Defined as “the overall experience of a person using a product such as a website or computer application”, user experience represents a hot topic in the digital age. Experience is typically a very personal matter and varies from one person to the next. Consequently, the digital domain allocates very high stock on the modern individual’s user experience. This stems from the fact that many such experiences typically coalesce to mold public opinion in matters of personal and industrial technology. It also plays the role of a great enabler in terms of defining the public mood (and perception) regarding a new app or a fresh digital service. In line with this, the creators of user experience invest significant amounts of time, effort, and brainpower to craft a pleasing (and well rounded) user experience for members of the public. It is significant that ‘Beta’ releases of a new digital product or application typically aim for high scores in end-user experience in a bid to enter the mainstream faster than competing products and services.
The designers of a digital product’s user experience can deploy flowcharts to map the journey of the average user. This flowchart commences at the stage where the user accepts the terms and conditions that precede the actual use of the product. The subsequent stages of this flowchart can include a confirmation screen that reflects the user’s assent; a detail readout of the permissions conferred by the user can comprise an individual stage. Users that choose to opt-out of the conditions can comprise a separate stage in the flowchart diagram. This stage leads to closure because the product or service is not available to these users. For users that choose to proceed, the flowchart can map their subsequent user experience through multiple stages that lead them into the various functionalities built into said product. The extent of this flowchart is determined by the various levels of user interactions built into the coding structure; the flowchart can also map multiple levels of user interaction as the software development community rolls out future iterations of said product.
Website designers must invest significant effort to design a smooth user experience for all manner of digital visitors. A website represents a flagship presence and must boast an intuitive navigation experience at all times. The flowchart enables website designers to plan and execute a top-notch user experience. This flowchart begins at a representation of the home page and lists the main products and services on display. Certain designers may choose to create a nested graphic representation (for the home page) that operates outside of the body of the main flowchart. Graphics, videos, apps, ‘about us’, blogs, and bulletin boards comprise the various stages in this user experience flowchart diagram. In addition, each of these stages may lead to separate sub-stages that detail certain user-friendly aspects of its parent stage. Designers must take care to include every aspect of the website in the flowchart diagram; instances of oversight may entail costly re-design or re-engineering efforts.
In this age of digital ubiquity, changing the password to access online services may pose problems to certain users. Flowcharts can help designers to chart a unique user experience. Online service providers can deploy digital diagrams to upgrade the end-user experience. This flowchart should commence at the stage where a user enters an invalid password and encounters a problem. The user experience paradigm guides flowchart designers to offer the user multiple choices to re-set the password: through two-step user authentication, through an alternative email address of the user, through a registered mobile phone number, etc. These stages should feature prominently in the flowchart. Each stage may lead the user to a different action in the interests of achieving the final objective. Flowchart designers may also create options wherein the user can call a toll-free number to speak to a service representative. In all these strategies, the flowchart designer must strive to create a flawless end-user experience. The irregular nature of change-the-password requests must not act as a barrier to the attainment of a smooth user experience.
Online payments have expanded their footprint significantly in the increasingly digital world we choose to inhabit. A smooth user experience is essential to guide more customers to opt for active participation in digital payment systems. Design specialists can populate a flowchart with common steps associated with online consumer transactions. This flowchart must essentially propel participating customers to successfully close a transaction. The multiple stages in this diagram must flow from a deep understanding of customer motivations, as also from the desire to help businesses to drive higher volumes of individual payments. The various stages in this flowchart may include error messages, options to select different amounts, a variety of currency options, payment due dates, personal financial information, and the submit button. Designers must bear in mind that a smooth navigation experience remains central to the exercise of designing an above par user experience. They may choose to populate said flowchart with additional information culled from reviewing the real-life payment experiences of customers that operated early in the digital age.
Engineers and design specialists represent the ranks of ‘internal customers’ for independent flowchart designers and creators. These customers may need to pore over legacy designs and early instances of back-end computer system architecture. In response, designers of flowchart diagrams may chart flow diagrams that map traditional back-end processes. The element of user experience in these flowcharts reflects the design languages that were prevalent decades ago (when these designs were conceived and executed). Such a flowchart may portray a central database, front-end users, directory database, directory servers, and the various lines of interaction between these silicon entities. The flowchart designers of the present day may choose to input alternative route maps in a bid to improve the user experience in line with modern day standards. They may also create additional touch points in the flowchart in an attempt to boost the functional architecture of said back-end systems. However, the scope for improvement may be limited in line with the restrictions imposed by legacy design languages.
User experience flowcharts can benefit immensely from collaborative ideation among creators and designers. Various designers can pool their individual design experience into the proverbial collective pool in a bid to create an outstanding “user experience”. This approach also has the benefit of deploying cross-functional teams to attain the business objective. Team persons can note individual strands of task flows and how these can contribute to a superb end-user experience. The potential options that emerge from this exercise should help the team to design the successive stages of a flowchart to describe a smooth process mated to an optimized user experience. Collaboration also confers significant benefits in terms of cross-validating ideas during the design stage of said flowchart. In addition, the meeting of minds enables a deeper exploration of design orthodoxies in pursuit of framing the ultimate user experience. The flowchart that emerges from such collaboration will likely exceed the objectives such work teams are expected to achieve within a deadline.
The foregoing analyses map the various aspects of using modern flowcharts to define a flawless user experience. The designers of flowcharts must consider upgrading their awareness and mount a concerted bid to re-define the popular perception of a modern user experience. This impulse must power every attempt to design flowcharts with such objectives.
