My Design Process
Understand the Problem
The first step in my design process is to understand the project goals.
In this phase I will typically:
Define business goals. What do my stakeholders view as a successful outcome? How does this project affect our revenue model or operational costs?
Define design goals. What will users view as a successful outcome? What will it help them do?
Do some competitive analysis. What are other leaders in the field doing to solve this problem?
Talk with the engineering team. Are there any special constraints I should be aware of?
Understand the User
At the same time, I want to understand who will be using what I am designing. This is my favorite part of the process because I always learn something interesting and unexpected.
First I will talk to people at the company to see what we already know about our users and then I will propose research to fill in any missing knowledge gaps we may have.
Some tools I use to do this are: 1:1 interviews, customer journey maps, customer empathy maps, user personas, card sorting, tree tests, and surveys.
Build, Test, and Iterate
Once I understand what I'm designing and who the user is, it's time to come up with a solution.
Brainstorm ideas (the more the better)
Choose best ideas and build a prototype
Evaluate concepts with the team (business partners and engineers)
Evaluate the solution with users. Is it OK?
If not, go back to research or brainstorming with new knowledge gained.
If yes, the solution is ready to go to production and it’s time to create detailed directions to give to the final code team/manufacturer.