Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Sophie Riwaters by Seth Eckert

When people imagine the word “data” itself often the following things come to mind:

the more is the better
objective judgement
numbers
not innovative

When taking the stereotypes mentioned above into web/app development you can often hear

“It seems that we got the same conversion rate even after the new design.. according to the data.”

Then comes the worst case scenario “A”: Throw the new design into the trash and complain about how worthless and a waste of time this effort was.

The problem with this logic is that you can’t make a plain decision that involves plenty of subjectivity based only on objectivity.

The smart case scenario “B”: Ok we have the data now let’s hire an expert and figure it out what’s going on.

With the help of data, you can

Prove — that you’re on track or not
Reveal — future opportunities or pain-points, discover new patterns and trends
Improve — your design by adding objectivity

Keep in mind that the world is not just black-and-white where only ROI matters.

It’s not about pointing fingers to decide who is right and who is wrong it’s about thinking one step ahead.

So what do you get if you “stay awhile and listen”?

The aim of this article is to give an overall view of data-driven design and reveal common misconceptions. You will understand

why data is essential for the design
how can you collect data
what is the right way to use data once you’ve collected it

Common misconceptions:

I know my users:

It’s a must when it comes to finding out what the target audience prefers and not an easy task and designers often overdo this part. The problems start with them willing to fulfill every single need and consider all the possible variables.

“BUT designers aren’t users!”

What does this mean? It means that even the best designers in the world can’t predict what users want. Unless they have a giant crystal ball it’s nearly impossible to nail everything. If you take 100 variables into consideration, mother nature will grant you plus one. This is a good thing because the world would be boring if you could just make decisions based on pure data.

Data is for the managers:

by Oleg Miller

Some people think to assume that a designer makes user testing useless. The designer is a sorcerer who sits in front of a PC and a couple of months later rainbows strike out from the screen and the servers crash from the incoming traffic. After all, the designer will come up with something super and the users will surely like it.

Obviously…not.

If you wish to read the full article, please click here.

What’s your opinion on the topic? Please share it, I’d love to hear it! Also sharing and recommending is a huge help and motivation!❤

What is Data-driven UX? was originally published in prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is Data-driven UX?

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