If you are a User Experience Designer, you can embrace Minimalism easily. From 2017, I focused my professional journey in the field of User Experience Design and gradually learnt how beneficial it is to have a Minimalist lifestyle. A user centered design process and an essential way of living share the same purpose of “avoiding waste” and create experiences that are meaningful and memorable for people. Here down below you can find the key 4 steps of User Experience process that helped me to design a happier and more minimalist lifestyle. 1. Researching real needs Firstly, we all know great UX happens when User Research is involved. Researching helps uncover important and meaningful insights about user needs, feelings and struggles which are fundamental for a design team in shaping products or optimize current solutions. Rooted in the same principle, Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. So, as a first step towards Minimalism, is to bring the focus on what, you as an individual, consider important and valuable in your life. For example, I reflected between myself on what I would like my life to be truly grounded on: health, relationships, passion and growth. 2. Eliminating what is not necessary Secondly, becoming aware of the disparity between what users give value to and the current experience they do have with products or services, drive user experience designers to identify what doesn’t make sense and future opportunities. In other words, redesigning something means get rid of what is not necessary: patterns, buttons, images, pages etc. Similarly, Minimalism is an awareness process. It is key to spot which elements are toxic and irrelevant in your life and distract you from what you want to be or achieve. Objects, people or habits. In short, I decluttered my apartment, my circle of people and my daily activities to reclaim time and concentration. No more bullshit. 3. Experimenting new things Thirdly, as a result of simplification, User Experience Designers have space for bringing in innovation. For instance, design and experiment new elements, features and interactions that enable users to better achieve their goals. To sum up, design, prototype and use validation to drive decisions and further evolutions. On your hand, now you have time to experience new things that feed your soul. Do you remember that salsa course or trip you always wanted to do? Meet that person you always admired? Plan it, do it. It’s your moment. I personally booked a trip to Japan and started to a dancehall class. Never been so excited. 4. Refining behaviors Rhythm comes with constant practice. In User Experience Design, optimization is a continuous process of refining and scaling designs to make user behaviors delightful and frictionless. When we great good designs, users tend to share their experience with other peers, promoting and influencing new services and products. From a personal point of view, it’s exactly the same. Building consistency in your daily routine can bring you to master your ability to live with less and live better. This allows you to become an ambassador of minimalism and mentor other people to simplify and make their life happier. If you found this article useful, please share it with fellow User Experience Designers who can benefit from it! 🙂 Cheers!