Does Your Brand Focus On Human-Centered Design?

Most users are now using a mobile app or website interface to shop for their favourite brands instead of visiting a physical store. Do you think if a brand hires a team of top designers and developers it can guarantee improved sales or a quick new customer base? Unfortunately no!

Even state of the art design cannot ameliorate business or ensure profits. The golden rule of online shopping says that a user must be a part of the designing process so that the problem you address and the solution you offer must align with the end consumer.

The reason most brands fail is their far off endeavour to meet their business goal without considering the human perspective. Rather than focusing solely on product quality, a brand must understand how the experience process can be simplified via UI/UX. The gravity of the current situation, where cutthroat competition is real, a brand must focus more on the problem and then highlight a solution.

The best way to understand this concept is by considering an example.

Problem: A cosmetic brand trying to sell products virtually.

Solution: Brands like Sephora and Maybelline are perfectly capable of hiring the best web and mobile app developers to put together a fancy website/app. But will that solve their purpose? Certainly, not? A human-centred design would make a brand include the user in the design process by helping users try the makeup virtually via mobile or website interface.

Here is how artificial intelligence worked wonders for cosmetic brands. By using this technology, cosmetic brands enabled users to upload their pictures or use their live camera to try the makeup on.

Takeaway: The brand was able to figure out the difficulty or dilemma that a user was going through and made sure it was a part of their design solution.

Even the eCommerce giants like Myntra implemented AI-based technology to help users sniff perfumes, try clothes and footwear, etc. via website/app before making a purchase. This not only piqued the sales but also improved the connection and interaction between a user and a brand.

The brands must reason and find logic to support their UI/UX. Here’s what our experience says about a human-centred design:

• Display the most enquired product/service at the top and least popular at last.
• A human-centred design gives the user a feel-good factor or helps them revitalize the notion of making a purchase. Try including small messages of appreciation or using a smiley indicating a user has made a great choice. This shall increase engagement.
• Minimalistic design with only limited features onboard is a true winner. A user may avoid a loud website where navigation and endless features are masking the product he is searching for.
• Easy to use application with minimum challenges. Don’t overwhelm the users by asking for unnecessary details or fill up forms and leave review and rating every 10 secs.
• An adaptive interface for special cases such as visually impaired users. Out-of-the-box thinking can be a show-stealer. It shows you care for all in your customer base.

There are three exemplary ways in which a brand can include humans in the design process:

1. Focus groups: In this approach, the brand takes note of user reaction. A focus group will identify how a customer is engaging with product packaging, design, pricing, and application. Some important ways to note these elements is by ‘checking the number of times a user visits a product page’, ‘wishlist’ it, ‘recommend it to friends by sharing link’, or ‘leaving a review after usage’.
2. Questionnaire and survey: You can send questionnaires and survey forms to new users and existing base and ask a series of target questions. This is a great way to include humans because they are voluntarily suggesting the changes they need or what feature of the brand they like the most. It’s more like a verbal confession coming directly to you. Use this approach to define your target audience.
3. Prototyping: This is the most practical way of getting a response by using minimum resources. You can put an idea into running by developing a prototype and introducing it to a small target group. In such a case, you can get a quick response, and based on the feedback; you can decide whether to go ahead or not. By developing prototypes, you can engage users into telling you the challenges they faced and the flaws in the design if any.

Besides these three options, there is another way to get on the frontline of this and rather a creative one, which usually our team at Vrinda follows. We explore the Brand’s DNA and proffer human-centric design by suggesting brands play the cards of empathy, social responsibility, driving a positive change.

Bring your brand to Vrinda for customized UI/UX solutions, and we can aid in growing your influence in the target market and help you leave a footprint with ourinnovative design process and approach.