User experience is such a popular term in today’s digital industry that everyone uses it freely. As a result, definitions are mixed up, and methodologies are misused. It’s therefore essential to debunk a persistent misconception.

We tend to assume that people who will use the products we’ve designed are just like us. When non-UX professionals speak of what they believe is a better user experience, they often refer to their own experience. While they only have one example of someone using the interface… themselves.

And this is dangerous thinking. The real people who use your site or app every day are not like you, even if you are one of them. Your needs, problems, and understanding of the experience are different. That’s why it’s crucial to keep one thing in mind: “You are not the user.”

You can’t learn anything about users if you work with your own assumptions.

The false-consensus effect refers to people’s tendency to assume that others share their beliefs and will behave similarly in a given context. Only people who are very different from them would make different choices.

And by this, we mean real users, not your colleagues. Know who your users are and test how they respond to your designs by seeing them use those designs.

So don’t make assumptions. When you do user research, you can provide your users with the best solutions because you have discovered precisely what they need.