As a good UX designer, which practice should you consistently engage in?

In the practice of UX design, understanding the user is crucial. This involves gaining insights into the users' needs, preferences, behaviors, and pain points, which forms the foundation for designing effective user experiences. By knowing who your users are, you can tailor your designs to ensure that they are intuitive, accessible, and valuable to the target audience. This user-centered approach enhances usability, increases user satisfaction, and ultimately leads to a higher rate of product adoption and success.

Focusing solely on technical requirements, while important, can lead to solutions that are not aligned with user needs, potentially causing usability issues. Prioritizing brand aesthetics may create visually appealing designs but may not necessarily improve user experience if it doesn't resonate with the users’ expectations or needs. Analyzing competitor designs can provide insights, but it's essential that this is used to inform user-centered design rather than lead the entire design process. Hence, knowing the user encompasses a broader aspect of design thinking that integrates the other elements without losing sight of who the design is ultimately serving.