Importance of User flow in UX Design

Why the user flow is important in the design process.

Let’s kick off with answering the question “What is a userflow?”
User flow is a visual sequence of actions a customer takes to interact with a product; which can be a website or application. The action starts at a specific point of entry and covers the entire user journey take to reach a goal. Trying out new ideas as you go, making changes as the inspiration hits you.

To fully understand the interaction that the user might have with your product, you need to have a visual representation of all the possible user flows. The user flow lays out the user’s movement through the product, mapping out each and every step the user takes — from entry point right through to the final interaction.

User flows may have various looks and feel (low res — high res) depending on where you are in the design process. It ideally, should be created before any interface is created in order to work out what information is needed and when. You can experiment and get it wrong a few times before you get it right, because they form an important part of the foundation on which your product is built, and can serve as a reference for other designers.

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4 reasons why User Flow is important in UX Design

Photo by You X Ventures on Unsplash

1. Documentation
Knowing that finished products should not be the sole focus of any design process, user flow is an important tool for designers or non-designer to document their design and technical processes primarily because it helps capture their (design) ideas, decisions and solutions. It is much easier to understand and much less painful to make changes to a userflow.

2. Better communication
User flow nails down the simple definition for efficient communication. As a designer, it makes it easier to discuss the flow of the product and its functions properly to your your stakeholders during the process. They don’t have to take time to read a manual, take a tutorial, or tap around trying to figure it out, because it is so much easier to understand.

3. Collaboration & Iterations
You can’t build a successful user flow without testing. User flow gives designers — and non-designers — an improved way to collaborate faster while increasing the speed of iterations speed of the design with product managers, stakeholders, and developers. Allowing you to troubleshoot and pinpoint where things might be going wrong.

4. Planning
Without the user flow, it’s easy to get lost in features, technical jargon or personal opinions. Because user flows provide a bird’s-eye view of the product, it helps you plan for and create easy-to-use products from the very beginning. Therefore helping you deduce what the user is trying to achieve with that feature and how, because you’d want to consider:

• Who is the end user of the product?
• What is their goal?
• Red Routes — What are the critical and frequent paths that users take to complete their tasks?

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Conclusion

Knowing where you’re going is the first step to get there — Ken Blanchard

Using userflow early on in the design process is a great activity that quickly leads to intuitive and functional products, because it simply is like a funnel that guides the user towards their goal, enabling you to look objectively at ease of use, red routes and helps point out flaws early.
Without visualizing user flow, you can’t work on improving user experience (UX) with functional and delightful end products.

Thank you. 🙂 🙂