Five Elements of UX Design

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UX design defines how users experience your app, website, or digital product. The UX design process is one of the most fundamental and essential parts of your business and also a vast topic to cover, it can be broken down into five core elements. In this blog, we explain how and why UX designers should include them in their design process.

What Are the Five Elements of UX Design?

UX design is the process of shaping a user’s interaction with a product or service and the goal of any user experience project is to ensure users have a positive experience with a product. Good UX design conveys your business value clearly and delivers that value consistently and effectively. To create a high-quality, well-planned user experience design, you need to start with the core elements of user experience. Now let's focus on five aspects of UX design:

  • Surface
  • Skeleton
  • Structure
  • Scope
  • Strategy

These are the essential design elements that aren’t just consistent but also work together to create an experience that’s both easy to navigate and simple to understand. Let us take a closer look at each of the five elements of UX design.

1. Surface

The surface element of UX design emphasizes visual design which is the visual look of your product, which includes: 

  • What your product looks like which makes the experience feel unique compared to others that use the same technology
  • What colors are used, and how do they impact the viewers
  • Your visual design choices must convey both consciously and subconsciously

The surface is the first thing your users will notice about your product that catches their eye and determines if they will engage further with your product. 

UX design focuses solely on how the product impacts the customer aesthetically and one of the most critical but understated aspects of surface design is consistency. When the surface design of your mobile app or website is considered, make decisions you can stick with across the entire product, so your users will have a more uniform experience users associated with your brand. 

2. Skeleton

The skeleton element of the UX design process is the structure of your product the internal structure, and the navigation elements that support the surface elements. It helps determine if your product has enough internal navigation and organization to make the experience more functional and practical for users. All digital products have a flow and you have an opportunity to design that will funnel users to where you want them to go by using design tools like sitemaps and wireframes.

3. Structure

The structure includes information architecture (the structure and organization of content) and interaction design (the interactive experience of the product). Each and every digital product is made of various parts that work together to form a cohesive product. The homepage often has these elements in this specific order:

  • Access to buttons for important features and a command bar for essential controls
  • Headers with a large image
  • Navigation elements, such as a navigation bar, help users navigate quickly
  • Features section that offers solves the users’ problems
  • Call to Action section where the user can take action based on how they feel a product
  • In the footer section where all of the other navigation, contact forms, and functionality-specific items go that don’t fit anywhere else

4. Scope

Within the scope, the team defines functional requirements (what features to build) and content requirements (written and visual information to include). The scope defines the content included in your UX design, including:

  • Information and content, including images, audio, or videos and theme
  • What are your goals are?
  • What are the products and services you want to sell
  • Important information about your business

The scope of your UX design process is important because starting a project without limits or goals for content may lead to including things that aren’t necessary. In project management, this is called scope creep, which happens when a project continues to grow to include more things that were not a part of the original plan because there weren't set boundaries. 

5. Strategy

Strategy is the most abstract of the model, taking into consideration both users needs and business goals. Every project needs a strategy and the strategy you land on will majorly impact the rest of the project. The other four UX design elements focus on what you are doing, but the strategy is element to focus on how you do it. Whether you are building from scratch or using a platform like Shopify, you need a method for creating your product and strategy in the UX design process that focuses on the UX methods, goals, and direction. There are many ways to build a digital product, and you want to develop a strategy that delivers the desired results while aligning with your specific industry’s best practices.

Each of the above five elements of UX design should be equally as strong. 

Master UX Design Help From Experts

While the UX design process is critically important, it takes time to master. This UX Design process is done by partnering with experts that have already perfected UX design. Hepto Technologies is here to help you develop the best website or app for your business.