UX/UI Design Services In Chicago: What To Look For

Have you ever wondered why certain social media sites are so heavily used worldwide? Countless factors are there, but there is one that stands out the most. That's right — the top reason for the most social media site usage is the design of the user interface (UI).

Customer satisfaction is something you'll have to think about later on. When you begin your project, what you should initially be considering are user expectations, user experience (UX), easy navigation, and a unique graphic design that will attract users immediately.

While knowing business requirements can help develop digital solutions and mobile apps easier, keeping clients happy and the product relevant can be challenging. For this reason, taking advantage of UI/UX design services is extremely valuable.

Whether you're in Chicago or outside it and looking for UX design services to boost your digital product, then keep on reading. We've gathered all that you need to know to get started on your next project.

There are several reasons why you should use UI and UX design services for your website or app to achieve your business goals. Let's take a look at what those are:

An eye-catching design might sound interesting, but what if it doesn't perform based on the expectations of the user? To put it simply, your digital product will just be a "pretty face" with faulty features and functionality.

UI designers can no doubt come up with the most attractive-looking applications, but it has to work equally well — both in features and functionality. That is where UX design comes in. A properly built user experience design will not only attract clients but will increase your company's value as well.

When the framework is carefully planned out and structured in accordance with the UI arrangement, there will be fewer bugs during the user testing phase. As a result, your final website or app will already be optimized, which will save time and money during the whole process.

Your digital product — whether it's a website or app — is like your advertising and marketing billboard. It tells users what you offer and invites them in when it’s done right. When you can ensure a well-functioning product, users will automatically be more interested in your service and more likely to return. Having a good user interface design gives your company a competitive advantage, helps to better reach your target audience, and provides a better user experience.

In most cases, the UI UX design process follows the agile methodology. Especially when considering the interaction design of a product, the agile approach allows the process to be completed faster with the help of user stories. It can also help save money by spotting potential issues sooner rather than later. The closer the product is to fully functioning near the end of the design and coding process, the less you’ll spend on re-work.

A matter that is always expected is that the users will return to use your product when customer needs are fulfilled well. If you manage to exceed the expectations of the end-user with user experience design services, your clients will become regular customers.

And when customers are loyal, they are very likely to suggest your services to others. As a result, you will see that the exposure will increase when you analyze site usage.

Top UX/UI design services follow a specific approach to create an effective product design. The method can be divided into several steps. Let's find them out.

The first step is performing user research and analysis. The UX/UI design companies put a heavy emphasis on it. It involves utilizing a combination of research methods to understand the users. Hence, you can answer complex questions, including:

After that, you have to analyze the research results. You use the analysis to create a unique product or website for the target users.

The second step of the design approach is to create the user definition by developing personas. It helps you to better understand the consumers. It involves taking a close look at the intent group to integrate the essential empathy directly into the product design. Therefore, you don't have to consider a single individual as the ideal candidate. Instead, you consider a group of people as potential product users.

The third step is analyzing the behavioral models. How will the target group of users interact with the product? What are their common behaviors? These are some of the questions that you should ask. You need to find their answers.

Understanding user behaviors and interactions are critical for the success of your product. It helps you to anticipate and understand what will work best for the target group.

Once you anticipate the user behaviors, you can understand the unique needs of the target demographic. It enables you to innovate and integrate the ideal UI/UX design. It will help the users to easily do their jobs.

This step involves categorizing users into several distinct matrices, like role, country, language, etc. It enables you to identify the most important aspects for delivering the best user experience.

The user scenario helps you to understand the steps a user will take for completing a task. It provides you with several pieces of key information. For example, it enables you to understand what users may be thinking or experiencing at each of the steps. As a result, the UX/UI design services can accurately define the set of product requirements. It will lead your product to ultimate success and satisfaction.

Read: User Experience vs Usability & UI: Learning The Differences

The next step is creating wireframes and prototypes. It helps you to validate your ideas. With wireframes, you can understand how a particular feature might work for the users. Typically, UX/UI design services create many versions of wireframes for each product experience. It enables them to identify potentially successful user experiences.

UX/UI design services often begin prototyping while creating the wireframes. It helps them to effectively create solutions to more complex experiences that span multiple screens. Also, they involve the users in testing the prototypes. By utilizing the feedback, the UX/UI design services can identify the most successful solution for the final product design.

The next phase is visual design. It enables you to imagine the look and functionality of the final product. Successful UI design results in highly accessible experiences. Therefore, users with physical or visual limitations will face no problem using your product. It helps your brand to reach a wider audience.

As UX specialists, you need to ensure an exceptional product experience for the users. Also, you need to efficiently document your decisions. It will help you to easily develop, maintain, and update the product.

For most UI design projects, the UX/UI design services deliver style guides. It helps you to make informed design decisions in the future.

Best UX/UI design services offer robust delivery and development support. They focus on building a strong design-product-development relationship even before the handoff. Before finishing the designs, the product designers meet with the developers several times. They share early concepts and collect feasibility feedback.

UX/UI designers work with development teams through numerous sprints. They deliver elements in different stages to support ongoing development. Most of the time, the team follows the Scrum methodology.

UI/UI design services work with developers to determine the best mode of handoff. With modern design tools, you can facilitate the handoff with minimal formal specifications.

With the increased need for optimal UI and UX, there are more and more companies that provide both UI and UX services to meet your company's technical needs. We have picked out a few of the best ones you can get in Chicago, Illinois.

UX 4Sight focuses on converting user project designs to smooth and fully functional websites. Keeping in mind how competitive businesses are the UX 4Sight team makes sure to analyze customer needs to deliver the best end product.

This Chicago-based agency promises an effective UI that's not just simply attractive to look at but also adds value. Catering to all the necessary UX/UI design system needs, UX 4Sight provides a variety of services, including user research, UX review, application development, and design validation.

Established in 2009, Idea Booth is best known for building brands. With a first-rate design team, Idea Booth works with market research and coordination with clients to deliver the ultimate product. Industry heavyweights, including Nike, Kraft, and Walgreens, all use Idea Booth to achieve their business goals.

With an A+ grade in both professionalism and reputation, Sandstorm is another Chicago-based UI/UX design service that relies heavily on thorough testing and UX research. Not only are their user interfaces eye-catching, but their end products often exceed user expectations.

Apart from basic services that include user flows, user testing, and interviews of customers and users, Intechnic also offers information architecture services and various strategies. They are also well known to enhance site navigation in the website and user interface.

Intechnic works to get a deep understanding of user needs and spends the majority of their research phase analyzing business and user data. The design experts then only begin their project after complete information is collected.

Once you find out that one of FlyDesign's clients is Disney, there is no doubt how good this agency is. FlyDesign agency provides UI/UX services for both small- and large-scale businesses. Their core design process deals with researching market options and customer requirements.

FlyDesign is a very good choice if you're looking for a user interface that is visually appealing and, at the same time, robust in overall development and functionality.

A user interface is the point of human-computer interaction on a website or an app. It enables the end-user to conveniently interact with your product.

The role of the UX/UI designers is to determine what the team should build. Also, they determine what the website should do. On the other hand, the role of software developers is to build and make the website functionality.

Read: Website Design Checklist: The Blueprint for a Perfect Site

UX designers offer a variety of services, like creating information architecture, developing a brand and design system, consulting about design technology, etc.