PROCESS
Ahh.. The wonderful world of creating software! The enjoyable dance of pen touching paper, and fingers tapping trackpads.
I find my process moving and shaking as fast as our beloved British weather, but there is a consistency in its core. That - my friends - I share with you here.
DISCOVERY
Every project begins with discovery - whether that’s understanding the business requirements, company strategy or qualitative and quantitive analysis (surveys, user testing, analytical data etc.). At this stage, we’re really getting into the nooks of how and why our customer is doing/experiencing/feeling the way they do. Who are they?! What’s going on here?
DEFINING THE CONCEPT
Once we have a grasp on who we’re designing for and the constraints of the project, we can move into defining our play zone. This is where we’re exploring the use cases, scenarios and journeys. Any process flows are defined, and the holistic experience can be mapped out. High level information architecture will start to form, and early sketches will be jotted down.
DESIGN
In most real world projects, this where the largest chunk of time is spent. Here we are designing out the sitemap / IA, creating wireframes, prototyping and getting to grips with a design solution that fits the needs we discovered earlier in the process. All the while, iteratively designing, and going back to the first 2 stages if and when needed.
VALIDATE
Testing a design solution can be done in variety of ways— from peer reviews, stakeholder feedback all the way to prototypes being validated with guerrilla usability testing on the streets! When validating the product design, we are also keeping an eye on technical feasibility.
BUILD
I’ve sat alongside developers and visual designers to build numerous UI’s and products over the years. Given my background in both design and development, I can have high level discussions and offer pixel perfect feedback to my peers. I enjoy translating the why we’re doing what we’re doing, in context to each component, page or flow. Furthermore, I am a champion for the user experience whilst balancing the business needs.
I hope that’s given you a glimpse into my ever evolving process!
My favourite project so far is a Health Tech company I founded, Pillow. Check it out.