First, I find out what the project could and should be.
Discovery
The first phase entails learning who, how, why, what, where and when people will use or see the product.
Once I understand the goals, context-of-use, and constraints, I move on to the next step, ideation—this is an exercise in which I think about what would make a great experience for me, as a user, without being influenced by the competitive landscape or access to the internet. This includes paying attention to every little detail that could subtly enhance the user experience and create ideas that might be out of the original scope of work, but which could still be presented as up-sells or future iterations.
Once I have established a vision of what the user experience could and should be, I proceed with carrying out a market survey. This is equally important to my own creative process as it allows me to identify trends, see what’s intuitive and expected, learn from others, and develop my own recommendations.
When necessary, I also conduct additional research for further ideas, insight, and validation. Some of my favorite UX methods are performing Card Sorting, Customer Journey, and Design Studio sessions. All involve bringing stakeholders together, engaging and leveraging their expertise and knowledge, to achieve a greater understanding and broader buy-in of a project and overall experience.
Next, I design, prototype and test it.
Design
To channel ideas and visualize how screens and flows could look and interact, I start the design phase by creating tissue sketches. By first using a pen instead of the computer, I save time that will be put to better use in the actual project. This step is important, as it enables me to enter the design phase informed and with a strong, holistic understanding of how things could be structured (and why).
In general, my design philosophy is that less is more. If something doesn’t add value, I remove it. I always try to make experiences pleasant, intuitive, and easy-to-use. I can accomplish this by making sure that the content is digestible, intent is explicit, and that there is an obvious visual hierarchy.
However, if the project warrants it, I start by translating what I have learned into wireframes. Its benefit is that it allows me to flush out used cases, address breakpoint views, uncover usability issues, and get stakeholder agreement before executing the more thorough high fidelity mocks.
At any stage of the design process, it can also be advantageous to perform concept testing by building a prototype and getting user feedback. This is valuable since it allows for improvements to be made before any developer resources are needed, and it helps to limit and safeguard against negative customer impressions down the line.
Last, I help coordinate and oversee the implementation, analytics and future iterations.
Development
The third and final phase entails developing and testing it again. Here, I help coordinate and implement the design with the developer(s), by providing them with my creations (often consisting of the source file, style guide, assets, and a prototype) and performing one or several design reviews. An advantage of having the developer(s) involved from the beginning of the process is that they already know what the project and design structure is about, and are therefore engaged and feel a sense of investment.
Once we have developed our MVP—which is typically the case and often a good thing—and tested it thoroughly, we can finally go live. The best thing to do at this point is to analyze the stats, listen to user feedback, iterate, and test it over and over again.
That said, I love A/B testing. Not just because optimization and testing are important keys to success, but also because design never stops. After all, all design can be improved upon if you understand how the service is being used in practice. A notion I hold dear.