At Dura Digital, we believe that great products don't happen by accident. It takes smart strategy, deliberate discovery, and focused delivery to make them happen. More and more, as we worked on digital transformation projects for our clients, we noticed an increased demand for support to build products that are not just visually compelling, but also well thought-out and easy to use. And so, the idea for our Human-Centered Design Studio was born.
When planning our new studio, we reflected on how to empower organizations to become leaders in the UX and design space by evaluating our own expertise and which services we wanted to offer. This led us to establish five main pillars for our studio: user experience, user interface & visual design, content & information architecture, service design, and design operations & strategy. In this post, we'll explain what each of those pillars entail, why they are important, and some of the specifics around the activities involved in each.
UX design is sometimes a bit of a catchall term for digital design in general, but at its core it means to design products and interfaces in a way that makes them simple for users. While it may sound easy, it is a fairly complex process that involves understanding the user's needs or problems and the stakeholders' goals, coming up with solutions in the form of interfaces, content, and prototypes, testing those solutions with users, and iterating until the right solution for the challenge is found.
When you think about companies with products that are really easy and intuitive to use (Apple, Netflix, Google, etc.), it's usually because they have invested heavily in incorporating human-centered design practices into everything they put out into the market. These companies understand the high cost of not incorporating UX: products that don't work like users intend them to, or products that users don't want to use at all.
UX design is the key piece to getting to the root of the problems your users are having, and trying different solutions until something "clicks". It also increases customer loyalty and satisfaction: customers are much more likely to continue to use a product that delights them. While there is no "one size fits all" approach to UX, some of the pieces we focus on at Dura Digital are:
Information architecture (IA) refers to the content makeup, the overall page structure, and the functionality of a website or product. When you are thinking about what elements you need to put on a page, that is essentially thinking about the information architecture. Good IA is what helps an app to feel intuitive and accessible - you just know where to go to find the information you are looking for. The way we tangibly communicate the information is through writing content.
While it may seem like anybody (or any AI powered chatbot) can write good content, it takes skill to communicate messages effectively and also engage your audience. Additionally, from a dollars and cents perspective, well-designed content and IA are what drive conversions, clicks, and sign ups. At Dura Digital we help with these things by performing:
UI & visual design typically describes the design work that is done for all the visual elements on a screen. It's designing the buttons, the forms, the banners, and the navigation. It's also making sure a website or product has the aesthetic you're looking for and aligns with your brand identity. It's being critical of whitespace, typefaces, hierarchy, how elements exist together on a page, and mastery of tools like Figma and Adobe Illustrator. Good visual design takes into account the user experience and the goals of the design, and should make the UI feel easy and seamless. At Dura Digital we have a talented roster of UI & Visual Designers who can help out with:
Service Design is similar to user experience design, but is more about taking a step back and thinking beyond the screen, to what the experience looks like from end-to-end. It means designing for all the touchpoints a user might have with your brand: interacting with a customer at the cash register of a brick and mortar store, the receipt email that gets sent to a user who makes an online purchase, or the experience a customer has while on the phone with your company. Service design is an often overlooked part of company operations, but can reap huge rewards by identifying pain points and creating solutions. We can help you identify and solve these pain points through:
Design Operations (Design Ops) is all about how design teams operate - the processes and tools they use, where the designers and the team itself are positioned within the organization, and how they contribute to the overall goals and initiatives for their company. It's about taking a look at how designers interface with other key disciplines: Engineers, Product Owners, Project Managers, Stakeholders, etc, and making sure everything is running efficiently. Lastly, it's also the key to keeping designers happy and fulfilled. Great designers won’t stick around if they aren't being challenged enough, or if they are stuck following processes that don’t enable them to best serve their end users. Our in-house design team can help you with all of this through:
Through this blog, we hope you learned a thing or two about human-centered design and why we are so passionate about it. In addition to our current studio offerings, we are also excited about what’s to come in the AI and machine learning space. There is so much potential to change how we think about human-centered design, and how we might leverage it to speed things up and focus on the parts that require deep human connection. While we keep an eye on what’s to come, we will continue helping organizations through tried and true methods in design, IA, and operations.
If there is anything in this article that you could use help developing at your org, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us so we can discuss your needs. Contact us
At Dura Digital, we believe that great products don't happen by accident. It takes smart strategy, deliberate discovery, and focused delivery to make them happen. More and more, as we worked on digital transformation projects for our clients, we noticed an increased demand for support to build products that are not just visually compelling, but also well thought-out and easy to use. And so, the idea for our Human-Centered Design Studio was born.
When planning our new studio, we reflected on how to empower organizations to become leaders in the UX and design space by evaluating our own expertise and which services we wanted to offer. This led us to establish five main pillars for our studio: user experience, user interface & visual design, content & information architecture, service design, and design operations & strategy. In this post, we'll explain what each of those pillars entail, why they are important, and some of the specifics around the activities involved in each.
UX design is sometimes a bit of a catchall term for digital design in general, but at its core it means to design products and interfaces in a way that makes them simple for users. While it may sound easy, it is a fairly complex process that involves understanding the user's needs or problems and the stakeholders' goals, coming up with solutions in the form of interfaces, content, and prototypes, testing those solutions with users, and iterating until the right solution for the challenge is found.
When you think about companies with products that are really easy and intuitive to use (Apple, Netflix, Google, etc.), it's usually because they have invested heavily in incorporating human-centered design practices into everything they put out into the market. These companies understand the high cost of not incorporating UX: products that don't work like users intend them to, or products that users don't want to use at all.
UX design is the key piece to getting to the root of the problems your users are having, and trying different solutions until something "clicks". It also increases customer loyalty and satisfaction: customers are much more likely to continue to use a product that delights them. While there is no "one size fits all" approach to UX, some of the pieces we focus on at Dura Digital are:
Information architecture (IA) refers to the content makeup, the overall page structure, and the functionality of a website or product. When you are thinking about what elements you need to put on a page, that is essentially thinking about the information architecture. Good IA is what helps an app to feel intuitive and accessible - you just know where to go to find the information you are looking for. The way we tangibly communicate the information is through writing content.
While it may seem like anybody (or any AI powered chatbot) can write good content, it takes skill to communicate messages effectively and also engage your audience. Additionally, from a dollars and cents perspective, well-designed content and IA are what drive conversions, clicks, and sign ups. At Dura Digital we help with these things by performing:
UI & visual design typically describes the design work that is done for all the visual elements on a screen. It's designing the buttons, the forms, the banners, and the navigation. It's also making sure a website or product has the aesthetic you're looking for and aligns with your brand identity. It's being critical of whitespace, typefaces, hierarchy, how elements exist together on a page, and mastery of tools like Figma and Adobe Illustrator. Good visual design takes into account the user experience and the goals of the design, and should make the UI feel easy and seamless. At Dura Digital we have a talented roster of UI & Visual Designers who can help out with:
Service Design is similar to user experience design, but is more about taking a step back and thinking beyond the screen, to what the experience looks like from end-to-end. It means designing for all the touchpoints a user might have with your brand: interacting with a customer at the cash register of a brick and mortar store, the receipt email that gets sent to a user who makes an online purchase, or the experience a customer has while on the phone with your company. Service design is an often overlooked part of company operations, but can reap huge rewards by identifying pain points and creating solutions. We can help you identify and solve these pain points through:
Design Operations (Design Ops) is all about how design teams operate - the processes and tools they use, where the designers and the team itself are positioned within the organization, and how they contribute to the overall goals and initiatives for their company. It's about taking a look at how designers interface with other key disciplines: Engineers, Product Owners, Project Managers, Stakeholders, etc, and making sure everything is running efficiently. Lastly, it's also the key to keeping designers happy and fulfilled. Great designers won’t stick around if they aren't being challenged enough, or if they are stuck following processes that don’t enable them to best serve their end users. Our in-house design team can help you with all of this through:
Through this blog, we hope you learned a thing or two about human-centered design and why we are so passionate about it. In addition to our current studio offerings, we are also excited about what’s to come in the AI and machine learning space. There is so much potential to change how we think about human-centered design, and how we might leverage it to speed things up and focus on the parts that require deep human connection. While we keep an eye on what’s to come, we will continue helping organizations through tried and true methods in design, IA, and operations.
If there is anything in this article that you could use help developing at your org, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us so we can discuss your needs. Contact us
2212 Queen Anne Ave. N #923
Seattle, WA 98109
José Ellauri 938
Montevideo, CP 11300
7630 119th Street NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 1W3
2212 Queen Anne Ave. N #923
Seattle, WA 98109
José Ellauri 938
Montevideo, CP 11300
7630 119th Street NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 1W3
2212 Queen Anne Ave. N #923
Seattle, WA 98109
José Ellauri 938
Montevideo, CP 11300
7630 119th Street NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 1W3
2212 Queen Anne Ave. N #923
Seattle, WA 98109
José Ellauri 938
Montevideo, CP 11300
7630 119th Street NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 1W3
