By Matt Beynon – Director of Experience @ Tech9
Building a house isn’t easy or cheap.
Which is why it’s so vital to get everything right the first time. Because if the ceilings end up being too short, the hallways, too narrow, or the whole thing starts to fall over, most of us can’t afford to just scrap the first house and build another. Building a dysfunctional house is never a viable option.
No self-respecting builder would even attempt to begin a project without careful planning, including detailed, professional architectural blueprints, or 3-D models. The plans may appear to be an expensive upfront cost, but an expert understands how sound design principles prevent even costlier problems such as challenging repairs or rebuilds, or even catastrophic structural failure.
Websites and houses have a lot in common.
Building a website (or any software application) costs a lot of time and money. The problem is, unlike a house, many business owners choose to spend that time and money to build a dysfunctional app as a way to learn, with expectations to eventually scrap the first attempt and build another.
Software development is one of the most expensive ways to learn what kind of digital product you don’t want–or perhaps even better said–what kind of product your USERS don’t want.
User experience design may appear to be a costly upfront expense, but it is a deliberate process of planning and testing to ensure that your site structure is sound; an intentional investment that will save you and your company money in the long run.
Especially if your design team is flexible, adaptive, and invested in your product’s success. Quality design work should never feel like a prescriptive, generic, take-it-or-leave-it process. User experience design should be individual, creative, and solution-driven. Whether you’re in need of simple fixes such as suggestions for improved hierarchy on a page, or more involved projects such as hiring a developer to create full-blown pixel-perfect prototypes, the right team will ensure you avoid the headache of bloated design costs for a site that never meets your needs and ends in low returns on your investment.
So save your business time and money.
Save your users the frustration of working with bad digital products.
Hire smart, adaptable UX design talent to build good products the right way the first time. Good planning will ensure creative solutions to improve your product moving forward. Smart, intentional, well-designed products are well worth the cost of development. And you’ll sleep better not having to worry about the roof caving in.
