Application characterization: steps in designing the user experience
Before realizing your application, below are six characterization angles to discover your digital product.
whether you need Application characterization For iPhone or characterizing a mobile app, this does not mean that you have to learn characterizing apps like those that are actually their profession, but you definitely have the opportunity to present a mature progress in your idea that will make it easier for you later on in communication with the service providers.
Application characterization, how does it work?
When talking about application characterization, it is important to understand that there are different types of application characterization, each one has a significant role in the way and a different reference. Not all types of characterizations can be prepared by any person, but it is definitely desirable to know and identify them in order to better understand the entire process.
A good and accurate characterization of an application saves a lot of costs and precious time that is usually not found in abundance among entrepreneurs, therefore investing in characterization usually sharpens and focuses the idea down to the smallest details and enables a common language
with all the service providers and looking at the idea or project with a wider eye. The characterization in the first stages makes it possible to identify problems in the user interface, in understanding the interface, in the purpose of the service or application, and in errors that originate from orientation and performing desired actions.
It is better to change, correct and rethink in the characterization stages than in the development work stage for cost and time reasons.
Product strategy characterization document
An application characterization document is a document that is usually written by the developer and its purpose is to refine the purpose of the service, its need and the way to a solution.
In this document, written in simple and matter-of-fact language, it is essential to find and distill the proven value uniqueness of the service/application in the competitive market; if you don't have one, you should rethink, and if you have one, you should sharpen it because it is the cornerstone of your work.
After you have written such a document, go over it again and again and delete words/sentences without which your idea is clear enough. There is no need to expand and tell a story, but describe precisely and briefly what your app does. A good example is the elevator test, when someone asks you in the elevator what your app does, you have 30 seconds to tell them and of course, they will understand.
Functional characterization
The functional characterization Breaks down the character into a process or story. Imagine your user downloading the application, and what do you want to happen as soon as it is open to him?
Important tip: Always put the main goal that you want to motivate your users to action at the center of things and make sure that it is easy and immediate for your users to reach it from anywhere and under any conditions.
People with a visual imagination will usually imagine the route the user takes and put what they see on paper. People with technical aptitude will know the way in the form of hierarchies or technical order.
Either way, the end result you want to get is a document with a story, each landmark in it is a stopping point for reference on the way of your user in the application.
You can add an illustrated illustration next to each explanation or not, all according to your ability of course, in any case, each landmark must have its own story, what is happening here, what can be done here, what I want the user to do here.
Characterization of WIRE FRAMES
This is interactive application characterization at a more advanced level that is usually done by a professional or an entrepreneur who has access to such tools scattered throughout the network.
Usually, this is an interactive flow chart that you can wander through and, for the first time, feel the experience of the trip the user makes in your application.
At this stage your story is translated to screens and is the expression of your goal, this is not a stage where there is still a design, but you can get a sense of the poet's intention. At this stage, most of the tightening and changes take place because in the newly added dimension - the dimension of interactivity, you can see barriers, loops, duplications and other harmful things.
After you have gone through all these, your designer can take the document and cast the design (UI) the app. At this point the so-called magic happens UX And this is the expression of your story for buttons with pictures and colors in different locations and different sizes.
It's a practical theory that combines a lot of knowledge, experience and practice that should ultimately produce the shortest and most intuitive process to complete your goal for the user.
Application and digital product characterization - Mockup
Before starting the development work, the mockup is the icing on the cake. The mockup, similar to WIREFRAMES, presents the interactive process that the user goes through, plus the final design of the application; here, too, several internet programs provide a perfect solution for creating the mockup. Finally, these programs enable a simple installation of the application demo on the media (mobile phones/laptops/tablets and others) and allow you to see the application in the closest state to reality.
Here, too, all parties to the matter discover that sometimes there is quite a bit of improvement work and treatment of those barriers and harm that we mentioned earlier and usually several rounds of corrections and improvements are carried out at this stage for a perfect and desired result.
Usually the mockup characterization is a very good snapshot for developers and some even skip the technical characterization stage which contains all the cases and reactions of the application in the background. I would not recommend giving up the next step at any cost, but considering each case individually and the complexity of the cases and responses.
Application and digital product characterization - technical characterization
Application characterization In the technical aspect, it is a task for those in the know. Technical characterization includes a complex understanding of the processes in the client (user side) and back end (server side).
To explain this step, imagine one screen in an application you know, let's say WAZE. Imagine the main screen of the application, each button, color or sign has a certain function that it must perform, for you as users it is indeed simple and intuitive, but for the developers there are dozens of processes taking place in the background at any given time.
For example: what happens if there is no satellite reception at a given moment, what happens if there is no network reception?, when do you ensure a complete stop? Or just a stop at a traffic light?
Since answers to these questions do not appear in the mockup specification, they must be considered in a document containing all the intelligence of the cases and responses of the application and its communication with the server.
Application and digital product characterization - Usability test Usability and user experience report
Once your app is up and running, you want to perform an audit and health check. This step saves you a lot of problems in the actual running of the application and can be done easily if you define it correctly.
First, you must define a number of things that you wish to check such as: compatibility with which devices, with which versions of the operating system, the compatibility of the design according to the mockup, a functional test that each button/symbol and action does what it is intended to do, a test of user load at a given time, a simulation of faults such as Not connecting to the network, not connecting to GPS and more...
And of course how not, testing new users as a control group and receiving general comments to improve the general FLOW.
There are many more sections that can be checked in this process, of course, according to need and interest and in any case, a focused document will once again create a common language for all concerned. Here, too, the network provides a wide variety of testing groups from around the world as needed.
You can read more in my article on Usability and user experience report
When you look at the whole picture, for reasons of budget, time or interest, there is no obligation to perform all the steps. However, experience shows that shortening processes inevitably leads us to a place we wanted to avoid, so my recommendation is to study these processes well and try to minimize expenses and time by choosing the right suppliers and not by giving up an important process along the way.
