Google UX Secrets in Minutes

Breaking into UX design can feel like stepping into a maze — so many paths to follow, tools to learn, and decisions to make. As someone with a humanities background and fresh off Google’s UX Design Certificate, I know the journey comes with its fair share of challenges and aha moments.

Everything in this article is derived from the Google UX Design Certificate course, which I’ve summarized to serve as a handy reference. It’s a way to better remember the key points and revisit them whenever we need to polish our skills or refresh our minds.

Empathize:

Empathy vs. sympathy

Empathy means understanding someone’s feelings or thoughts, often by feeling the emotions yourself. Sympathy is the experience of showing concern or compassion without feeling the emotions themselves.

When empathizing with users for a new design project, you should use:

• User interviews
• Empathy maps
• User personas
• User stories
• User journey maps

User interviews

• Recruit interview participants who represent your target users
• Plan your interviews and write effective interview questions
• Conduct interviews to get usable information and build rapport with participants

Recruit interview participants

The representative sample should include users with four to six interview participants use screener surveys representative sample.

Consider accessibility during user research

Plan interviews

Aim to conduct interviews that create rapport with participants and get you the information you need to better understand your users.

Select the interview venue or format.

• Questionnaires/surveys
• In-person interviews
• Phone interviews
• Video interviews

Write interview questions that align with your research goals and target the information you need. Remember that effective interview questions are open-ended, conversational, clear, and neutral: They should invite sharing and follow-up from participants and be phrased in plain language that doesn’t lead participants to specific responses.

Prepare your materials and practice how you’ll conduct interviews. Gather your supplies, test any technology you’re using, research your participants so you can build rapport with them, and practice in front of a mirror or with someone you trus

Conduct interviews

• Thank the person for participating and try to build rapport: Greet the person in a friendly way, make light conversation, make eye contact, and so on
• Record the interview if the participant allows so you can revisit it later, recall parts you don’t remember, and take additional notes
• Make sure you have all the basic participant details that are relevant to the interview, such as the participant’s name and relevant demographic characteristics
• Follow interview etiquette by showing active listening (even when you’re taking notes), speaking clearly and concisely, and staying composed
• Take thorough notes about what participants say and do. Try to capture compelling quotes and document participants’ expressions, body language, and behavior

Empathy maps

1. Who exactly are the users and what are their situations?
2. What do users say about their experiences with the product or similar products?
3. What do users think about their experiences?
4. What do users do before, during, and after their experiences?
5. What do users feel about their experiences?

User personas

• An image that represents the persona
• The persona’s name and demographic details, including age, education, hometown, family, and occupation
• A relevant personal quote that captures the persona’s attitude and personality
• The persona’s goals, or the objectives they want to successfully complete
• The persona’s frustrations, or the issues or pain points they encounter or try to avoid

User stories

• As a mother of two, I want to limit the amount of access to my home so I can keep my family safe.
• As a frequent traveler, I want to hire a consistent dog walker so that I can feel comfortable about the safety of my pets while I’m on vacation.
• As a former police officer, I want to track my dog walker so I am comfortable with the safety of my pets.

User journey maps

1. Name: The user persona’s name
2. Goal: The user persona’s goal
3. Actions: The actions the persona takes to achieve their goal

For each action the persona takes, the journey map should also include:

1. Tasks: The specific tasks involved in the action
2. Feelings: The emotions the persona feels as they complete the tasks
3. Improvement opportunities: The areas for improving the user’s experience

A final checklist

• Recruited a representative sample of interview participants
• Planned interview questions that are relevant, open-ended, clear, neutral, and conversational
• Conducted interviews to gather key information and build rapport with participants
• Distilled each interview into an empathy map
• Divided users into user groups based on shared characteristics, goals, or needs
• Created a user persona to represent each user group
• Included a compelling one-sentence user story in each persona
• Mapped out a user journey for each persona

Define :

The 5 Ws and H: who, what, when, where, why, and how

• Who: A busy executive
• What: Arnold wants to hire a daily dog walker for his three dogs.
• Where: Arnold is likely using the app at work, on the go.
• When: Arnold gets frustrated when he opens the app, starting from the very beginning of the user journey.
• Why: Arnold doesn’t have a lot of experience with phone apps or similar technology.
• How: Arnold wants to go easily from the home screen of the app to the list of dog walkers to the confirmation screen.
• Problem statements

Arnold is a busy executive who needs an easy app experience to hire a dog walker because he’s not technologically savvy.

1. Human-centered and focused on what users need from the design
2. Broad enough to allow designers freedom to ideate creative solutions
3. Narrow enough to be solved with practical design solutions

• Hypothesis statements

If [action], then [outcome].

If Ali uses the CoffeeHouse app to place an in-store order from their table, then an employee can deliver their order so Ali won’t lose the table.

• Goal statements

A final checklist

• Crafted problem statements for each user persona
• Crafted hypothesis statements for each problem statement
• Crafted goal statements for each hypothesis statement
• Ensured your goal statements align with any relevant business requirements.

Ideation :

competitive audit

competitive audit

1. Outline the goals of your audit.
2. Identify direct and indirect competitors. Direct competitors offer products that are similar to your product and focus on the same users. Indirect competitors offer similar products to a different set of users, or they focus on the same set of users and offer different products.
3. Determine the aspects of your competitors to investigate during your audit. Depending on the information they need, designers typically audit competitors by researching their products’ users, interactivity, flow, visual design, written content, and so on.
4. Conduct your audit and take thorough notes
5. Summarize your findings in a report.

How might we

You translate user problems, needs, or pain points into opportunities for design. By reframing problems as opportunities, designers often find that they have an easier time imagining a wider variety of design solutions.

• Amp up the good by asking, How might we take any positives in the problem and use them as solutions?
• Explore the opposite by asking, How might we solve the opposite of the problem we’ve outlined?
• Change the status quo by asking, How might we completely change the current process involved in the problem?
• Break the point-of-view into pieces by asking, How might we create smaller solutions for the smaller parts of the larger problem?
• Remove the bad by asking, How might we remove the negative part of the problem entirely?
• Go after the adjective by asking, How might we take negative adjectives in the problem and turn them into positives?
• Question an assumption by asking, How might we remove or change any processes that we assumed must be in place?
• Create an analogy by asking, How might we make the user experience more like another kind of positive user experience?
• Identify unexpected resources by asking, How might we solve the problem with resources or assets that aren’t part of the original problem statement?

Rapid sketching

Rapid sketching (also known as “Crazy Eights”) “think outside the box.”

A final checklist

• Identified direct and indirect competitors for your product
• Researched relevant aspects of those competitors’ products
• Summarized your research findings in a formal or informal audit report
• Conducted a How might we (HMW) exercise to reframe problems as opportunities
• Sketched ideas for solutions with Rapid sketching

Prototype:

· User flow diagrams, storyboards, and sitemaps

· Paper and digital wireframes

· Lo-fi prototypes with connected wireframes

• User flow diagrams

What actions will users take in the product?

What decisions will users make?

What screens will users experience before and after taking action or making a decision?

Storyboards

• A character who is using the product, ideally one of your user personas
• A scene that shows the user’s environment, situation, or context
• A plot that shows the solution or benefit that the product offers the user
• A narrative that shows the user’s need and how the design solves that need

Big-picture storyboards focus on what the user needs, their situation, and how the product will address the user’s needs.

• Close-up storyboards focus on the product itself and how it works. They are often a more visually detailed version of a user flow diagram.
• The product’s user experience
• The key interactions, such as onboarding (the first impression a user has of the app)
• The actions, such as placing an order and checking out
• Transitions between screens that will provide users with clear actions to perform to complete their goals successfully

Sitemaps- Information architecture

1. Organization: The organization is how different pieces of information connect in a product.
2. Hierarchy: The hierarchy is often called the “tree structure” and is where a larger category is placed at the top and specific categories related to the overall category are placed underneath. Peer information is placed side by side (or on the same level as each other).
3. Sequence: The sequence enables users to move through an app via certain orders or steps.

Eight basic principles

1. Object principle: You should view your content as “living” and as something that changes and grows over time.
2. Choice principle: People think they want to have many choices, but they actually need fewer choices that are well-organized.
3. Disclosure principle: Information should not be unexpected or unnecessary.
4. Exemplar principle: Humans put things into categories and group different concepts together.
5. Front door principle: The home web page doesn’t need to do everything. Users often get to your site through a side entrance.
6. Multiple classification principle: People have different ways of searching for information.
7. Focused navigation principle: There must be a strategy and logic behind the way navigation menus are designed.
8. Growth principle: The amount of content in a design will grow over time.

Gestalt Principles describe how humans group similar elements, recognize patterns, and simplify complex images when we perceive objects.

• **Figure-ground**
• **Continuity**
• **Closure** The closure principle is used often in logo designs at a variety of companies including IBM, NBC, Zendesk, and Funding Circle.
• **Focal point** The focal point principle states that whatever stands out visually will capture and hold the viewer’s attention first.
• · Similarity means that elements that look alike (in shape, size, or color, for instance) are perceived to have the same function.
• · Proximity means that elements that are close together appear to be more related than things that are spaced farther apart.
• Common region means that elements located within the same closed area are perceived to be grouped together

Create the paper wireframes

Choose which elements to refine _ Combine elements into a refined wireframe

Digital wireframes

Low-fidelity prototypes

A final checklist

• Review your work from the empathize and define phases to ensure your wireframes and prototype address key user needs, problems, and goals
• Create user flow diagrams, storyboards, and sitemaps to plan your product’s user flow and information architecture
• Design paper and digital wireframes for each of the key screens you want to include in your lo-fi prototype, using industry-standard symbols to showcase key elements
• Connect elements in your digital wireframes so users can simulate what will happen when they interact with key screens, calls to action, and other interactive features
• Compare your wireframe connections to your user flow diagrams, storyboards, and sitemaps, making updates and refinements as needed

Test:

- Plan usability studies

- Conduct usability studies

- Synthesize and prioritize usability study results

- Apply those results in modifying designs

- Plan usability studies

1. Research goals
2. Research questions- Create 3–5 primary research questions

· Actionable

· Specific

· Neutral and not leading

· Quantitative or qualitative

3. Key performance indicators (KPIs): They include users’ time on task, use of navigation versus search, user error rates, drop-off rates, conversion rates, and so on.

4. Methodology

Moderated . Unmoderated

Primary research — secondary research

Qualitative research _ quantitative research

For example, most of your primary, qualitative research will most likely be conducted during the empathize phase of the project, when your goal is to find out as much as possible about the challenges, needs and characteristics of potential users before creating designs. Usability studies are primary, qualitative research methods because they allow UX designers to make direct and indirect observations based on the participants’ behavior and words.

5. Participants: This section should describe who will participate in the study, their key characteristics, and why you chose them. If you intentionally include participants from specific populations, such as users with disabilities, explain why.

Example: Dog walking app

· Participants are all dog owners who go out for activities more than once a week. This includes full and part-time workers, students, caretakers, and parents.

· Two males, two females, and one nonbinary individual between the ages of 20 and 75. One participant is a person with a visual impairment.

· The study is accessible for use with a screen reader and switch device.

6. Script OR discussion guide

In addition to these elements, research plans typically start with introductions that include the study’s research goals. Before delivering these goals, introductions usually specify the study’s title, author, stakeholders, date, and project background. 1. Ask for the participant’s consent to record the interview 2. Inform the participant that the interview is not a test, and that no answer is wrong 3. Assure the participant that it’s okay to ask questions, and explain why their data is being collected 4. Ask for basic information that gives you insights into the participant’s relationship with the product and helps them settle into the interview

Learn more about KPIs

indicates the number of people who use a website or an app’s navigation, compared to the number of people who use the search functionality.

indicate the parts of a design that cause users to make errors. For example, a user might click on the wrong icon when trying to make a purchase, forget to check a box, or submit incorrect information when filling out a form. These errors are not the user’s fault!

show how many users abandon the experience. In other words, this KPI reveals how many users quit before reaching the end of a purchase or some other endpoint you’re trying to lead them to. Conversion rates measure the percentage of users who complete a desired action. Conversion rates are the opposite of drop-off rates.

. In an SUS, users are asked the extent to which they agree or disagree with 10 statements about the usability of a design. For example, users might be asked to respond to the statement, "I thought the app was easy to use,” on a scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” It’s a quick and reliable way to know if a design is working.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure of how loyal users will be to your product or service. The NPS measures the likelihood that a user would recommend your product to a friend or colleague. Participants rate the question, “Would you recommend this product to a friend or colleague?” on a scale of 0 to 10.

• Promoters are participants who give a rating of 9 or 10, which means they would recommend your product to others.
• Passives are participants who give a rating of 7 or 8, which means they are satisfied with your product, but they probably won’t pass it along to friends or colleagues.
• Detractors are participants who rate from 0 to 6, which means they could warn people away from your product or service.

Conduct a usability study

Taking notes and recording

Best practice:

synthesize results and modify designs

Organize your data- Affinity diagram

Identify patterns and themes

Create insights - Prioritize and apply your insights

Modify designs

Final checklist:

• Planned a usability study about user experiences with your lo-fi prototype
• Conducted that usability study using best practices
• Synthesized your usability study results using affinity diagrams
• Translated those results into actionable insights
• Prioritized those insights into P0, P1, and P2 buckets
• Implemented your P0 and P1 insights and as many P2 insights as possible

Portfolio project guide checklist

Empathize with users

Recruit a representative sample of interview participants.

Plan interview questions that are relevant, open-ended, clear, neutral, and conversational., Conduct interviews to gather key information and build rapport with participants.

Empathy map

Divide users into user groups based on shared characteristics, goals, or needs.

Create a user persona to represent each user group.

Include a compelling one-sentence user story in each persona.

Map out a user journey for each persona.

Pro Tip

Review your user stories, personas, and journey maps and ensure they are free of biases ( confirmation bias, recency bias, primacy bias, sunk cost fallacy, implicit bias, howthorne bias…)or assumptions. All should be firmly based on your interviews and any other forms of user research.

Define user needs

Problem statements for each user persona.

Hypothesis statements for each problem statement.

Goal statements for each hypothesis statement.

Ensure your goal statements align with any relevant business requirements.

Ideate design solutions

Identify direct and indirect competitors for your product.

Research relevant aspects of those competitors’ products.

Summarize your research findings in a formal or informal audit report.

Conduct a How might we (HMW) exercise to reframe problems as opportunities.

Sketch ideas for solutions with Rapid sketching.

Create lo-fi prototypes

Review your work from the empathize and define phases to ensure your wireframes and prototype address key user needs, problems, and goals.

Create user flow diagrams, storyboards, and sitemaps to plan your product’s user flow and information architecture.

Design paper and digital wireframes

Connect elements in your digital wireframes so users can simulate what will happen when they interact with key screens, calls to action, and other interactive features.

Compare your wireframe connections to your user flow diagrams, storyboards, and sitemaps, making updates and refinements as needed.

Test prototypes

Plan a usability study.

Conduct that usability study using best practices.

Synthesize your usability study results using affinity diagrams.

Translate those results into actionable insights.

Prioritize those insights into P0, P1, and P2 buckets.

Implement your P0 and P1 insights and as many P2 insights as possible.

Create hi-fi prototypes

Build mockups for each screen you want to include in your prototype.

Include typography, color, containment, and other fundamental design elements.

Refine your prototypes with visual design principles and Gestalt principles

( similarity, proximity, common region, closure, focal point…)

Add navigational and interactive features, such as buttons, icons, and menus.

Connect your mockup screens in a logical and user-friendly order.

Add animations to simulate interactions.

conclusion:

Mastering UX design isn’t just about learning tools — it’s about developing a mindset of empathy, problem-solving, and iteration.

Whether you’re conducting user interviews, sketching wireframes, or running usability tests, always remember: great design starts withm understanding users.

Keep learning, iterating, and applying these principles to create products that truly make a difference