Creating a research plan helps to keep the research goals in mind while working through a project. It helps keep everyone on the same page regarding timeframes and objectives, while keeping the focus on the users needs, behaviors and motivations. With research we are able to identify problems and through analysis provide proposed solutions. This is a cyclical and iterative process that will continue through listening, observation and putting forth solutions.

This method is essential to understand everyone’s expectations for the project by defining user needs, business goals, technical limitations, understanding their vision, and earning trust and buy in. This is a great way to keep everyone on the same page.

I love Design Thinking workshops! Design Thinking can be thought of as an extension of the Scientific Method. It was created as a way to make the creative process repeatable. By using this extremely user-centric iterative process framework, users and designers can tackle big, complicated problems in product development and come up with some unexpectedly creative and specialized solutions.

Once we complete all the fun activities, we need to create a coherent summary of all the data gathered during our research. The goal is to make the individual learnings group knowledge by sharing it out in an easily digestible format. We highlight learnings that surprised us, made us curious, or verified or falsified our assumptions. From here we can start to prioritize goals, define the problem and hypothesize solutions.

Getting first hand input from our users through workflow discovery we can ask more specific questions about how our users are using a system and what their needs and desires may be.

By acquiring additional first hand input from our users using structured observation we are able to see how they may use an existing system or something similar.

Through co-creation, we are able to allow our users to design as system with us that will more directly meet their needs.

Once again, we need to create a coherent summary of all the data gathered during the user research. The goal is to make the individual learnings group knowledge by sharing it out in an easily digestible format. We highlight learnings which surprised us, made us curious, or verified or falsified our assumptions. From here we can refine our prioritized goals, define the problem and hypothesize solutions.

Based on the user interviews and research, we are able to create personas of our target users. Personas help the designer and other members of the team empathize with our end users. They allow us to step outside of ourselves and realize that different types of people in different roles have different needs and expectations.

Journey maps help us gain an understanding of all the various touch points a persona may have with our product or touch points that lead to decision points in interacting with our product. Through this we can gain insights into how users experience our product based on their unique goals and motivations.

By utilizing all the information we’ve gathered thus far, we can lead the team in creating a product vision. By creating a product vision, the reason for creating the product, we are able to guide everyone involved in making the product a success. It should be the statement of the overarching goal we are aiming for, the reason for creating the product. It should act as the product’s true north, providing motivation when the going gets tough, and facilitating effective collaboration.

A product roadmap is a high-level visual summary that maps out the vision and direction of your product offering over time. Creating a product roadmap with your team is an essential plan of action for how a product or solution will evolve. When used in agile development, a roadmap provides crucial context for the team's everyday work, and should be responsive to shifts in direction in order to execute the product strategy.

A service blueprint is the visualization of the interaction of our company's service components — people, props (physical or digital evidence), and processes — that are directly tied to both front stage and backstage touch points in a specific customer journey. It’s a map of the internal workings of our organization throughout the customer’s journey.

Drawing inspiration from the world around us is crucial. Nobody immediately has all the answers mapped out in their head. Seeing what others are doing well and maybe not so well will help guide and inspire the next level of the work, and the solution to the problem at hand.

Creating a storyboard is a way to visually map out all the insights and observations you’ve gathered from the users so that we can help define their flow and experience with the product.

​Sketches will help further define the interfaces they will be interacting with during these flows.

Wireframes are a visual representation of the user interface, stripped of any visual design or branding elements. We use them to define the hierarchy of items on a screen and communicate what items, based on user needs, should be on the page.

Mockups and Prototypes are a quicker and easier way to get the product out for feedback, testing and refinement. They are essential for resolving usability issues before launch. It can also reveal areas that need improvement. The beauty of prototypes is that they allow UX and UI designers to explore undiscovered avenues to reach a cohesive final design.

Utilizing the mockups and prototypes, there are various forms of testing that can be completed. Whatever method, this step is essential to assure we are getting closer to the “truth” of what a user needs and desires in the product. Testing early during the design process allows us to prevent future re-design and development costs and to launch a user-friendly product that has been vetted by those who will be using it.

Continued testing throughout the lifecycle of the product allows iteration and improvement as out customers values and needs change over time.