UX, or User Experience design, is at the core of our digital design and development projects. When creating websites, apps and other digital experiences, we take an award-winning User Experience (UX) design approach.  

UX MOVES THE NEEDLE

• Brands find every dollar invested in UX drives between $2 and $100 in return. 
• McKinsey’s ‘Business value of design’ study concluded that a user experience approach can increase a company’s revenue and shareholder returns at nearly twice the rate of competitors.
• Market research firm Econsultancy’s ‘User Experience Survey Report’ found 95% of brands surveyed considered user experience a good investment. For example, Bank of America increased online banking yield 45% with UX. 
• We spoke with the Australian Financial Review about five ways to supercharge a website with UX and cited examples of big UX revenue shifts for Amazon, Virgin America and our clients.
• We’ve seen revenue increases of over 50% after a website redesign (from a large base), website ROI payback periods of less than 6 months, and big swings in customer conversion and retention. 

The Village has also been awarded one of nine global User Experience (UX) Awards for UX design effectiveness.

WHAT IS USER EXPERIENCE?

UX is the art of bringing together business goals with the customer’s needs. We bake useful in and reduce the barriers to conversion, driving higher engagement, more sales and increased customer loyalty.

In practical terms, a UX roadmap typically includes these steps:

• Customer research – Talk to people within the target audience about their needs. Ask them the right questions about how they research, try and buy. Study relevant data (search data, purchase data, demographics) and understand the buying process or customer journey people undertake.
• Customer journey map – Map the buying process from research > trial > purchase > loyalty to illustrate the time people take, their sources of influence and their touch-points during decision-making, purchase and ownership. 
• Information architecture – Business goals and customer needs define content requirements and the digital product’s structure.
• Prototype – Wireframes, or basic screen layouts, are created using real-world content and calls to action. The wireframes are linked together to create a simple prototype of typical customer journeys. Also known as an interactive wireframe.
• Test, iterate, test, iterate – Real customers use the prototype, in-person, and areas for improvement are identified. The prototype is tweaked and the testing happens again and again, until it can’t be improved any further. This step is sometimes referred to as user testing, UX testing or customer testing.
• Usability – An ideal final check is an eyetracking study to deeply understand where customers are looking and how they’re responding to a prototype. This eliminates any usability issues and final roadblocks. You might hear this referred to as usability testing, heatmapping or eyetracking.

After this, it’s time to apply the art direction to the prototype to create the finished interface design. This includes the colours, fonts, images and textures that bring the design to life.

Finally, the solution is built and all interactions are carefully considered so the intended user experience is realised. UX decisions are typically made right up to the point of launching and ‘going live’.

READY AND WAITING

Can we help design the UX of your next product? Let’s talk.