User Flow
What is a user flow?
User diagram is commonly used in UX/UL design. User flows is essentially the path taken by a specific user on an app or website to complete a task. The user flow starts from the beginning through following multiple steps to come to desired out outcome e.g., purchasing a product.
Role of user flow
The user flow is the basis for content requirements on webpages or app screens. It important to first understand the users’ needs to try meet them.
The answers to following questions will help you decide what content or links to include and how to design the layout in each webpage, etc.
- What is the user trying to accomplish?
- What is important to the user and what will give them confidence to continue?
- What additional information will the user need to accomplish the task?
- What are the user’s hesitations or barriers to accomplishing the task?
This will help make your app or website user friendly.
Example of a typical user flow may look like the following:
- Start off with the home screen
- From the homepage the user clicks onto the next page
- From that they will access another feature this could be a game
- From games click on the specific game of their choice
User flows can be simple or complicated. They are like flow charts as they follow a specific path to get the required outcome. The purpose of analysis your user flow is to identify the main user flows through my application or website and identify areas for improvements.
Benefits of User flows:
- They are fast- quick way of visually the process
- Better Process Visualization
- They are more than Mockups
- More than prototypes
- Process before UI
- Easy to understand
Disadvantages
- They can be difficult to manage or use
- Complicated logic
- Hard to edit
- Can be a costly process
Reflection
I think it will be important to do a user flow test so I can identity the path my users take when using my application/website and identify any potential areas for improvements. User flows are very important in UL/UX design specifically when working on website or app projects. This in favour allows people know what content they could include for the users in their website.