My Design Process

In my view, the UX design process comprises of five phases viz. Empathize or discovery phase, the definition space, the ideation phase, the prototype phase, and the test phase. Though I have mentioned these in sequential order, the project does not necessarily proceed in this sequential order as there is a lot of going back and forth between the phases.

In the discovery phase, I try to understand the domain I am dealing with. To do this, I use the following techniques: Firstly, I jot down my understanding, my concept, of the said domain. Then I try to understand if it aligns with the conventional understanding of the domain. If my understanding matches the conventional understanding, I prepare a mind map to understand the domain better. Secondly, I conduct desk research to get to know the domain. Doing this, I narrow down on a few articles that I think are most relevant and conduct a literature review to get to know the domain in more depth. Thirdly, I formulate an interview protocol and conduct interviews with the data collected from the secondary research. Observations are also conducted in the step. Amalgamating the data collected from secondary research, interviews, and observations by utilizing affinity mapping and other techniques, I narrow down on one subdomain and identify the problems in that subdomain.

After defining the problems and the subdomain, I prefer to conduct a second round of interviews to understand a problem and its immediate context in detail. However, if the problem is significantly evident in the first round of research, I usually tend to skip this step. This second round of interviews may also include a second round of literature reviews, affinity mapping, and empathy mapping. After this, I formulate a personas that accurately represents the target audience by utilizing the data collected from previous research.

The next step is ideation. This is where I try to ideate as many solutions as possible utilizing brainstorming and crazy 8’, and other techniques. After multiple ideations sessions, I narrow it down to 2-3 solutions. The narrowing down of these solutions is based on how they address the problem and a personal judgment of effectiveness. Utilizing the storyboarding and scenarios, I further narrow down to one solution.

After deciding on a particular solution, I tend to look back at the whole process, particularly the defined problem. This helps me determine the features I need to include in the proposed solution. This is also where I decide on information architecture. I create rough sketches of the solution and then move on to creating paper prototypes. These paper prototypes are further tested for usability issues by conducting think-aloud within the team and conducting heuristic evaluations and cognitive walkthroughs.

After the paper prototype, Figma and Adobe XD software’s are used to create high-fi wireframes. This is where the visual language of the application is finalized. And, after connecting the hi-fi wireframes together, a prototype is created. I tend to develop and follow a visual design system to keep the visual design consistent.

The final prototype is tested with experts and users through think-aloud sessions, observations, interviews, cognitive walkthroughs and heuristic evaluations. The findings from these testing are implemented into the proposed product.

Ultimately, I recheck if the proposed solution is resolving the identified problem, and if it does not, I identify where the gaps occurred and try to resolve those gaps.