Process

Inform

Great ideas come a need, a want, a struggling moment… from people, from a desire for things to be better. I find great value in listening to the voice of your audience. What are they saying? What are they crying out for? The root of my UX process starts here, with quantitative data, with qualitative feedback, with people.

Identify

I believe that meaningful ideas cannot flow until you get the root of the need or problem. What is the struggling moment? What are the barriers and gaps? If you had a magic wand, what would be the ideal state, and how do we get there?

Ideate

Before i push a pixel, I put a pen to paper, or a marker to a whiteboard, whatever the case calls for. I like to start with words… First, I like to describe the current experience, and then think about which words best describe what we want the improved experience to be. I use these as a source of truth when sketching out ideas and laying out designs. I’m also a huge supporter of collaboration and working with a group to gain variety in perspectives and experience that can lead to new ideas and directions. Great ideas can come from anyone.

Test

Test early, and test often. Most of the time, you are not your audience… You may know them well, and can make assumptions in the way they think and act, but don’t pretend to be them. Instead, learn from them. Watch, listen, and take copious amounts of notes.

Iterate

Don’t expect to get it right or perfect the first time… (it’s OK, I promise). Double down on what went well, and pay extra attention to what didn’t. Listen to feedback, remove the barriers, fill in the gaps, redesign, and retest.

Implement

Alright, so it’s still not perfect? Close is better than never or nothing. Get it in front of your audience, and be open to experimentation, and even failure. It’s true you can’t fail without trying, but you can’t succeed either. Fail fast, and try to fail forward.