While this may seem like the most obvious point, it’s surprising how often the user is forgotten in the userexperience. Business owners, marketers and web developers frequently focus on creating the web platforms they want and think are best, instead of really interrogating what the user needs. Often, the performance of web assets is compromised when the design process is driven only by internal business needs (for instance, ensuring that each department in the company has a space that it controls on the home page) at the expense of what the user needs. When designing for the user, you need to ask the following questions:
• Who is the user?
• What are the user’s wants and needs from your platform?
• Why is the user really coming to your website?
• What are the user’s capabilities, web skills and available technology?
• What features would make the user’s experience easier and better?
The answers to these questions will come out of user research, as discussed in the Market Research chapter earlier in this book.
Of course, many users may not know exactly what their wants and needs are! It is the UX practitioner’s job to discover these through research and interpret them in the best way possible. Keep Henry Ford’s famous quote in mind here: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
