The purpose of any app you build is to serve the end user. It’s the whole point of software development. Confusing layouts, clunky operations, and overall lag are the perfect road to failure. Your target audience needs to find the app understandable, easy to navigate and, ultimately, useful.
The segment that’s facing the user, the interface, is one of the most important parts of your journey. But it isn’t the only one. There’s also the overall experience people get when using a particular software. Getting both of those things right is crucial for an app to succeed. But, how do you address this? Focusing on the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design. These two pieces of the puzzle are closely related and equally important.
Of course, having a dedicated team permanently at your service is ideal. However, most small and medium-sized businesses are unable to hire, train, and keep people around for years. Instead, outsourcing UI and UX design is the most efficient way of going about it. We’ll help you understand the benefits and decide if this is the right path for your business.
What’s the difference?
We discuss UI and UX design together for a reason. They are closely related segments of software development. User interface (UI) serves to maximize the stability of the user experience (UX). But how?
UI is visually oriented. Think of the graphical user interface — all the boxes and buttons and bars you see in any app. Its design is primarily focused on architecture and its purpose is to communicate all the important features to the end user.
For its part, user experience is a slightly broader term that covers UI and a few other bits. UX is all about the experience, about creating ways in which the user can easily and enjoyable interact with the app. UX consequently falls under the umbrella of customer experience (CX), as it aims to provide a better product for users (which, for companies, are often their clients).
Considering the benefits
Since they are closely related, it’s no wonder that outsourcing UI and UX design comes with similar perks. After all, both branches aim to make software more successful. The benefits, opportunities, and best practices are almost identical. Here, we will list six of the most important pros in finding a remote team for your needs.
Efficiency and saving time
While it doesn’t necessarily matter what the main purpose of your business is, it’s safe to assume that UI and UX aren’t at the core. They’re just one of many processes you have to deal with. This means you don’t want to waste too much time on it. Let dedicated professionals take care of it. They’ll likely finish the project in a fraction of the time. Yes, saving time and boosting efficiency are both benefits of building an effective outsourcing strategy.
Reduced costs of development
This one is obviously a no-brainer. Keeping in-house designers as an integral part of your workforce is only possible if you have a massive company that requires their services on a regular basis. In all other instances, outsourcing is the way to go.
This will hold especially true if your business is in North America or Western Europe, where development and design tend to be quite pricey. If your goal is to find affordable yet quality UI and UX services, turn your eye to Eastern Europe or Latin America. You’ll get your pick of the best professionals. It’s basically more bang for your buck, especially for small startups aiming to reduce costs without losing quality.
A fresh perspective
External hiring not only brings an increased dose of expertise. There’s another (often overlooked) benefit. A fresh perspective! Sounds a bit silly at first but think about it this way. Someone from halfway across the globe, with professional experience completely different from what you’re used to, is bound to have a fresh take on things.
This can make their vision a lot clearer. Such a specialist may be able to detect issues more easily than someone who has been a part of the team for a long time. Seen from this perspective, outsourcing UI and UX design suddenly seems even more attractive.
Improved quality through reliance on core competencies
In today’s world, general knowledge simply isn’t enough. The roles in the software development process are diverse. When it comes to UI and UX design, we need to address interaction design, visual design, user research, prototyping, and typography. If you’re looking to fill a narrow niche, outsourcing UI and UX design is a safe bet.
No geographic restrictions mean that you can be as picky as you like. Suddenly, finding the perfect fit for your needs is more than likely. You can unlock new levels of efficiency, expertise, and creativity by forming a multidisciplinary group. Harvesting their knowledge of new trends and up-to-date technologies (micro-interactions, AR, VR, etc.) comes as an added bonus.
Flexibility and scalability
Most of the above benefits carry an underlying theme — flexibility. In a world where your fortunes can change in an instant, it’s paramount to adapt. Let’s say your app goes viral and gets 500,000 new users in a single week. What then? You have to scale up.
The opposite scenario can also happen. Maybe your app has a seasonal character. Tons of people use it in the summer. Everyone ignores it in wintertime. Then you have to scale down. Fortunately, outsourcing UI and UX design can help with both flexibility and scalability. You can hire your team on-demand to accommodate fluctuating workloads.
Things to consider before outsourcing UI and UX design
Before we wrap this up, we want to mention a few moves you ought to make. These will help you truly reap the promised benefits of outsourcing UI and UX design.
- Make a list of potential candidates. Research and conduct a vetting process before choosing an agency or a freelancer.
- Check their portfolio. Figure out their area of expertise. Don’t forget to read reviews and testimonials.
- Set clear expectations. Aim to make the process more efficient through open communication.
- Determine your budget. Calculate how much you can spend to get a return on the investment.
These measures are a great way to build a foolproof approach and really get the most out of your project. Over time you should be able to create the best possible user experience and become committed to human-centered design.
