I've been immersed in the world of UX Design (or Product Design if that floats your boat) for over 8 years now.
What really gets me going is the entire journey of a project – from diving deep into user interviews, Quantitative (for example surveys, unmoderated tests using Maze, NPS Surveys) and Qualitative Research (for example User Interviews) and dynamic workshops to hashing out problems with the team using UX principles. Then real fun begins as we bring these solutions to life through digital whiteboards, wireframes, and cool prototypes. But the real magic? That happens when you join forces with the users themselves.
Collaborating with users lets me peek into their world – I get their struggles, what clicks with them in our creations, and those opportunities to surprise and delight.
What really gets me going is the entire journey of a project – from diving deep into user interviews, Quantitative (for example surveys, unmoderated tests using Maze, NPS Surveys) and Qualitative Research (for example User Interviews) and dynamic workshops to hashing out problems with the team using UX principles. Then real fun begins as we bring these solutions to life through digital whiteboards, wireframes, and cool prototypes. But the real magic? That happens when you join forces with the users themselves.
Oh, and I've got this knack for strategy too. I can't help but envision how features could rock the market, how they might play out in sales, and how users could totally crush it using that feature.
Keep reading to learn more about my process.
Much like the design thinking process we have come to know in the User Experience (UX) industry, you'll find me participating in these key steps as I work to create experiences that inspire and most of all, help users with what they need to get done.
Every design should start with an element of user empathy, not only for the user's experience using the product/service but also for how they would access it and feel after using it. Each app has a key goal in mind, but it is important to always keep the user at the center of the experience, which I why I start with discussing the key goals of the project with clients and users early on in the process. This could be through user interviews trying to identify pain points in their daily lives (surrounding the area being studied as well as generally) but also through surveys which can help uncover users who may be more suitable for testing later on if time is limited in a project.
Whenever I approach a design project I feel it is very important to research not only the users of the product but also the competitors and common design patterns to see how issues have been resolved in the past. This allows for a much more focused design process. Once this has been determined I progress on creating Personas and the user flow of the product.
During this phase, I like to propose design ideas to the client and or users and see how they feel, whether these will meet the goal they set out to meet or whether they are straying from it. I also like to discuss these potential solutions with peers in the office and gather their thoughts on the matters as well, keeping these in mind for the prototyping phase. This is also where I engage with the front and back end development teams to get a good understanding of technical limitations and opportunities for the solution being designed.
Most of my design ideas I like to start mapping out with a pen and a sketchpad. This allows for a quick actualization process to see whether the solutions will work or not. I prefer this method as it allows for faster iterations. The more solid of these ideas get made into lo-fi wireframes which I put into InVision (when working in Sketch) or directly making them in Figma.
Once I have a prototype ready, lo-fi, or a higher fidelity design, I like to get it in front of users and see how they interact with it. It is then after this process in recording my findings that I ask them about their experience, what they liked, and what they found confusing. I also ask contextual questions to ensure that the tasks make sense not only in order but as a part of the wider feature/product. This can take a few attempts in the real world as different people interact with products for different purposes or with different goals. If something big isn't working out, then I move back to the Ideation phase, thinking up new ideas but not leaving out the user in solutions that may arise.