Cookie Consent

By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information.

Cookie settings

What is OOUX?

Traditionally, digital product teams divvy up complexity by feature, user story, or task flow.
In essence, teams tend to break up complexity by the verbs. Unfortunately, this often leads to cobbled-together, disjointed user experiences.

Object-Oriented UX offers a better way to break up complexity, allowing us to work iteratively and holistically. Instead of slicing up a system by verbs, OOUXers slice by nouns. As it turns out — this is how developers work too — object-orientedly. Leveraging the processes of OOUX, UX teams can collaborate more seamlessly with development teams. 

It's not only developers that are breaking up complex systems by objects. All humans think in objects —designers, end-users, and those who painted the caves of Chauvet. So, as we make our user experiences more object-oriented, we also make them more intuitive.

Want to know more? Check out our OOUX Getting Started Playlist.

Stay up to date on the latest in OOUX news

We are hard at work on new content outlining the steps of the ORCA process (Objects, Relationships, Calls-to-action, and Attributes). This repeatable OOUX design methodology was developed to give design pros like you the "power tools" you need for breaking down complexity reliably and collaboratively.

Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when we publish this content!

Sign up for the OOUX Newsletter

Certified OOUX Strategists define OOUX

To me OOUX is...

OOUX is a secret weapon for breaking down complexity. It is a philosophy for designing digital systems that respects the fact that people think in objects. OOUX helps users by focusing on consistency in recognizable objects.

To me OOUX is...

If we had to boil OOUX down to its simplest form, it would be “objects first.” OOUX prioritizes the objects and, consequently, simplifies an app’s creation and design as well as its experience. “Well-defined leads to well-designed.” I think that’s the best way to describe the ORCA process. After all the work you spend on the objects and honing in on the fine details, the result is an experience that is easier to navigate and understand because it reflects real world spaces and objects. OOUX helps the design/developer team distill what’s really important and build environments in a simpler, more user-friendly way that better matches what users would expect if the environment were in real life.

To me OOUX is...

a bridge between research, design, and information architecture. It's a rigorous approach to planning design by thinking about what's being packaged, not just the package. It can inform design systems, helping to make them more efficient, consistent, and intuitive. It’s a powerful way to work with stakeholders to get meaningful input at the right time and get everyone on the same page.

To me OOUX is...

a philosophy helping us dissect a complex system into its components and build it again in a more understandable manner. Objects are everywhere around us and this is how we perceive the world: through objects. Yet, when we start working: coding, designing, writing and guiding users, we seem to forget about the objects and dive directly into how things can be achieved before we have a good understanding of what these things really are.

To me OOUX is...

a framework to organize complexity. Designing with objects helps a designer organize the system in a way that will match users mental models. It will match because objects relate to how people see or experience things in the real world.

To me OOUX is...

a design methodology that allows us to design software that aligns with humans' mental models of concrete, real-world objects. It's exciting because it allows us to easily and effectively tackle systems at any level of complexity, and inherently results in systems that are more usable/intuitive, as well as more scalable and maintainable.

See all testimonials

Praise for OOUX

Fundamental training for Product Designers

OOUX is fundamental training for Product Designers architecting complex digital spaces suited to user's mental models. Divert those conference dollars wisely and choose to complete an OOUX Certification instead and I guarantee you'll see an improvement in your design process. The versatility of the framework will give you better tools for stakeholder engagement and systematically designing more intuitive digital environments. All that and you will be learning from a very engaged community of experts. I knew I had already received 10x what I paid for within a couple of weeks - and I'm sure you will find that to be the case as well.

An entirely new way to think about my work

The OOUX was not what I expected. The course has been consuming, challenging, and rewarding. The Object-Oriented UX certification is not a boot-camp filled with straightforward questions and answers. When I enrolled in the course, I expected to learn some concepts and philosophies that I would apply to the early stages of my design process. I didn't expect to learn an entirely new way to think about my work. Sophia is patient, fair, knowledgeable, helpful but also will not compromise her standards. This certification is just the beginning. If you are willing to open yourself up to learning new concepts, structures, and how to apply them, this course is for you. It is not easy, but rewarding things rarely are.

Helps break down and communicate complexity

The philosophy has helped me so much! It's helped me break down and communicate complexity and opportunities for improvement. I think it's such a valuable process to go through when working on any new system and can help reconsider structures in current systems. I will continue to use this for my career and life!

Powerful tool to get stakeholders on the same page

As a former small business owner turned UX designer, I was looking for a strategy to get a solid start on each new project. I wanted a framework for understanding the whole system, how all the parts relate, and how it might grow, so I could feel confident I wasn't missing key functionality.

OOUX helps you think through what you need to design before jumping into user flows and screens. By asking "What objects are important here?" and "What can users do with them?" you can build extremely robust contextual navigation. The process is a powerful tool to get stakeholders on the same page and clarify tricky questions up front. Using recognizable and reusable objects across a site or app greatly simplifies the final designs and reduces cognitive load for users. I love OOUX because it's a systematic way to work with stakeholders and create a truly intuitive user experience.

Emphasizes how to design intuitive solutions

My mind has been blown over this course. I have a completely different perspective on digital based design than I did a couple months ago. We interact with digital products everyday and, at least speaking from personal experience, have become complacent when things do not make sense or go as planned. This course has taught me that complacency should not be the standard in digital products! I now experience digital systems from an analytical perspective and think about how things are (or at least should be) interconnected. I would recommend this course to anyone that works in the digital design field. OOUX is a process that can be applied to any digital project and emphasizes how to design intuitive solutions.

A blueprint for understanding

In the tech industry, where one is expected to fill the role of many and everyone is a UX designer, OOUX is your organization’s blueprint for understanding the depth and breadth of your product’s system. The ORCA methodology that Sophia teaches has upgraded my technical writing and product design skills. I use OOUX as a tool to guide the process of creating project requirements, screen mockups, and technical documents.

See all testimonials