ฝึกพูดภาษาอังกฤษด้วยเทคนิค Shadowing จากวิดีโอ: User Flow vs Task Flow in UX Design

When I graduated high school back in 2009, phone apps barely existed.

Imagining becoming a mobile app designer was out of question back then.

That's to give you some perspective on how young the product design field really is.

Just like a lot of other aspects of this industry, every designer has their own way of working with design deliverables.

User and task flows are no exception.

In this video, I'll share my perspective on what user and task flows are, the similarities and the differences.

For those of you that don't know me yet, I've been a creative professional in multiple industries for almost 20 years.

I have a super weird background where I started off as a self-taught dancer, learned to master the style,

while using the same practices and mindset from dance to teach myself other creative skills.

Today, I run a startup in the media tech space, while also running my own design agency where I consult businesses in the product and UX design space.

Before I start doing any actual design work, I map out all types of flows to understand the journey of the users that I'm designing for.

After watching this video, you'll have a better understanding of when to use these types of flows, how they're used, what tools you can draw them in, and how it helps you design a better product.

If you're serious about this craft and intend to design experiences that actually serves people,

it's important to understand both user and task flows when creating great UX design.

Simply put, the main difference between the two is the level of abstraction or detail.

What they both have in common is that they help segment the design, and help you understand how users can fluidly navigate the design to accomplish a set of goals.

However, user flows break down each step in the customer journey of a website or app, looking at multiple pathways and branches.

In contrast to task flows which breaks down the process of completing a specific task in a detailed step-by-step process.

So basically, task flows focus on the single tasks while the user flows focus on a specific user's journey.

Let's take the example of making scrambled eggs.

So you take a couple of eggs, you beat them until they're blended.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add in a good amount of butter.

Add the blended eggs, stir it around and BAM!

You're done.

Just like the simple steps of making scrambled eggs, Taskflow help you show how a user might accomplish their task using the app or the website that you're designing for.

Some examples of Taskflows in user interfaces could be restoring your forgotten password on Instagram, uploading a story, or changing your profile picture.

It breaks down all of the possible steps someone might take and maps it out in a linear path.

There's no branches, meaning no alternative pathways.

We're just looking at this step-by-step process of completing a task.

A task flow can actually most of the times be a segment of a larger user flow as well.

So if task flows can be considered as the step-by-step process of making scrambled eggs,

what would then a user flow be?

We could actually use the same analogy of making scrambled eggs as a user flow too.

The difference would be the fact that we're now looking at a way more complex pathway.

Like what happens if we don't have any eggs at home?

Or what happens if the eggs are outdated?

What if we don't have a nonstick skillet?

And most importantly, we have to define what we consider as a starting and an ending point.

Did we find a recipe first that we're following or are we doing this from experience?

As you see, user flows become really complex.

We have to consider all kinds of decision points depending on the points of interactions.

Different people can accomplish the same goal of making scrambled eggs in completely different ways based on a lot of different dependencies.

The user flow you want to map out for making scrambled eggs would therefore be specific to a particular user

or target audience.

Understanding what tools you have and when you can use them will make you more productive as any type of creative professional.

If you know when to use a pencil or a pen then you realize the strengths and weaknesses of each.

The same goes for these flows.

In my years as a designer I've used a task flow in order to structure

and map out how one step of a bigger task is connected to the next, which eventually leads the user to the end goal.

It helps me stay focused on the task at hand and therefore clarify what things to consider, as well as help me understand if there are any room to mitigate complicated tasks.

It's also very helpful to draw out an already existing task that you are aiming to improve.

Looking at the step by step sequence helps you understand

if there are things that can be simplified in order to make the task easier for the end user.

Since user flows are complex, it gives me a more holistic understanding of different areas of the design.

This becomes really useful when discussing the user journey with other people in your team, like developers or engineers.

Often times a user flow can be mapped out together with

your product team to help get input from other areas of the product.

Understanding what technical dependencies or opportunities you have helps you decide on what possible scenarios there are.

In order to design a great user or task flow, it's important that you understand users well.

Look through any data that you have of them, understand their goals, needs, and behavior.

This will in turn help you determine the steps to consider for a task flow, or the various interactions of a user flow.

The best tools are very subjective.

It depends on what fits into your workflow.

For me, the fastest way to get the ideas of a fur strapped out is just using my iPad

or a paper and a pen.

When I want to polish them up and make them look nice, I use Whimsical or Miro.

I'll link these tools down in the description.

Whimsical is really easy to start off with.

Miro is great too but can feel a bit overwhelming if you just want to get started.

Figma is my personal favorite design tool as of now, but I use it for more complex design work.

just pasting a screenshot of the final user

or task flow onto my Figma file when I'm ready to turn them into design.

That's my take on the differences and the use cases of each flow.

So to quickly summarize it all,

a task flow is a simple step-by-step sequence of how a general user might accomplish a task in a website or app.

User flow is a complex pathway

that helps you visualize all the possible paths a specific user might take to accomplish a desired goal or need.

That's all I have for now.

I hope you guys find value from this video.

Make sure to subscribe, turn on notifications, and hit the like button for more videos like this.

If you have any questions or comments at all, please feel free to drop them below and I'll do my very best to answer them.

Until next time, peace.

Thank you.

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