Our performance is directly connected to our UX design methodologies because well-defined processes avoid delays, rework, reduce risk, and ensure more assurance in delivered results.
To better understand our workflow, let's briefly explain the UX design methodology applied to our projects. Our workflow results from adopting several successful methods and approaches tailored to our organizational structure.
Traditionally, UX design (and its variables Interaction Design, User Interface Design, Information Architecture, etc.) is a deliverable-based discipline. Wireframes, sitemaps, flows, taxonomy, and another list of deliverables that we'll talk about throughout this post. Regardless of the deliverables, validating the projects as quickly as possible (internally and with users) is essential.
Constantly, in cycles with small deliveries, validations are carried out with the customer to collect as much feedback as possible about the business and then start working on a functional prototype with users to gather feedback on the interface and its functionality.
So you can test, fix quickly, test the second version, then the third and fourth, etc. These are the cycles that repeat.
UX design is an agile methodology inspired by the so-called "The Lean Startup" written by Eric Ries. This methodology proposes that the entire process is carried out with the whole team, from service and marketing to development, forming a multidisciplinary team with the same goal. This way, we spend more time thinking about the entire project, leaving more time to test working prototypes continuously. The goal is to get a working prototype to the end user as soon as possible, test and fix any bugs, and move on to the next version.
The project's benefits are the feedback analysis and the ability to make other adjustments to the product ahead of time. This approach is continuously applied in our projects, and each new feature always ensures the best user experience.
This methodology is wonderful for developing user-friendly interfaces. Let's create something together!
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Methodologies such as UX design preach that design is not a finite process and that multiple design phases are required for a product to be relevant and easy to use; design, launch, listen to users, and learn from this approach until a similar cycle begins.
Our work
The fusion of the concept described above (UX design) is interconnected to the tools of our Design Thinking methodology. Our workflow has been designed to eliminate refractions, optimize time and resources, ensure customer satisfaction, and provide tremendous and enjoyable user experiences. Explore the steps in our process and their respective deliverables.
1. Understanding
Many people consider the stage that we call understanding a pre-process, i.e., a stage before the beginning of the process, because it is crucial. Other agencies skip this stage, which affects the continuance of the process and thus the effectiveness of the delivered outcome. For us, understanding is the starting point. It is impossible to start a successful UX design project without knowing its peculiarities, audience, and competitors.
1.1. Data Collection
A well-designed UX design briefing, well-targeted interviews, credible secondary research, and well-executed primary research mark the beginning of the understanding phase. The goal here is to remove as many doubts as possible.
1.2. Roadmap
A roadmap is an action plan, a step-by-step workflow for developing a UX design project that includes phased delivery, coordination, and schedule planning. It clarifies the deadline and phase of each activity, allowing you to see the set of methods applicable to the project and the effort required to implement each point. With this Roadmap in hand, our team plans its activities, and you can systematically view the entire project's progress.
1.3. Customer Journey Map
This tool can identify all user touchpoints while performing any activity. It allows us to visualize how users interact through all the touchpoints with a product or service, helping us coordinate them more effectively to deliver a cohesive UX design for everyone. Mapping the user journey during the learning phase is essential so we can tell your story to the team or other decision-makers visually and holistically.
1.4. Competitive Analysis
It is the process of observing and studying products that are similar in behavior or content to the project we have begun to develop. Benchmarking analyzes the positives and negatives that should be considered when creating or proposing UX design solutions. Comparison tables are established between competitors, identifying which aspects make a good user experience and can be highlighted as differentiating factors of the developed project.
1.5. Features
This is the development plan of the project, with features that have been prioritized. It can be a spreadsheet, a chart, or a series of posts arranged on the dashboard. Creating a visual form of this map helps to share the strategic vision with the team and to see the critical path to reach the expected result.
1.6. Definition of Success
Success metrics can be a list of what will measure whether the project we are developing has achieved our client's goals. They must be tangible and measurable. Without these metrics, it isn't easy to calculate the project's return on investment (ROI) and its effectiveness.
2. Prototyping
A common and well-known step these days is that during prototyping, all the information designed in the previous step is transformed into clear and intuitive prototypes. It's always a continuous process. We are starting a long journey towards a significant result, reducing the uncertainty of a project dynamic and validating ideas through prototypes.
2.1. Flowchart
Also known as the average IQ sitemap above, a flowchart is where information flows are organized. This way, it's easier to understand the information transition on each screen. Flowcharts are fundamental to the practical side of the UX design project because, in addition, to understanding paths, they allow for more objective flows to be found to visualize certain sections or screens.
2.2. Build scenarios and use cases
This includes creating a complete list of all possible scenarios when a user interacts with the product in question: connected, not connected concatenation, first hit, etc. This task helps to ensure that all actions are possible in the system and to visualize the user behavior in each of the listed scenarios, thus increasing the prototype's efficiency.
2.3. Wireframes
More than just a visual presentation of your product, wireframes are a great way to capture ideas and create conversation among all project stakeholders. Built with white and gray blocks (representing the entire content of the website), with them we focus on UX design, navigation, ergonomics, and layout of the content. The wireframe is the floor plan of your website, and its purpose is to show the existing information hierarchy, screens, and navigational flow. Its simple structure allows adjustments to be made in a short time when needed. A wireframe can be done on paper or directly on the computer, in digital format.
2.4. Navigable Prototypes
They are a variation of the wireframe but with links between screens allowing you to click and navigate between them as if you were browsing the final UX design product. It can be used for different purposes, from being displayed in a usability test, for external validation, to making the project's internal audience more easily visualize how certainly designed architectures will work. There are now several tools that facilitate the construction of these prototypes, such as Figma, used by us.
3. Validation
It's time to put our prototypes to the test. Getting user feedback is the goal of this step of our workflow. The UX design methodology suggests that validation processes are fast, intuitive, and measurable. This is the time to make adjustments, see what works for the project, exchange information, and validate ideas from three main points of view, ours, our customers, and those of the users. The result of this step should be a wireframe mature enough to move on to the following steps, significantly reducing risk and user error in the final product.
3.1. Quantitative Research
The questionnaire is constructed with questions with a result of a number. It's a quick and easy way to measure customer satisfaction and gather feedback on the product. Quantitative surveys may reveal the need for additional in-depth research, but they are most effective when applied to public samples.
3.3. Usability Test
It's a personal interview with the user where he is asked to perform a series of tasks in a prototype or the final product. The researcher records their behavior and opinions as consumers interact with the product. Usability testing is used to validate processes, layout, functionality, and aspects of the product's usability.
3.4. Tag Sorting
A technique that asks users to group content and features into categories based on their perceptions. This approach provides a series of inputs, information, also known as inputs, of value to the team regarding the hierarchy, organization, and classification of project content. If the team finds that changes need to be made, they are implemented and retested.
3.5. A/B testing
Testing 2 versions of a product (A/B) provides authentication techniques against each other, providing alternative product arrangements to different users. The results are compared to determine which yields the best results. This is an excellent alternative to optimizing funnels and landing pages in projects.
3.6. Customer fit
Validating our ideas and early prototypes with the people involved in the UX design project is just as important as it is with the users. The validation process with internal stakeholders effectively gathers vision feedback from product owners who know the product's target audience best: the customer.
3.7. Feedback analysis
The feedback mechanism works like feedback to the project system. Through feedback, we get the information we need to map out the subsequent strategies, move on to the following steps, or go back to the previous step to make adjustments and corrections. By analyzing and reviewing the responses, we also arrive at the expected results.
4. Visual design
The visual design phase is concerned with the appearance of the product. At this stage, graphic and visual elements, text, and navigational elements are processed according to UX design principles. Keeping in mind the waterfall workflow, where each step is validated with you so the next step can begin, the visual designer will only start work once you have approved the prototypes.
4.1. Finding References and Inspiration
In the design process, finding visual references is of great importance. The original design team focused on finding a style and identity that complemented their original concept, organizing all of these references into inspiration folders. During this process, the best UX design ideas and solutions are born to complete the entire architecture defined for the product.
4.3. Visual Identity Design
Armed with loads of references, inspiration, mood boards, and creativity at their disposal, the team of designers embarked on the design of their visual identity. At this stage, styles, colors, fonts, graphic solutions, icons, and other visual aspects are studied and determined. Designers must ensure that there is a consistent and identifiable visual language throughout.
4.4. Design Interface
With the final wireframe in hand and visual identity defined, we transform all thinking strategies, proposed architecture, and validated functionalities into a beautiful and efficient interface. Interface design uses visual aspects to make user interaction as easy and effective as possible, in addition to being pleasant, intuitive, engaging, and straightforward. This is also where we look at responsive design, creating and arranging elements that work across all screen types and resolutions.
4.5. Validate with customers and users
Once the UX design product interface is complete, we introduce a new, quick step-by-step validation process. Presentations are made so you can understand our path with the proposed design solutions and the generated images. Staying in touch with customers allows for an effective response and meets their expectations. In some projects, the interface is also validated with user groups.
5. Development
Extremely technical, the development process uses specific languages to bring projects to life. In an ideal world, the person or team responsible for product development should be part of our workflow's earlier stages, using their experience to improve: implementation difficulty, structure best practices, tools, and other issues. Development should not lack UX design presence, and design should come with some development know-how. Involvement and follow-up of multidisciplinary teams and complementary experience is the secret to a successful stage of development.
5.1. Front End Development
In software architecture, there are many layers between the hardware and the end user. The user interface integrates the project, making the necessary connections for the system to work and be usable. It is an abstraction, simplifying the underlying component by providing a user-friendly interface. It is like developing the "shell" of a project, and it will be linked to a larger structure, the backend.
6. Launch
It's time to bring the UX design product to market. It's been a few months of hard work so far. Our workflow ends, but our client relationships last longer than months as we keep track of every outcome.
6.1. Tracking metrics
The metrics we identified at the beginning of the project will now be continuously tracked. Tracking results provide great feedback to everyone involved in the process, informing about development needs, new or no new versions of the product, and end-user satisfaction.
Conclusion
Building a UX design product is not a simple task. There must always be a plan, a project, and a team for this construction. Well-defined purpose and well-implemented processes allow us to work in a controlled environment, reducing risk and increasing assurance. Like the ones described above, methods exist to help us realize our full potential, challenge our initial assumptions, and improve with each new step. This evolution and the processes allow us to create products that perform well and are loved by all users.