PIECES OF A PROCESS

There’s no one-size-fits-all plan for every project, but some things always make sense.

  • Who are our users?

  • What problem are we trying to solve?

  • What resources are available?

  • Define done.

  • How will we measure success?

THE CREATIVE BRIEF

  • What do our users have to say?

  • Has this been solved before?

  • What can we build given the timeline, technology, and resources available?

  • What other user experiences are connected to this?

RESEARCH AND EVALUATE

Start simple; sketch

Share

Adjust

Test

Share

Repeat until done

DESIGN

  • Keep the team together. Adjust the design as things get too difficult to build.

  • Check the build. Make sure the thing we designed is the thing that gets built.

  • Make a list of design debt for future projects.

BUILD

RELEASE, WATCH, ADJUST

  • Launch

  • Measure results

  • Identify opportunities to improve

  • Start again at the beginning

and…

Have a short and long-term plan

A design strategy helps guide and prioritize projects - if you don’t have a formal one, you don’t have to make it a huge project. Outline what your audience needs from you, and prioritize the improvements you want to make.

We’re all designers

Every team should be represented in customer experience design projects. Include a lot of voices throughout the design process and you’ll minimize expensive changes downstream.

Don’t recreate the wheel

Use a design system unless a there's a good reason not to. A design system could start with just looking at similar components in other places.