UX as Architecture - 100 Days of Design, Writing & Emotions

Design

“When you're designing buildings you're always thinking about people." - Laura S



When you design buildings you're thinking about the people and not your creative expression. Unlike fine art, print making or even drawing, architecture isn't centred around the architect's creative freedom.



It's the same in UX design.



UX designers and architects are constantly thinking about how people will interact with their design. The difference is: UX is focused on the pixels and how they'll affect people.



Let's take Superdrug's website as an example. It's not accommodating. It feels uncomfortable to be on it. You want to leave as soon as you enter and in fact, most users don't spend more than 2 minutes there.



In architecture, there's a principle for rejuvenating an area: create pleasurable spots for people to linger.



A good website should also include pleasurable lingering spots. White spaces. Interactive elements. Engaging content. Think of Twitter (I know, I know, it gets a bad rep if you're not using it right). The designers have created the digital equivalent of a town square. People come to hear what's being said, to hang out with friends and... to linger.



Like good buildings, websites should be easy to navigate. They should be comfortable.

(h/t Davina and Laura for the inspiring thoughts on this topic from today's design dojo)

Whatsapp

The design decision behind Whatsapp custom chat background's tickled my brain. Get this, setting backgrounds for individual conversations helps users feel as if they're having a conversation in a place they designed, an intimate, personal place. Of-course you'd want to spend more time in a place you'd personalised. And it's easier for us to make conversations in places we design e.g. compare a conversation in your living room vs in a sterile airport. The airport chat equivalent in mind would be the like of Facebook messenger.



Resources

Websites as Architecture: http://www--arc.com

Websites are inherently public. Architecture is by nature a public discipline. Both buildings and websites are built realities. They are part of the fabric of societies that are now both physical and virtual.



Two spaces you can aspire to make your website like:

• TWA Terminal JFK



• Singapore Airport



Emotions

I spent the earlier part of the day feeling stressed and anxious. I have roughly 4-6 weeks to land a new design role. Do I stay in London? Do I spend time in Edinburgh? There are a few high risk decisions to be made and I found myself spending the earlier part of the day grappling with thoughts instead of designing.



Luckily, I'm learning to ask for help. I had a conversation with Zai (S/O LoveCircular!) and discussed the current state of the job market. How likely am I to be able to land a UX role in the beginning of a recession?



Tip: when the thought monsters come to bite, ask friends to help you disentangle the mental mess.



Then, evening rolled around and I kickstarted a Design Dojo (virtual work together sessions I'm hosting while I build out my folio). Soon, I'd finished writing the first case study in my portfolio and found myself laughing and discussing the parallels between architecture and UX.