Why backend development is crucial to user experience

When it comes to UX design, people hardly think about the backend. The front-end developers are the ones always on the scene. But the truth is, backend development is just as crucial to user experience as frontend.

How?

We can answer that if only we first understand the totality of user experience.

What user experience entails

In the simplest terms, user experience (UX) is the experience and impression a person gets when they use your software. For example, how easy is it for pages to load when they click? How quickly do users find what they're searching for? How long does it take them to achieve their goal?

Whether your website or app is an online store or only to educate users, your UX design must be such that users find it easy to interact with.

Therefore, being a UX designer typically means understanding the needs of the product's target audience and developing an interface that meets those needs.

In many ways, frontend UX designers work hand in hand with UI designers. The UI designer handles the fonts, buttons, and icons, while the UX designer handles the product's ultimate design, branding, and usability.

All of that happens at the front end. However, that's not all there is to UX. Because, of course, even though the ultimate design is appealing and the app is usable, responsiveness cannot be handled from the front.

Back-end development: bridging the UX gap

Backend development involves creating the server logic of the app or website. The backend developer sets the server's code performance, security, scalability, and logic.

The backend comprises the server that hosts the application and its database. This is where the frontend requests information from and obtains responses.

Take, for instance, a user who wants to access information from a directory. All that information, including contacts and messages, is encrypted in the server at the backend. If the directory takes too long to load when the user clicks, he might get frustrated. Even though the design is very appealing and functional, the user may end up ditching the app if using it is a hassle.

In contrast, a well-designed backend facilitates a responsive web app.

Why UX designers and backend developers must work together

The backend is the core of your web app. If the core doesn't run smoothly, your user experience takes a hit, and you may lose customers. You don't want that happening to your product. So it's worth hiring a Backend Development Company to complement your UX designers to create products that work seamlessly.

You can trust backend developers to design the information architecture that will remain responsive, no matter how many users assess the server simultaneously.

For the best result, backend UX designers must collaborate with backend developers during the user experience design journey. Backend developers can discover what's happening behind the scenes, for example, why errors occur, why the loading is slow, and when fixes can be made without the user even knowing.

Key takeaway

Despite that frontend is considered the most critical part of the user experience design process, it's not so. The backend is at the core of it all. An attractive, feature-rich app without strong backend development is like building a mansion on a sandy hill.