Mini Blog Post 3: UX Design

What’s your favorite product? Chances are, it’s probably fun to use and nice to look at. You can thank UX design for that. UX design is about enhancing the experience, such as aesthetics, simplicity, and more, that people have with a product while making sure they find value in what it’s providing. Harmony Plus offers Future Entrepreneur (FEC) classes on UX design, where students have the opportunity to create their own product prototype. To begin, Massi first guides students to design, plan, and prioritize their product features, based on product ROI (return on investment). Part of this is using the Lean Product Process, which consists of six steps:

• Determine your target customer.
• Identify underserved customer needs.
• Define your value proposition.
• Specify your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) feature set.
• Create your MVP prototype.
• Test your MVP with customers.

Students also learn about the Kano model, which assigns three types of attributes to products and services:

• Threshold Attributes (Basics)
• Performance Attributes (Satisfiers). Not necessary, but they enhance the experience
• Excitement Attributes (Delighters). Customers don’t know they want these, but they’re thrilled to have them

Both of these processes help the students to think critically with the user in mind before they start crafting their product.

Once students have begun to think more in-depth about their product and user needs, we invite a guest speaker, Donji Yamada, to teach UX Design. An experienced UX designer in Silicon Valley, he is head of design at Metabob, chief designer of Clyste, and a UX designer of Facebook projects. With his in-depth knowledge, Donji teaches students using a wireframing tool Balsamiq. Using that tool, students work in a team to create the key features of user flows and wireframes for their prototype apps. Here’s an impressive student example from a recent FEC class:

Re10 is a prototype app designed to deliver individualized workouts to student-athletes. You can see the influence of UX design in their work since their app seems easy and fun to use. With such hands-on and interactive techniques, students enjoy the class very much while learning valuable skills.

Overall, UX design is an important concept and skill to learn. An understanding of this aspect can help in the creation of a product while enabling it to stand out from the crowd. Plus, knowing UX design can help with STEM careers, college applications, and more. With so many benefits, you can see why learning UX design early on can give a student a serious advantage. Head over to the Harmony Plus website to sign up for the spring session of FEC!