From user experience to users’ experiences: how modern UX is taking shape

Article initially published on Silicon Luxembourg.

3 key reminders that your UX strategy might need an update

1. Inclusion is the new norm

One of the main challenges for tomorrow’s companies will be to include every typology of user in their creation process. People who suffer from Parkinson, colorblindness, or dyslexia for example, will obviously have a completely different experience from the rest of the audience of a given website. 

It is estimated that 15% of the world population suffers from a disability. It is therefore unimaginable to start designing without taking this into account. 

To help companies better understand these specific needs, tools have been developed to foster empathy and allow them to experience their own interface through their users’ eyes with advanced simulators. Have you ever tried any of those? If not, you should, ASAP!

2. Modern UX is Green UX

It is estimated that 25% of the ecological footprint of a digital ecosystem is provoked by the usage of the system/interface itself. And when we also know that, on average, 70% of a website’s features are not used or considered useless by its users, we can clearly see the importance for companies to know their ecosystem and optimize it to its purest form in order to minimize its ecological footprint.

Collecting unnecessary data, keeping zombie servers, stocking unused data, for example, are practices that need to be addressed when trying to develop an optimized user experience for a more viable world.

The arm wrestling between digital and physical is balancing out and good UX not only impacts digital performances but also physical. We now need to approach these two interdependent dimensions as one. Ethical UX means going beyond the company’s digital ecosystem and question its impact on the world.

3. Ethical design is rolling out

Companies need to understand the change in paradigm: their digital environment will have to evolve from a human-centric vision to an eco-centric one, both physically and digitally, to stay sustainable and performant.

It’s not only about the user and his/her needs anymore, it’s about all users, the world they share and how a company can perform in it with the smallest ecological footprint.

Creating a company culture based around ethical principles, at all stages of conception of the company, is key to onboard employees, develop a sustainable mindset and encourage better strategic decisions. Reimagining how to work, create, produce for a viable world will take time but it’s not an option. It’s a necessity.