Balancing Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability in UX Design
Are you struggling to balance the needs of your users, the capabilities of your team, and the goals of your business when designing products? You’re not alone. In this article, we’ll explore the importance of considering desirability, feasibility, and viability in UX design and provide practical tips for achieving a balance between these competing factors.
Understanding Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability
The desirability, feasibility, and viability framework is a design thinking approach that helps teams test hypotheses and identify successful product ideas. Desirability refers to whether a product meets the needs and wants of its target users. Feasibility considers whether a company has the resources and expertise to build the product. Viability assesses whether the product is financially sustainable and profitable in the long term.
The Interplay Between Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability
When developing a product, UX designers must balance these three factors to increase the likelihood of success. If a product fails to meet one or more of these criteria, the risks and costs of development increase. By considering desirability, feasibility, and viability, teams can ensure that their products are desirable to users, financially viable, and technically feasible.
Assessing and Prioritizing Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability Factors
To assess desirability, teams should conduct user research, create personas, and study industry trends. Feasibility can be evaluated by examining company resources, expertise, and budgets. Viability involves analyzing costs, pricing strategies, market demand, and sales forecasting.
Case Studies: Balancing Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability
Let’s look at two case studies that demonstrate a balance of desirability, feasibility, and viability in UX design. Airbnb created a visually appealing website that provided a seamless user experience, while also ensuring that hosts could manage their listings and coordinate with guests efficiently. Slack designed a delightful collaboration tool that integrated with other tools, prioritized user feedback, and adopted a freemium business model.
Tips for Maintaining Balance
To balance conflicting factors, teams should:
- Communicate effectively within and across teams
- Conduct thorough user research and gather stakeholder insights
- Set clear goals and prioritize them
- Be prepared to compromise and make trade-offs
- Incorporate an iterative design process
- Put user needs first
- Get input from multiple teams
A Template for Mapping Out Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability
Use the following template to map out the desirability, feasibility, and viability of your projects:
- The problem: Outline the problem you’re trying to solve.
- The current system: Describe the current system or product.
- What motivates users: Outline user challenges and goals.
- The business objective: Define the business value and ROI.
- The metrics: Identify the metrics for measuring business and customer value.
- The solution: Summarize your design or product idea.
- The impact: Consider the impact on other parts of the business.
- Present your idea: Create a visual representation of your product using wireframes and prototypes.
- How you came to the design: Outline the ideas, insights, and user feedback that led to your design.
- Team’s next steps: Identify what you need from other team members and stakeholders.
By following these guidelines and considering the interplay between desirability, feasibility, and viability, you can create successful products that meet the needs of your users, your team, and your business.