My Design Process
Having been classically trained in the science community a majority of my education has geared me to tackling and solving problems via the Scientific Method. The Scientific Method is compiled of multiple steps that when followed help you determine potential solutions for any number of problems. First, you start with asking a question followed by conducting research based around the initial question you are asking. Once you have completed the research step you analyze the data you have thus far and begin to for a hypothesis. A good example is to see it as, “If I do this, then this will happen.” Once you have established a hypothesis you need to test it. Your experiment tests whether your prediction is accurate and thus your hypothesis is supported or not. Once you’ve tested your hypothesis you need to collect your data and analyze whether or not the results confirm your hypothesis. If your data does not confirm your initial hypothesis then you need to refocus your hypothesis and retest. One thing to note is that it is extremely important to communicate your results through each step of the process. This ensures that everyone with a vested interest can see and understand the natural flow of the process which is largely beneficial for all parties involved.
In the design community, the process for solving problems is eerily similar to that of the Scientific Method. When engaging in a standard design process you go through several steps to ensure that your end result is a viable product. A good designer will first be empathetic and attempt to see the problem through the eyes of the user. Being empathetic is a very important part of the process. Being able to conduct research and attempt to get in the shoes of your user will greatly help you in the long run. Following the empathize phase you have your definition phase. This is where the designer will begin to focus their research and implement personas based off of the user needs. The ideation phase then follows the define phase. The ideation phase is where you actually start getting ideas down on paper with the use of 10x10’s (sketches), card sorts, and user flows to name a few. From here designers will typically follow into the prototyping phase where you take what information you have to that point and create everything from low-fidelity mockups to high-fidelity interactive prototypes. Now we are reaching a point in the process where we have deliverables for the client. However, the process doesn’t stop here. Any good designer will always test their work to make sure that it does not have any flaws that would be exposed once it’s released to the user. Once you are satisfied with the results of the testing phase you can move into the final stage of the design process, implementation. It goes without saying that this is where you take your final product and release it to your client for implementation. It should go without saying that there are often times in this process that the design team must circle back to a previous step and fix any issues that were found along the way.
What I have done is integrated certain processes within the Scientific Method into my design process. I’ve done this in order to ensure that the final product is an exceptional one, and fully embodies that of a product with an outstanding User Experience.
