Think Twice Before Reaching for that UX Template

UX templates can be super useful. They are time savers and can give people insights into what they are templating (a persona, journey, wireframes, etc.). But they have a hidden assumption you should beware of. They presuppose an organization and relevance of data. However, you can’t always know what data is relevant in your project or how it should be organized because relevancy and patterns emerge from the customer / user research analysis and context of use.

Other things to know about UX templates:

• There are often common elements from a template you can count on in the final product. A quote in a persona, for instance, or pain points in a journey or mobile design patterns. This speeds up the process.

• Sometimes templates are created with many more categories than are useful in your project. Don’t be shy about omitting template elements if they aren’t useful. They do provide other options to think about, that can help.

• The usefulness of the template and the reuse of its elements are often correlated with the nature of the user research. Suppose a persona template emerged from research in a professional sport. In that case, it’s a good bet there are a lot of repeatable research elements in another professional sport.

• Templates can save time, no doubt, but give careful consideration before you apply any of their elements.