PROCESS
Phases and evaluation
In my experience the UX design process is composed of two key components.
The product life cycle. There exists a road map for any project from a vague idea to a finished product. It does not matter if the project spans 2 weeks or 3 years. Every project or release is in a certain phase of its life cycle. Understanding exactly where you are within a project’s life cycle is critical to effective UX design.
Understanding this point in time determines what UX techniques to use and when. It tells you which artifacts at what fidelity are appropriate. It gives you a timeline so you can diverge and converge your iterations effectively. It indicates what role you should be playing at what time in collaboration with others. It aligns design and research with the product development process.
Evaluation metrics. A well-organized UX organization should have a set of core metrics to measure confidence in product viability and quality. Such an organization should also have an evolving set of core UX principles that incorporate the goals of the organization, current design thinking, usability heuristics and other relevant considerations. From there fundamental metrics and principles can be interpreted and extended to meet the unique needs of a particular audience, situation or application.
Introduction
The Product Life Cycle
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INCEPTION PHASE The inception phase starts when a project or feature is born. It could be somethihg very vague, e.g. "We need an app for our older audience" to something more specific, e.g. "We need to add cloud sharing to our photo app". The specificity of the question determines the approaches you might use to answer it. | |
| Question: | What are we going to build? |
| Deliverables: | Initial specs, feature set, basic flows and wireframes |
| Activities: | Qualitative research, ethnographic research, competitive research, lateral thinking, organizational exercises, role playing exercises, exploratory design, information and organizational analysis, prototyping |
| Artifacts: | Research summaries, mood boards, mood boards, clippings, affinity diagrams, storyboards, journey maps, thumbnail sketches, wireframes, low-fidelity prototypes, inspirational mockups and presentations |
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ELABORATION PHASE The elaboration phase is where reality hits. All of the conceptual work and research from the inception phase must be transformed into a feature-complete, usable, delightful product. At the end of this phase the development team needs clear specifications and guidance to build every detail correctly. | |
| Question: | How are we going to build it? |
| Deliverables: | Final specs, final mockups, redlines, prototypes, graphic assets, style assets |
| Activities: | Lab studies, surveys, A/B and flight testing, low-fidelity and high fidelity UI design, prototype testing, style and aesthetic determinations. |
| Artifacts: | Research findings, wireframes, workflows, mockups, prototypes, redlines, design assets and style specifications |
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CONSTRUCTION PHASE Now it is time to build things. Some UX designers may think their work is mostly done after the elaboration phase, but is far from done. It is critical that the designer stay fully engaged with the development team, providing them whatever support or clarifications they may need. More importantly, the entire project team should be monitoring the state of the UI across successsive builds, keeping a keen eye on such things as detail accuracy, responsiveness, and transitions. In certain situations it may be possible to add new functionality or make targeted improvements in an opportunistic way. Having a good working relationship with the development team allows this to happen. | |
| Question: | How is the project coming together? |
| Deliverables: | Design assets, front-end code (where helpful), bug filing, bug resolution, additional mockups and/or redlines. |
| Activities: | Build monitoring, bug triage and resolution, targeted feature design, monitoring early user feedback. |
| Artifacts: | User feedback, supplemental mockups and redlines, resolved and triaged design bugs |
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DELIVERY PHASE The delivery phase contains the final steps before release. Design, product management and development work through the final bugs approved for release. Design, product management and marketing work together to craft a narrative aligned to the goals of the product. | |
| Question: | Are we ready for show time? |
| Deliverables: | Final bug resolutions, design assets for marketing collateral, sharing of goals, blog posts, media releases |
| Activities: | Final build monitoring and bug triage, product messaging |
| Artifacts: | Marketing collateral, product story lines, feature summaries, product goal summaries |
Evaluation criteria
There are four pillars of UX product quality that can be used to constantly evaluate a project from inception through delivery.
| U | Useful |
| A useful product or feature is more than a plausible scenario. The scenario must be supported with evidence, such as user interviews, competitive parity or the opportunity to simplify a set of tasks. It is not enough to ask users if something would be nice to have, as the answer is almost always yes. |
| D | Desirable |
| In addition to be clearly useful, a product or feature should have evidence of desirability, both in the functional and aesthetic meanings of the word. Research and feedback should show an interest and/or a preference. The aesthetics should be on brand, true to principles, and meet user expectations of quality and craftsmanship. |
| U | Usable |
| Usability is more than success at tasks in a usability test. If you are introducing a new concept or interaction, have alternatives been tested? Does one design approach lead the eye to the solution faster than another? |
| P | Principled |
| Principles are not specific to design. They are the DNA that helps all disciplines in a company make decisions together. While often rooted in common sense UX principles, principles also are rooted in a company and its brand. Some examples: Reducing concepts, trusting users to find their way, sacrificing unpolished features for the common good, etc. |
These four pillars can be extended for the needs of a particular project. For example, a visual design team could create a set of specific visual or personality principles that stem from and align with the common principles. Research can help focus attention on what is useful and desirable for a particular user segment.