The Evergreen Labs UX Design Guide
Design is far too often overlooked by developers and management as icing on the cake. If our product gets the job done, the logic goes, who cares what it looks like?
Answer: Your users.
TL;DR - The Evergreen Labs Design Guide is available for public consumption and comment. It’s what I use before, during, and after the development process to ensure the needs of my users are understood and met.
Reasoning
The goal of good design is to make a product more useful, usable, and delightful. A product which succeeds in those regards is a product that will make users happy, and happy users like to tell other people how happy they are. See where this is going? It’s a virtuous cycle, and good design can become your most effective marketing.
To facilitate good design, I’ve codified best practices into a Trello board that can be found here: https://trello.com/b/3UH3hZVu. This board acts as a high level roadmap when creating new apps or sites, and as a handy guideline for evaluating existing products and projects on which I consult. It’s publicly viewable and free for anyone to copy or comment on. I’d especially appreciate comments and suggestions as there’s always room for improvement!
Structure
The Design Guide is organized into four lists: User Research, Design, Testing, and Implementation.
User Research focuses on steps to learn about your users, divine their motivations, and identify the true purpose of your product. Design concerns the presentation of information and functionality. It’s not by any means a technical how-to, but rather a collection of concepts and suggestions to help you tailor your product to the needs of your users. Testing provides key points on when and how to approach and perform testing. Finally, Implementation lists general guidelines for considering, designing, and communicating the best possible experience for your users.
Summary
Overall, the Design Guide is a succinct and modular introduction to UX design. I’d love to get your feedback on it in the comments below, and if you find my guide helpful please leave a little love here on Medium! 💚
If you or anyone you know would like to discuss strategy, design, or development for their mobile app or website, drop me a line at evergreenlabs.io.
