingly differentiated. One such specialized role is that of UX strategist. As a UX Strategist, you serve as a liaison between the company and the user, helping the design team create user-centered products that fit the company's strategy and brand identity.

Since user research is a critical part of developing a UX strategy, becoming a UX researcher can be a good first step toward a career as a UX strategist. If you are interested in moving into the UX strategy part, these are some skills you should develop:

UX Research: Having a good command of qualitative and quantitative research methods ensures that you are able to validate your strategy.

Negotiation: Your job will involve balancing user needs with business interests.

Design thinking: Having a solid foundation in UX design best practices can help you approach design problems more creatively and effectively.

Communication: A big part of developing a UX strategy is learning more about business stakeholders and target users.

Leadership: As a [UI UX design services](https://www.sparkouttech.com/ui-ux-development/) Strategist, you will often play a leadership role within the design team.

Business acumen: Understanding the business strategy will allow you to create connections between the user and the company.