Design QA Process

5 min readSep 28, 2022

Design QA (Quality Assurance) is an essential part of product development. It is different from the normal QA process because it focuses more on the visual design itself and its functionality, not normal bugs, and usually a UX designer would do it. Since designers are the ones to have hands-on involvement in the design stage of development, it makes perfect sense to make them part of the testing stage. It’s the process of reviewing visual designs, micro interactions, and copywriting by cross-checking the developed design vs. the handed-off design before production to spot any inconsistencies.

Goal:

The goal of a Design QA is to ensure that quality and expected design output are deployed during production.

What it solves:

Sometimes, after the developers finish the implementation, we see the result and discover a gap between the design and the execution. It can be because the developer used a different font size, color, etc. The design QA process fills this gap. It allows the designer to review the implementation and spot gaps between the design and the implementation. It may also turn up errors in the design.

There are many reasons why the Design QA stage is overlooked. A few reasons include:

Tight deadlines

There are always those jobs that need to be launched by yesterday, and in the battle of speed vs quality, there is usually only one winner. Design QA becomes seen as an optional “luxury” rather than a priority.

2. Lack of communication

In a digital agency, account and project managers generally increase efficiency by managing communication between the client and the team. Unfortunately, in the cases where there’s a lot of back and forth, lots of changes and a window of time that keeps getting smaller, someone may forget to tell the designer to check an update before the developer pushes a change live.

3. A “looks good enough to me” mentality

Not everyone has the obsessive eye for pixel perfection that a designer usually prides themself on. Sometimes the designer gets told to stop nitpicking and assess a build with mercy. Between the pressure of time and not wanting to be that demanding guy, corners may be cut.

The place of Design QA in a standard project workflow:

Why design QA is so important

If you’ve never seriously considered including designers in your design QA, here are a few facts that will inspire you to try it.

1. Effective collaboration within the team

When the testers are the only ones participating in the QA process, the team risks running into a broken telephone situation, where issues are reported along the chain. This, in turn, can lead to information being distorted and misunderstood. When the QA team includes not just testers, but also designers, the communication within the team can achieve maximum efficiency.

2. Little to no design debt

When you want to roll out the product as soon as possible with as many innovative features as you can, design often becomes an afterthought. This, in turn, leads to design debt. Regular design QA is one of the most effective ways to eliminate design debt since it allows you to nip the problem in the bud before it does any serious damage.

3. User satisfaction

The importance of UX Design for a positively received product cannot be overstated. A well-designed product will meet the goals set by the team and will ensure a high level of user satisfaction. This is why design QA in general and usability testing, in particular, should not be skipped in your quality assurance process.

Top 5 tips for setting up your design QA process

Ready to make some fundamental changes in the testing operations at your company? Here are 5 tips for giving a smooth start to the design and UI/UX testing process.

1. Start the design QA early

Giving a late start to the testing process continues to be one of the biggest challenges in the industry with a variety of negative consequences, including driving up the costs. Getting the designers involved from the very beginning will make the process more effective in terms of both costs and effort.

2. Get your priorities straight

The question of priorities will always come up sooner or later. Does your team care more about releasing the product as soon as possible or do you want to take the time to ensure it’s flawless before the release? Your answer will determine your approach to the process and the steps your team will take first.

3. Try every possible scenario

In addition to testing on a wide range of physical devices, you also need to take user scenarios into account. Using different scenarios is integral for effective design and interface testing. Before you begin the process, you need to have a comprehensive list of scenarios in which the users can potentially interact with your product.

4. Collect detailed feedback

Detailed feedback is what allows the QA design process to move forward and deliver results. Feedback can come from developers, designers, project managers, or even people who didn’t have any prior experience with the project. It’s also vital to pick one channel for delivering the feedback instead of constantly switching between email, messengers, and task managers.

5. Document everything extensively

Discovering the issues is only half the battle — documenting them and being very detailed is essential for resolving the existing problems and preventing them in the future. Being able to easily replicate the steps is part of every winning QA strategy.

Final thoughts

The important thing to remember is that QA is not an isolated process performed by a strictly limited number of testing team members. It’s a collaborative effort where every input matters and can lead to better results. Adding the design aspect to the mix helps ensure the quality of the product and helps it meet its goals, and that is why more and more companies are now doing it.