UX design challenges test designs for their problem-solving skills, creativity, and their knowledge to build feasible solutions that offer better user experiences.

Heading into a simple position, like that of a clerk, a receptionist, or even a concierge, one often knows what is expected of them, and how to fulfill those expectations. However, this might not be the case with a profession as complex and wide-scoped as that of a UX Designer. If you are someone who is a UX Designer or aspires to be one, here are some UX design challenges that you should be ready to face. And worry not, our team of experienced UX designers, have proposed some striking solutions for all of the challenges!

The below chart suggests the UX challenges and the solutions that we at Yellow Slice employ to overcome them.

UX DESIGN CHALLENGESHOW WE SOLVE THEM
Understanding the Scope of Work aka Expectation Management.Communicating the scope of work early on to reduce confusion.
Working with Time and Budget Constraints.Focusing on how we can give our best within the limited time and budget.
Arriving at the Problem that Needs Immediate Attention.Prioritize the core problem and communicate the secondary issues clearly.
UX Design Communication with the Development Team.Ensure developer involvement from the early stages of the design project.
Navigating the Ever-Changing Scope of UX Design.Follow a stepwise process from understanding the potential users to implementing the solution.
Training Designers to Solve Problems on The Fly.Make your designers understand the users and think from a human perspective while designing.
Staying Updated with New Trends Across All the Teams.Culture Innovation Lab where ideas, innovation, and design thinking are celebrated.

Let’s start discussing these UX design challenges for UX designers, one by one.

ux design challenge 1

UX Design Challenge 1 – Understanding the Scope of Work aka Expectation Management

More often than not, people think of a UX designer as someone who has something to do with the design of an app. However, that’s a very small part of the picture. 

Contrary to popular belief, a UX design team has to do with all aspects of the development of a product or service, including but not limited to its design, usability, as well as function. In some cases, the UX design team even has a say in the branding and marketing of the same. The multi-disciplinary approach of UX design combines aspects of design, technology, psychology, business as well as market research. 

To put it simply, wherever a user is anticipated to interact with a product, the UX designer comes into the picture. 

Hence, it would be safe to say that a UX designer not only works on websites and apps but on a wide array of products that warrant user interaction such as laptops, coffee machines, home appliances, smartwatches, etc.  

The Yellow Slice Solution

As your UX design team, we make sure to communicate our scope of work to all members involved in the project. Right from setting the expectations from the very start to ensuring that everyone knows why we will be doing what we plan on doing, is our humble way of helping our clients become aware of our wide-ranging skillset. Doing so helps the client enjoy an increased level of understanding of our role. 

More importantly, this often enables us to drive the project in a new direction, if need be. Of course, this is only possible, if everyone involved knew that this is well within the scope of our expertise and that we deserve to be heard and adhered to. 

ux design challenge 2

UX Design Challenge 2 – Working with Time and Budget Constraints

Did you know, a report by Forrester suggests that every one dollar invested in improving UX design of your product can give 100 times the result, i.e. $100.

Whether we are working on an application, a website, or a product, more often than not the client will have a strict timeline. While this is rather understandable, at least to some extent, there will be instances where we are required to be working under stringent budget constraints as well. 

This is often the case, where the decision-makers consider that they know all that there is to know about the end users and that there is no significant research that UX designers need to conduct. As someone who wants the best for their client and for the project in question, we often found ourselves struggling to get our hands on some additional time and budget.

The Yellow Slice Solution

To combat this problem, we start by affirming to ourselves that we can and will still give the best, even though we do not have all the requisite resources. 

Next, we start working on pooling all the data that we have been provided with and based on the same streamline the design process to the maximum possible extent. If we are unable to find time or money for full-fledged market research, we ask the client if they’d be willing to spend on a small focus group instead. If even that doesn’t seem visible, we go ahead and conduct effective research via video calls, questionnaires, and the like.

The idea is to get the maximum output with limited means. If it implies that we need to get a tad creative, we certainly don’t hold back.   

UX Design Challenge 3 – Arriving at the Problem that Needs Immediate Attention

In a vast majority of cases, we as the UX design team are faced with multiple problems that a project is ridden with. While the client may just be aware of one or a few of them, our thorough research unveils many problems, all of which warrant attention. This can prove to be a tricky situation, especially since time and budgets are often constrained. 

The Yellow Slice Solution

Based on the user research, 5 Ws, and 5 Whys formulate a well-defined problem statement. Now that you are aware of the core problem that the users face, start working on that as a priority. Communicate the remaining issues to the client. If they are willing to offer you the resources for the resolution of those, it is great. If they are unable to do so, at least they will be aware of certain pain points that their product or service has, and won’t be taken by surprise when these points emerge at a later stage. 

ux design challenge 4 UX design communication with development team

UX Design Challenge 4 – UX Design Communication with the Development Team

As UX Designers, we consider ourselves to be the provider of an enthralling experience to the users. The development team, on the other hand, works incessantly, to offer a highly functional app, website, or product. While it is said that Designers and Developers are two peas in a pod, there are times when the two teams simply don’t speak the same language.  

While one of the major causes for this gap is a lack of UX design communication, one of the major consequences of the same is, ironically, a further lack of UX design communication. And we consider it safe to say that if developers and designers are not well aligned, it is the product that suffers the most.  

The Yellow Slice Solution

Over the years, working as UX Designers we have come to understand that the best way to avoid any communication or knowledge gap between the two teams is to ensure clear and concise communication at every stage. We have experienced that when we ensure that the developers are involved from the very early stages, they can help us make the necessary tweaks so that the handoff goes on rather smoothly, and neither the designers nor the developers have to be at the suffering end. 

ux design challenge 5

UX Design Challenge 5 – Navigating the Ever-Changing Scope of UX Design

Yes! Earlier we touched upon how UX design was a minimally understood field, and now we are speaking of how the scope of UX design has become so wide, that we often struggle to define it for our clients. 

The Yellow Slice Solution

To ensure that we and our clients are on the same page regarding the scope of our UX design services, we have drafted a time-tested stepwise process, which includes –

  • Understanding All the Stakeholders’ Needs
  • Aligning All the Collaborators
  • Setting All Objectives and Goals
  • Conducting Research
  • Defining Strategy and Approach
  • Execution 
  • Testing
  • Implementation

UX Design Challenge 6 – Training Designers to Solve Problems on The Fly

As a UI/UX Design Agency, we are often faced with problems, either during the design phase or during the testing phase. While we are prepared for some of these issues, there are certain problems that are almost unforeseeable. In such instances, we have to rely on the problem-solving skill of our design team, which is most likely a honed skill that is perfected over time. 

The Yellow Slice Solution 

We understood early on that the key to successful problem-solving was to develop an understanding of the audience for whom we are designing the platform. And we made sure everyone on the team had a crystal clear understanding of the same. Right from comprehending the user, challenging assumptions, and redefining problems, we leave no stone unturned to identify alternative strategies that might act as the solution to the problem at hand, and move forth from there. This hands-on approach has been an innate part of the Yellow Slice team, and has helped us and our designers to keep marching ahead, regardless of the issues we face! 

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UX Design Challenge 7 – Staying Updated with New Trends Across All the Teams

In the current world, dynamism is the keyword. What was popular yesterday might seem stale tomorrow, and with each new day comes a whole new set of trends. As a design-first agency, our clients rightfully expect us to be at the forefront of these trends and to offer them something that is not just user-oriented but in line with the latest trends. This is, of course, easier said than done! 

The Yellow Slice Solution

To meet the ever-changing needs of the design sphere, Yellow Slice laid the foundation for what we gladly call, the Culture Innovation Lab. Under this project, we are committed to building spaces for corporates that trigger design thinking and innovation. 

Top 5 UX Design Challenges faced by UX UI agency & How at Yellow Slice it is resolved

These spaces, designed with the intent of boosting imagination and innovation are proven to deliver better results. Through the Culture Innovation Lab, we encourage the use of an innovation success matrix to track ideas and their progression toward execution. These matrices include –

  • Number of ideas brought to life
  • Number of ideas generated
  • Number of patents filed
  • Number of projects taken up
  • Number of problems attempted

We hope that this discussion surrounding the various Challenges we come across and the Solutions we put to use can prove to be helpful to widen your perspective pertaining to your expectations from your UX design team.  

FAQs About UX Challenges Faced by UX Designers

What is the work that one can expect from a UX Designer?

A UX Designer works on all aspects concerning the development of a product. This usually involves the design, usability, and function of the product. In simpler words, the UX Designer is responsible for enhancing all aspects of a user’s interaction with the product.  

What skills do UX Designers possess?

More often than not, UX Designers have the following set of skills. 

  • UX Research
  • Collaboration
  • Wireframing and UI Prototyping
  • UX Writing
  • Visual Communication
  • User Empathy
  • Interaction Design
  • Coding

What current trends in UX design?

Our experts have deduced some of the most popular trends in the UI/UX design industry, these are:

  • Storytelling through design
  • Gradients
  • Motion design for micro-interaction
  • Minimalism & Brutalism
  • UI card elements
  • Dark mode in interface design

You can read about all these trends in depth in our blog for the top 6 UI/UX design trends.

Conclusion

Being a UI/UX designer, you need to be creative, imaginative, and technologically adept. Your problem-solving skills are what will help you face and overcome design challenges.

This article discusses various such UX design challenges that individual UX designers or UI/UX agencies face throughout their course of work. However, along with the problems, we also discuss the solutions that we at Yellow Slice utilize to overcome these UX/UI design challenges.

How Can Yellow Slice Help 🚀

It is how Jony Ive says, “We try to solve very complicated problems without letting people know how complicated the problem was.” At Yellow Slice, we streamline the process of product design right from understanding the requirements and design scope to executing the solution. This makes the entire project process smoother and more efficient for all the stakeholders involved including designers and developers.

Want to know how our UI/UX design agency can help your business? Send us a message to discuss your product.

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Author

A multidisciplinary entrepreneur by heart and a design philosopher. He is the founder of Yellow Slice. His perspective mind and perseverance in spirit turns every possibility into golden opportunities. Once he finds a break from mentoring start-ups and working on his business tasks, you can find him journaling his insights of the day by the end of the night. Each day, with his new inspiring thoughts, he creates ingenious designs with his meticulous insights that have helped move human experience forward.