Questioning – A Pivotal Skill in a UX Designer’s Toolkit

Great UX UI designers help stakeholders and teams make better decisions by using relevant UX design questions to identify opportunities, comprehend user needs and wants, and reveal underlying weaknesses.

The ability to ask the right questions is a fundamental, yet extremely overlooked skill in the toolkit of a designer. The quality of the design output can enhance manifolds if the designer asks meaningful questions. These questions must reveal all the strengths and weaknesses, and the true intentions of the app/website that is being designed. The correlation between design output and developing a successful app/website is unmistakable.

Let us delve deeper into why questioning skill for UX designers is a must.

What is the Anatomy of a Good Question?

A good question is not just about the type of question that you’re asking, but it is also about what you’re trying to accomplish by asking that particular question. To put it simply, questions should be asked to simplify the design process, not complicate it further.

Keeping this in mind, the anatomy of a good question should adhere to one or all of the following principles:

• Questions should be empowering and they should not lean toward why something isn’t working out. Instead, they should reveal what other ways can be employed to achieve the desired results.
• Questions should challenge assumptions and encourage the entire team to look for solutions and explore alternative methods or technologies.
• UX design questions should motivate teams to think outside of the box.

UX UI designers must ask amazing, thought-provoking questions at every stage of the design process. Below, you’ll find examples of some of the questions that help to create a framework to make sure that the project smoothly moves through different stages and gets completed within the stipulated timeline.

UI/UX Questions to Ask During the Following Situations:

1. The initial meeting

The big, hard-hitting questions need to be asked during the initial meeting. The lack of which is going to result in the misalignment of the stakeholders and the delivery team regarding the actual project plan, vision, and goals. Don’t jump to any assumptions, but focus on asking as many UX design questions as possible so that all the possible problems in the design project plan has been explored.

For instance, questions like what does the app/website needs to do, who are the target audience and how users can be reached through the design can be asked.

2. To understand stakeholder demands

Whether you’re designing an app/website, it’ll be impossible to do a good job if you don’t understand the market and business. The only way to get an idea is by conversing with individuals who have an interest in the design project. Some of the questions that can be asked here are:

• The objectives of the project
• Methods that did/did not work earlier
• Data regarding the end-user
• Problems faced by users and how to address them

3. To comprehend the needs of the end-users (user research)

Would anyone want to create a website/app that users don’t want or need? Even though the answer might be too obvious, people end up making this mistake. Since the right questions are not asked, a lot of money and time is spent in creating an app/website that nobody wants. This is why both user research skill and questioning skill for UX designers is important and need to be combined.

When user research is being conducted, the UX designer must ask meaningful questions to find out what users truly need and want. It will also reveal the problems that users are facing with other apps/websites (may refer to a confusing UI, slow loading speed, or complicated navigation) and help designers to steer clear of such issues.

4. To ensure that user testing is carried out against the desired metrics

User testing is the stage where you get to validate all of your assumptions and also enhance the experience by taking into account how users interact with your app/website. This stage is mostly about gathering qualitative feedback and this can be done by asking qualitative UX design questions like:

• Does the app/website meet your expectations?
• What is your first impression?
• What is missing?
• How likely are you to recommend this app/website to your friend?

The answers need to be tested against successful metrics like usability, growth, and user experience.

5. Reviewing the design

At this stage, designers have to work very hard to align design decisions with both business and user goals. During design reviews, some of the questions to ask are- what kind of improvements they are looking for, is there any design element in particular that needs attention, what are the UI patterns in use, and so on.

6. Stakeholder review meeting (analyzing the feedback received from the stakeholders)

Getting feedback from stakeholders is crucial and it should be helpful, clear, and relevant. They might not be experts at giving feedback, and therefore, UX designers need to ask questions that would steer their answers toward the design project goals. Some of the popular questions to ask are:

• Does the app/website design solve the needs of users?
• Does it reflect the brand effectively?
• And, does it effectively meet the project goals?
• Should there be any design changes before the final launch?

Final thoughts

Questioning skill for UX designers is a powerful tool and they should be able to use it fluently. The right questions can help understand a design project better receive valuable insight. It makes it easier for designers to translate a vision through creativity and design. It can help teams to align and achieve the goals of the project.

Are you looking for a strategic design partner? If you’re looking for UX designers who are asking meaningful questions to boost design delivery output, don’t hesitate to reach out to Divami. Also, check out our portfolio to get an idea of how we’ve been helping businesses achieve their design project goals.