User Experience Design Process

What is User Experience (UX)?

“User experience” encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

- Don Norman, Nielsen Norman Group

User experience (UX) design is the process of creating products that provide meaningful and personally relevant experiences. This involves the careful design of both a product’s usability and the pleasure consumers will derive from using it. It is also concerned with the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, including aspects of branding, design, usability, and function.

UX designers, or designers who are aware of the process of experience formation, seek to create and shape the factors influencing the process deliberately. To do this, a UX designer will consider the Why, What, and How of product use.

- Interaction Design Foundation

The UX Design Process

1. Define

Before you can build a something, you need to understand why it needs to exist and who will use it.

  • Stakeholder Interviews
  • Value Proposition
  • Concept Sketching
  • Kickoff Meeting

2. Research

Good research informs your decisions. When done early in the process this saves a lot of time further down the road.

  • Analytics Review
  • Content Audits
  • Heuristic Review
  • Surveys
  • Diary Studies
  • User Testing
  • Tree Testing

3. Analysis

Analysis of research confirms that the most important assumptions are valid.

  • Competetive Analysis
  • Card Sorting
  • Site Map
  • Affinity Diagrams
  • Personas
  • Journey Maps

4. Design

Now the design work comes into play. You want to ideate here. Sketch, make your wireframes, test, rework. Repeat.

  • Sketches
  • Flow Diagram
  • Wireframes (Lo-Fi, Hi-Fi)
  • Paper Prototype

5. Develop

Yay! Finally getting to the nitty gritty. Make sure you write clean code, mobile first! Remember, think simple.

  • Code
  • Mobile First!
  • Page Accessibility Check
  • Devices Check

6. Improve

Finishing is not the end point. You’ll want to test your new design once it’s in production. Learn how you can make it better. Set up a plan for improvements!

  • Analytics
  • User Testing
  • Set timeline for small improvements