Testing… Testing

Successful design is as much about science as it is art. The way in which a piece of work is consumed depends on a careful balance of both.

Of the many products of design that come out of an agency perhaps web design has the greatest ratio of science to art in the ingredients list. And I’m not even talking about all the behind the scenes coding and techy stuff.

I’m talking about user experience design (UX) and user interface design (UI).

First let’s look at the definition of science: science by definition of the Oxford Dictionary is ‘The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment: the world of science and technology’.

By this definition UX and UI design would surely be considered an applied science; an applied science being the discipline of applying learned scientific knowledge to practical problems.

The method that is utilised in UI and UX design is one of observing and testing the way users engage and interact with and around a website, feedback and results can be analysed and conclusions drawn.

Theses results can then be applied, tested and retested a number of times in the ‘lab’ until the best solution for a site is achieved.

Only then after all the tweaks, retweaks and system checks have been performed is the site given an all clear to go and the countdown begins and the site is launched!