“Does it better” will always beat “did it first.” – Aaron Levie
The art of crafting a versatile and positive user experience is undergoing evolution. Digital gurus consider such experience as critical to the achievement of commercial objectives; a rewarding user experience helps a business to retain loyal users and attract a higher number of customers to a product or brand. Some observers note, “meaningful user experience allows you to define customer journeys on your website that are most conducive to business success.” In this regard, flowcharts have emerged as the ideal design platform that can help businesses to craft an outstanding user experience. The versatile and agile nature of information depicted on a flowchart allows designers to tweak current versions of user experience and elevate the quality of the phenomenon to higher levels.
Talented designers can improve the user experience of a digital product by deploying flowchart diagrams to design said experience. Each stage inside such a flowchart can help designers visualize the steps that complete the experience. For instance, a flowchart can be devised to design the user experience of a website. The successive stages inside the diagram serve as a roadmap for creating a top-notch experience for end-users. Multiple factors that impact the end-user’s experience figure prominently inside this flowchart. In addition, the flowchart must depict a granular image of each action that an end-user might undertake while visiting a website. Essentially, the inter-connected illustration must serve as a blueprint for the website. Therefore, “the better designed your flowchart, the closer you are to building a product that users will love to use.“
Visualizing the many processes by which end-users can access a product remains key to constructing a top-notch user experience. Flowchart diagrams can help designers map the many processes, visualize the entry points, and design the flow of subsequent actions. For instance, the flowchart can map one entry point wherein a user searches for a specific term on an online search engine and lands on the product. Similarly, other entry points may include a direct click by the end-user on the website address. Other elements of customer behavior may include a user’s navigation on other pages of the website; the unique exploration pattern charted by an individual user, and varied navigation experiences. In sum, trial-and-error must be an intrinsic part of this design process, and the outcomes will likely lead to a superb user experience.
Labels that denote clear meaning are mandatory when designers seek to devise a fine user experience. This implies that designers and their colleagues must bear a clear idea in mind prior to embarking on a design project. Each designer may choose to deploy multiple labels on each stage of the flowchart; subsequently, the designer must arrive at one single label that clearly denotes the enclosed action. Such clarity of thought, when reflected on the flowchart illustration, empowers designers to cut ambiguity from the user experience. In addition, designers may elect to submit their designs for peer review in a bid to gain fresh insights into the final user experience. Further, each label may emerge as the proverbial starting point for trains of thought that ignite fresh design ideas and may help designers sketch the contours of future editions of these illustrations.
Colors, when deployed wisely inside a flowchart, can assist designers create the perfect user experience. Various tints, shades, and color effects can be used to spotlight important sets of user actions inside the flowchart. However, these must be deployed consistently inside a flowchart to help designers achieve the desired effect. Color coding also assumes importance in light of the dense information that populates the modern flowchart. Any discrepancies in design can be detected when designers revise the flow of actions inside a flowchart. Hence, the use of color allows designers and reviewers to gain a clear sense of the various flows of actions that will culminate in a smooth user experience.
Breathtaking design is instrumental in the fashioning of a first-class user experience for modern digital consumers. In line with this, designers must work to include beautiful graphics with a view to promote high levels of user engagement with a digital product. The flowchart, in this instance, can carry a steady stream of annotations that specify font sizes, colors, graphics, etc. for every stage of the design process. Designers may also elect to add parallel lines of alternative information pertaining to these parameters inside the flowchart. The resulting blueprint offers many choices that can help elevate the standing of a digital product among its peers and competitors. The flowchart plays a key role in spotlighting the new contours of a user experience enabled by pure design.
The quality of information offered by a website, micro-site, portal, or mobile app is critical in ensuring a top-notch user experience in modern times. In line with this, designers must constantly strive to update the information available on the digital entities named above. Each stage in the flowchart can be appended with notes that urge digital architects to refresh information (in the final product) at regular intervals. This action helps to boost the competitiveness of the digital product and offers it matchless ability to stay ahead of peer products in competitive markets. The flowchart must also specify the sources of information that will power said refresh actions as part of efforts to craft a high quality user experience. Observers note that the user interface must play a central role in said mission; in effect, the user interface must interact seamlessly with design principles in promoting the mission of offering updated information to customers and users at all times.
Preserving the momentum of a first-rate user experience is critical in terms of ensuring the quality of the end-product. Hence, designers may elect to compress a significant amount of information into a single page of a website or app. This allocation must be executed judiciously to strike a balance between the tenets of fine “user experience” and restricting user fatigue in the face of heavy doses of information positioned in a single page. Designers must therefore, retain clarity whether the product is meant for consumption on mobile devices or on a desktop device. Flowcharts assigned to this mission must accordingly be balanced in terms of the information flows that animate the illustration. Subsequent refinements can be effected on the flowcharts in a bid to fine tune the quantum and flow of information.
Different types of professionals such as user experience designers, information architects, programmers, coders, and developers must collaborate to drive the creation of a fine user experience. These actors must meld different perspectives as part of efforts to focus on users’ avowed needs, wants, requirements, and preferences. Hence, they must design and develop flowcharts that navigate the various elements that animate navigation, system interactions, user reactions, etc. These efforts must be focused on achieving a coherent target that of constructing an enduring instance of fine user experience. In essence, the flowchart must emerge as a tool of communication that connects with different actors at multiple levels. One instance of such communication emerges in the creation of Legends that list all the elements used in the design of the flowchart illustration.
We have illustrated some of the techniques, elements, and stances that can improve the user experience through flowcharts. How about trying these out for your company and customer service?
