In order to solve a problem, a designer needs to understand it. This goal is mainly achieve by interacting with the stakeholders where is intending to answer questions like: Who are our users? What is the main goal? What is the message that is supposed to convey? What is considered a successful project?
Possible results: Project description and main goals.
The users should be the focal point of a User Experience Designer process. Talking, observe and asking questions is the best way to understand them in order to incorporate their goals, needs and expectations to the design process.
Possible results: User interviews, field observation.
On the other hand, a designer must be able to understand what has been done by others from a design and usability standpoint, thus allowing for a proper analysis and consequent lessons learned from its successes and failures. The goals, requirements and inspirations are part of the research and experimentation, where low-fidelity prototypes are created giving a sense of order.
Possible results: Interaction workflows, functional requirements specification and initial version of the mockups.
Having the low-fidelity prototypes is important to transfer ideas into something concrete, in order to collect feedback. The high-fidelity prototype should be as complete as possible in order to serve has a guideline to the implementation team.
Possible results: Mockups, Interaction workflows, High-fidelity prototypes.
The design and user interface guidelines can be applied in a variety of creative ways, but to get the users to understand what is presented and in fact appreciate the interaction, is a different story on its own. We are never sure until we get the users to validate our ideas. Testing is an important way to validate if the system meets the goals that were previously defined.
Possible results: Test Plan, Users recruitment, Test results, Next steps definition.
The biggest myth in the field of design, in my opinion, is that good design sells itself. A designer should be able to present the solution by explaining why is his/her decisions are able to solve a business problem. Besides presenting, the designer needs to be able to understand and interpret the client’s feedback.
