Methodology of UX Design
As a Designer and a developer I always got asked “What process do you follow when designing apps and websites?”
In my second semester project, I did a UX design case study for a new brand “print customized” and I walked through all processes step-by-step until I reached the final prototype result.
My goal in this article is to explain the general strategy of UX design, the typical order in which phases take place, and the approaches used during each phase.
What is the UX process like?
Different projects require different approaches, for instance, we design an app differently than a website.
The process of “design thinking” is well-known among designers as an approach to UX. It consists of five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Almost all design processes are based on this concept.
For product design, we would follow a UX process with the following five phases:
- Defining the product
- Research
- Analysis
- Design
- User Testing
Defining the product
Understanding a product’s context for existence is the first step toward building one. The product definition phase sets the foundation for the final product. In this phase, as a UX designer, I need to brainstorm with stakeholders on the highest level to understand their approach.
This phase usually includes:
- Interviewing stakeholders to gain insight into business objectives.
- A value proposition map aims to identify what the product is, who will use it, and why they will use it. Defining the value proposition helps the team and stakeholders agree on what the product will be and how to match user needs with business goals.
- A concept sketch is an early version of the future product (often a low-fidelity paper sketch of the product’s architecture).
Product research
Once we’ve defined our idea, we move on to the research phase. This phase typically includes both user research and market research.
This phase can include:
- Individual in-depth interviews. In-depth interviews provide qualitative data about the target audience, such as their needs, wants, fears, motivations, and behavior.
- Competitive research. Research helps me understand industry standards and identify opportunities for the product within its particular niche.
Analysis
During the analysis phase, the intent is to establish “why” users want, think, and need what was discovered during the research phase based on the data collected during the research phase.
This phase of the UX process usually includes:
- Creating user personas. A persona is a fictional character that represents a specific type of user for your product. This will help us construct realistic personas for target audiences as we design our product.
- Creating user stories. A user story helps designers understand the product/service interactions from the user’s perspective.
Design
During this stage, the product team works on various activities, from creating information architecture (IA) to designing the UI.
The design phase usually includes:
- Sketching. Sketching is the easiest and fastest way to visualize our ideas. You can do this by drawing by hand on a piece of paper, on a whiteboard, or in a digital tool.
- Creating wireframes. A wireframe is a tool that helps designers visualize the basic structure of a future page, including the key elements and how they fit together.
- Creating prototypes. While wireframes are mostly about structure and visual hierarchy, prototypes are about the actual interaction experience
- Creating a design specification. Design specifications contain all of the visual design assets required for developers to turn prototypes into a working product.
User Testing
Testing is an essential step in the design process because it helps us understand whether their design works for their users. Usually, the validation phase starts after the high-fidelity design is ready since testing with high-fidelity designs provides more valuable feedback from end-users).
The validation phase of the UX process may include the following activities:
- It is essential that team members use the product on a regular basis, conducting routine operations, in order to discover any major usability issues.
- Testing sessions. User testing sessions with people who represent your target audience are very important.
- Surveys. Surveys are a great tool for capturing both quantitative and qualitative information from real-world users.
- Analytics. Quantitative data (clicks, navigation time, search queries, etc.) from an analytics tool can be very helpful to uncover how users interact with your product.
Conclusion
It’s impossible to apply a single solution to the UX design process. In any case, the end goal of each process is the same: to create an exceptional product for your users.
(p.s. All of the images we used were from print customized and I was responsible for all five stages of the UX process with the support of other team members.)
