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Vaibhav Namburi
Vaibhav Namburi

Posted on • Originally published at bugreporting.co

15 Reasons Developers Need To Learn UX Design

Knowing how to code alone won't be enough 2021 onwards. Understanding the experience layer and intent behind code is vital for developers to progress in their career both technically and laterally. In the end, code is being built to improve the customer's life, and by knowing the basic principles being UX will help developers create better experiences or use tools like bug reporting

Today the consumer market is moving towards Omni-channel experience, and the developer and UX designers need to focus more on web and mobile-friendly user experience than ever before. A developer and designer work more closely to provide a better user experience for the website or app they develop. Technical errors on the software are the critical reason for the app deletion.

Over 90% of the downloaded apps are erased after one use due to poor user experience. Similarly, according to expert's studies, 80% of users never return to a low user experience website. This is why UX design is a crucial factor in software or application development. The user expects extraordinary experience on apps, websites they use every day. They never provide 2nd change on the software. In this article, let's look in detail at why developers want to learn UI/UX design.


The 15 reasons I've highlighted here for you:

  1. Interface vs. Experience
  2. How User Experience Shapes Software Development
  3. Excellent Ux Design Encourages to Develop of a More User-Centric Product
  4. Make the Product More Popular With Ux Design.
  5. Reduce Flaws and Development Cost
  6. Ux Plays a Vital Role in Software Architecture
  7. Limited Resource
  8. Designing in the Browser
  9. Front End Development & Ux Design
  10. Ux Can Make You a Better Developer
  11. Gets Higher Return on Investment (ROI)
  12. Learn Skills That Complement Your Existing Talents
  13. Gain Skills That Can’t Be Automated
  14. Execute Your Code Towards the User Experience
  15. User Empathy Will Help You Stand Out in the Business Market

1. Interface vs. Experience

Before we get down to detail, let's understand the difference between the User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX).

User Interface is anything that the user interacts with the website or app. In another term, UI is the point where the user interacts with the digital product or service. They come in three categories Graphical user interfaces( GUIs), Voice-controlled interface (VUIs), and Gesture-based interfaces.

Graphical user interfaces: Users interact with electronic devices through graphic icons. The best example is the computer's desktop.

Voice-controlled interface: Users interact with the application through their voices. E.g., Siri, Alexa, etc.

Gesture-based interface: Users engage with 3D design spaces through real movements, e.g., Virtual reality (VR) games.

In contrast, User Experience is the complete look and feel of the website or application. UX is the final impression of the user about the product or service.

2. How User Experience Shapes Software Development**

UX and UI design are essential for any application development. Five significant reasons show you need to focus more on the design during product development. Research says that the product's experience influences 97% of customer decisions.

  • Usability

When software or application works great but is not user-friendly, people will not prefer to use it. The software has to attract and retain the user. User interface and experience are upfront on the development.

  • Lower development costs

Identifying the roadblocks and issues in the client experience before development with save you time on modifying code.

  • Faster development time

Great UX and UI configuration save time in the development cycle.

  • Increase revenue

People prefer to download or ready to pay for the application that suits their needs and easy to use. If you develop a product with useful UI and UX will increase the app's purchase or downloading.

  • Better Client retention

User-friendly apps will keep people returning. The application will become an integral part of their everyday life. If developing a poor UX will leave a lasting impression. The developer has to identify the design problems before deployment.

3. Excellent Ux Design Encourages to Develop of a More User-Centric Product

UX design offers insights about what your users want from the product that you are developing. It is the core point for product design. User research and usability testing at each step of the development prove how the user-friendly product evolved.

Before product development, conduct user research and speak with the end-users and understand their needs. The study will help to develop the best user experience application or software.

In the end the builders (in this case developers) need to have an understanding of the outcome of what they’re building.

4. Make the Product More Popular With Ux Design.

According to statistics, nearly 67% of consumers are more likely to purchase the product if they are happy with their user experience.

Creating a straightforward user journey or planning the best end-user experience makes client retention and retains the existing customers. This boost in product purchase.

bug reporting is a user feedback tool for websites and apps. It allows users to record full-length video feedback. The application also captures the data to replicate any errors that users face. A BugReporting software is an automatic tool that helps developers and designers view the exact bugs that are user-facing on the UI/UX.

5. Reduce Flaws and Development Cost

When you combine user's demands in your application's development process, it will considerably decrease UX problems in the later stage of the product journey.

A basic understanding of UX design will help understand which will not work for the user before product development. Mockups and prototypes will reduce user-related bugs' chances, and it will minimize the development cycle time. The developers can make a clear decision on software development with prototyping.

6. Ux Plays a Vital Role in Software Architecture

High performance and software stability can only be achieved by the developers. These two are the unsung heroes of user experience design.

For example, Website visitors will leave the page if they face low page loading. Unnecessary redirects, server delays, heavy images, heavy CSS, HTML, JavaScript files, fancy animated effects or page widgets, etc., may cause inadequate loading speed.

The developer needs to fix these defects to improve the user experience. Suppose there is a lag in site loading due to server delay. In that case, the coder needs to find suitable hosting for their website. In this way, the developer will enhance the user experience, product accessibility, and usability.

7. Limited Resource

In many startups or small businesses, there won't be any dedicated resource for design. Developers out there want to tackle projects entirely on their own, who can't afford to hire a designer (or require to spend the money elsewhere). They will be able to learn to design for their products until they identify the valuable resource.

Another main reason developers need to learn design is to work more effectively with designers. If the developer understands the basic design, it will help create stunning UI and create a better user experience.

Learning about design improves the relationship between designer and developer. The developer can easily understand the user interface correction that is provided by the designer. Learning makes the developer view the design on the designer's view for the application development.

8. Designing in the Browser

Many designers hesitate to perform designing on the browser because they need to know the necessary CSS and HTML programming or codes to create on the browser. That is the specific reason behind why it's an excellent fit for engineers getting into designing.

There are many tools and browser plugins available today, which assist you in designing the browser. Which makes the developer and designer's life easy. Here are some useful tools for coder and UI/UX designers includes Sketch, Axure, InVision Studio, Craft, Proto.io, Adobe XD, Webflow, Figma, and more

9. Front End Development & Ux Design

Not all designers need to know to write coding in contrast to the front-end developer, which doesn't mean it is necessary to know UX. But both the UX design and Front end development work more excellently together.

If a front-end developer has both, the knowledge will help in creating significant and usable applications. Learning will bridge the gap between the designer and developer and can complete the quality-assured application.

10. Ux Can Make You a Better Developer

The demand for programming engineers is developing by 22% consistently until 2029. Among all the developers with a special in user experiences are ahead of the job compilation. Users are the priority of any app or web app development, so many recruits look for candidates who have sound knowledge of software development, and UX design is considered more. As a developer, expand your career horizons by continuous learning. A basic understanding of UX design will increase the chance of landing your dream job.

11. Gets Higher Return on Investment (ROI)

UX impacts client satisfaction; as a result, it will generate higher ROI for the longer term. It is essential to develop the best user experience at the first interaction with your product.

Best UX design will engage your user with your application and create customer loyalty for your brands. People will also recommend the product if they are satisfied. It will increase your inbound leads and revenue. If the coder doesn't understand, UX's fundamentals will create a negative impact on UI. Research says that companies that spend on UX design can increase a minimum of 30% sales.

12. Learn Skills That Complement Your Existing Talents

By learning new skills like UX, you will come out of your comfort zone. Many platforms provide free and paid online courses about user experience design. Here are some of the websites with lessons that help you to upgrade your expertise in designing.

Coursera: Introduction to User Experience Design & UX Design Fundamentals

Learnux.io: Course on Usability

UX Design Institute: Professional Diploma in UX Design

You can find many similar online courses to grow your expertise in UI and UX design.

13. Gain Skills That Can’t Be Automated

Improve your expertise on the following

User Empathy: Understanding the customer's need is fundamental to UX design. The developer we need to build a product keeping customer wants in mind.

Improve Communication: The understanding of end to end development life cycle will help the coders better communicate among the team and outside of the organization. Better communication will reduce the gap between the development and designing team.

Prototyping: As a developer also have experience in prototype but not much on UX content. The study shows that 52.1% of designers spend their time on prototyping. If the developer also learns the UX prototype will help the coder to provide a good user experience.

14. Execute Your Code Towards the User Experience

See the user persona or client journey map, analyze the UML files associated with the product development, and better understand customer requirements. Without understanding user insight and developing a product feature that doesn't fit the user's need, it will waste time, resources, and money. It will not satisfy end-user needs.

Most in-house designers coordinate with the development team through the product development lifecycle to ensure quality assurance and avoid technical limitations.

15. User Empathy Will Help You Stand Out in the Business Market

If you understand the customer requirements and build the solution, it will make more customer satisfaction. User satisfaction will automatically create the possibility of a product's success.

Many recruiters seek a developer who understands the customer's requirements and developing user-friendly software. Learning UI and UX will help you with actual product development

Final Thoughts

UX design is a fun element of development. Developers with design knowledge can be creative and flexible, logical while building software. Design and development are interdependent. Mastering your expertise in design will encourage you to provide excellent apps continuously.

The above key points will be helpful to understand why UX design is the core for development. Upskill yourself and become a better developer. Its 2021, the age of the generalised specialist, especially in smaller work environments your ability to join to skills that are co-dependent but have large communication gaps will be highly respected and will be highly sought after

Top comments (12)

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Mohammad Emran Hasan

Thanks @veebuv for summarizing this so nicely. I have always found that having good UX understanding and adding small UX details in our softwares delight end user. They'd trust you more too.

I am a fond of Interaction Design Foundation (interaction-design.org) for great free and paid resources on UX. They have an encyclopedia of UX written by industry leaders.

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Vaibhav Namburi

Oh this is great, thanks mate - I'll have a review of it soon!

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Ramesh Kumar M • Edited

Good one @veebuv . Really helpful points. Will start trying out a few.

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Vaibhav Namburi

Thanks mate - let me know how you go!

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Pawan Pawar

Good post!!

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veebuv profile image
Vaibhav Namburi

Thanks mate!

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Dan Siepen 🇦🇺🚀💪😊

Love all of these points Vaibhav! 100% spot on with each of them!

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Vaibhav Namburi

Thanks Dan, appreciate the comment!

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dineshmadanlal

Gain Skills That Can’t Be Automated - Love this @vaibhav Namburi.

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Vaibhav Namburi

Ha thats a good saying! Thanks for the comment mate!

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Brandon Damue

Thank for providing insights like this, this will open my eyes to see things from another perspective.

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