Week 7: User Experience Versus Market Research

This week was a great week for applying design principles to a UX project that we will be doing a lot in the future: user personas. I had done many of these target member profiles in advertising, so I felt like it was going to be simple. While I did really enjoy the assignment, I also saw that there is a significant difference between this step in user experience and in advertising. At least, it seems that in user experience design, you are more aware of aspects of design than in advertising. While we built user personas in the past that were meant to look aesthetically pleasing, I found myself concentrating much more on the smallest details of the design. What type system am I using? Is every typeface consistent in its use? Am I effectively using a grid system to design my persona? While I had written many in advertising, it seems like the user persona in UX is as much of an artwork as the final design. Every step of this process should follow the overall desire for pleasing aesthetics and clear delivery of information. Not only is that true of our user personas, that's what stands out to me in UX design. It's all about the small details.

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