My process

My process?

Human-centric design. Design Thinking.
In short: Inspiration-Ideation-Implementation

Empathize; Define; Ideate; Prototype; Test;

Depending on the nature of the project, the client or industry this process might look different.
I see it as an elastic way of viewing the problem and methods of solving it. This might look like I’m only talking about UX here, however a lot of this thinking can be applied when working with UI and development.

Empathize

First we need to learn what the problem. For that we need to understand the user Generative/exploratory research is just that.
Using variety of tools and methods we generate understanding of who your customers are – as humans, not users, and that do they experience in their everyday lives.
This is covered by ‘Empathize‘ in Design Thinking – to observe and engage with users. At this stage we have:
  • Interviews
  • User observation
  • Heuristic analysis
  • Define user needs, vision & goals
  • Stakeholder mapping
  • User surveys
  • Gathering functional requirements
  • Usability testing
  • Competitive analysis and positioning

Define

Then we can use what we’ve learned, to scope a meaningful challenge – define the actual problem.
  • Creating actionable problem statement
  • Persona creation (ideally task based)
  • Defining user journey
  • Data analysis

Ideate

Having defined the problem, now we can ideate potential solutions to investigate and address the problem.
  • Brainstorming
  • Lo-fidelity mockups
  • Flow diagrams
  • Site mapping
  • Information Architecture
  • Interaction design
  • Wire framing
  • Mood boards
  • Design artefacts

Prototype

Now we can select best potential solution and prototype them…
  • Hi-fidelity mock-ups
  • UI design
  • Iterate
  • Defined type of scale
  • Specifications for development
  • Design System creation
  • Functional prototypes
  • Brand identity integration
  • Content and copy-writing

Test

…so that we can test the solution in the real world.
  • Gather feedback
  • Refine solutions
  • Moderated user testing sessions
  • Usability Testing
  • A/B testing
  • Analytics
  • User surveys
  • QA and testing

Tools

I’m getting a lot of questions about the tools I’m using. The thing with tools is that in digital world tools are changing quite a lot over time. Some becoming obsolete, some stays forever.
I’ve a got a wide selection of tools at my disposal, testing and trying new tools all the time.
Here is the rough list of design oriented tools.
  • Figma / Sketch / InVision Studio / Axure / Adobe Xd / Marvel – layout and interface design in general
  • Balsamiq / Wireframe.cc – lo-fidelity prototypes
  • ProtoPie / Origami / Framer – animated, interaction prototyping
  • Photoshop – serious raster image manupulation
  • Illustrator – great for working on single files, like icons preparation for web use.
  • InVision / Miro – collaboration, presentation, workshops
  • Optimal Workshop – UX research, card sorting, tree testing, click tests, user surveys
  • Monkey Survey / Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo) – user surveys
  • HotJar / Google Analytics – analytics, quanta data
  • Creately / draw.io / Visual Pradigm / Excel / Gsheets / LucidChart – diagrams, charts,
  • UXpressia – user personas (other software can be used for that as well – Figma, G docs, Sketch etc)
  • After Effects – animation anything

Have a question, or wish to discuss your project?

Feel free to reach out