My Design Process
My design process varies slightly depending on the nature of the project at hand. Am I redesigning an existing product, creating a new product from scratch, adding new features to an already existing product?
However, a few steps remain consistent in most of my projects. And those steps, make up my design process.
My design process is a slight modification of the design thinking process. I like the design thinking framework because it is straightforward, easy to follow and it helps me be more creative.
The Design Thinking framework
Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success. [1]
“Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. Involving five phases — Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test — it is most useful to tackle problems that are ill-defined or unknown.” [2]
I like this framework particularly because it helps tackle poorly defined problems by creating solutions that lead to user satisfaction while integrating the possibility of technology, and meeting business requirements.
Other Frameworks
Apart from design thinking, there are other design frameworks like;
- The double diamond
- Hooked model
- Lean UX
- Agile UX
- BASIC Framework
- The UX Honeycomb
- The Fogg Behavior Model
My UX Design Process
It is important that I carry stakeholders and users along through every step of the design process and specifically at key junctures. This is why I make it a point to review and test at multiple points during the process. As a result, my design process looks like this;
- Understand
- Define
- Review and iterate
- Ideate — Sketches
- Prototype — Low fi, High Fi
- Test and iterate
- Handoff to development
- Launch
- Review, test, and iterate
The steps in detail
1. Understand or empathize
This is where I try to understand the product to be built, the problem to be solved, and the users for whom it is being solved. I conduct research to better understand the users, the problem, and how it affects their lives. I also try to figure out how they currently solve this problem and what can be improved about this existing solution.
For quantitative research, I create simple surveys on google forms and share this with potential users for their feedback. Qualitative research methods I may use include guerilla testing, user personas, empathy maps, jobs-to-be-done frameworks, user journey maps, affinity diagrams, user interviews, and card sorting.
2. Define
In this stage, I analyze the data and feedback from the research and try to come up with key problem statements that can be solved or identify key areas where we could make a huge impact. It also helps to adjust the mindset and set expectations for later stages. Typically, I do this in conjunction with other stakeholders from the business and technology teams. A good problem statement would be something like, how might we make the checkout process shorter for our users? For this, I like to use the good ol’ marker pen and sticky notes.
“A problem well stated is a problem half solved.” — Charles Kettering
3. Review and iterate
Here, I review the problem statement with the business stakeholders to ensure we are all on board with what needs to be done. I might find out that the problem statement is not right and I need to understand the users better or define the problem better. I quickly go back to the previous stages to carry out more research and analyse the data. Then I make changes and iterate as necessary.
4. Ideate
Now that we have defined our problems to be solved or identified key areas where we could make a huge impact, I try to come up with ways we can address the problem. This stage can be very exciting as it allows plenty of freedom for creative expression.
Some methods I use here include; crazy eights, sketches, card sorting, user-flow mapping, storyboarding, and mind mapping.
5. Prototype
After coming up with a number of ideas and sorting them according to feasibility in light of available resources and constraints, I proceed to create wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes on Figma.
Next, I create high-fidelity prototypes that look like the final product and add some meaningful interaction to prepare it for testing.
Occasionally, I may carry out some review with the stakeholders between the low and high-fidelity prototypes to reduce the number of changes that may need to be made later.
6. Test and iterate
Now that I have a few promising prototypes, I proceed to test with the users to see their feedback. These tests help me make decisions on which option to proceed with if there is more than one option. It also helps me validate my assumptions about what works and what needs improvement.
Specifically, I use a note-taking tool like Notion to prepare a few questions that I want to ask the users and compile a couple of tasks for them to perform. I may also have the stakeholders invited to share input, insight, and questions they would like to have answered. Also, I want to see how well the prototype solves the problem that we are looking to solve.
Depending on the feedback from the tests, I make adjustments and then test again. I do this once or twice until I have something that works. Typically, one or two iterations are enough to help me proceed to the next step.
7. Hand off to development
Phew! It has been a wonderful run and now I am ready to hand off my designs to the dev team to start coding and building. A designer's work is never finished though, so I get to stick around and be on standby.
Where possible, I also test the product in a staging environment to see how well it works in development and make quick changes as necessary.
8. Launch and feedback
The standard practice is to launch the product in-house for testing for bugs and to be sure the product works as intended. Then we enlist a group of people to test the product to do further testing just to be sure it works and it solves the problem it was intended to solve.
I gather the feedback, especially the ones around usability, and take it to the next step.
9. Review, test, and iterate
Here, I analyse all the feedback from the usability tests to see what works and what can be improved. I also review metrics with the business stakeholders to see how well the product is meeting business goals. Following this, I iterate to improve the product.
Design is a continuous process and there is always something that can be improved, this is why I continuously go back to the earlier steps after one round of iteration or review to make adjustments based on feedback from stakeholders review or testing with users.
And that is a “summary” of my design process.
Following a process makes my work faster and reduces the need for back and forths. It may appear more tedious than just “diving in” but it helps to have a process, especially when designing products for industries I may not be familiar with.
References
[1] Design Thinking Defined https://designthinking.ideo.com
[2] What is Design Thinking? https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking
