Simply put at it’s root UX is simply how someone interacts and experiences something, in our case a website or application. But as we all know that experience involves millions of tiny interactions on a concious and subconcious level involving all of the users senses. Because of this, UX design involves many disciplines, strategies and skills which are expanding every single day. Obviously at the end of the day we want to design the UX so that the users experience translate’s into something tangibale whether it be sales, learning something, awareness, etc.

Specifically visual design can and does contribute greatly to a site or applications UX, my session will go into detail how important visual design is to UX and best practices for using it to it’s full potential through proven tips, tricks and strategies. It will also clear the stigma that visual design can be seperate from UX and instead explain how it aids in the success of almost all the other facets of good a good user experience.

Visual designers can and should be a very integral part of UX design. Many studies have been done that draw a correlation between visual design and how somebody will experience something. Visual design is not just making something look pretty but instead a powerful tool that can draw on the users emotions, gain trust, communicate personality and improve the overall usability of an application or product.

Realizing the power that visual design has in a user experience opens doors to making more calculated decisions and utilizing design as more than pretty makeup. With the right strategy and knowledge, implementing design decisions that can effect your users experience will be extremely valuable. I will be drawing on my experience working as an interactive designer for Drupalize.Me at Lullabot and on my previous 6 years experience working as a freelance designer, illustrator and Art Director at an advertising agency working with national brands.

Learning outcomes:

Will learn design principals and philosophy geared towards good UX

Will have a better understanding of how much of an influence good visual design has on a sites UX

Will walk away with examples of successful and unsuccesful visual design in regard to optimizing the UX of a site.

Will learn of new resources to aid in leveraging visual design when it comes to UX from concept to finished project.

Learn best practices and techniques to visually design for good UX.