Fail 3 times during the design process

#30dayUXchallenge — on the design process

The most important ideas that change the world do not arrive as a shining gift labelled “will save the world”. They struggle through the failure and scepticism of the world. Those ideas called — loonshots.

The first law of loonshots is to expect three deaths.

But the real-life question is, can the business afford 3 deaths and what is the price?
For me, the answer is easy and widely known: fail fast, fail often. But wait we only have to suffer 3 times, right?
So let’s equip ourselves with the process that will arm us for every failure and help to avoid the one that is not needed.

Problem definition problem

Most of the design processes are starting from “define the problem first”, and this is where you can fail your first time without appropriate research done beforehand.

How can you define the problem without doing the research? Always research first! Not the problem but the world. Keep the mind open to the new ideas, a new trend in your industry and other industries — the best approaches are interdisciplinary.

You may not be actively looking for the problem, but your mind open for new ideas and problems.

Research within your business — review the data available and listen to the user of opinions they might express indirectly about your product or your competitor’s product.

Research. Again.

Once the problem is found, research again.

Now dig deeper into your users thoughts, pains and internal drivers, interviews are your friends.

Qualitative data is critical here.
However, the acquired quantitative data may be useful too.

Research whatever your problem is actually valid and does it require the solution.

But keep in mind, even if your solution is not a painkiller, but a vitamin, it can still be a great solution if well-designed. (read Hooked)

Tip: ask users for their ideas on the solution. They might not be useful, but they might inspire you or spark other ideas.

Analyse

Once you have validated the problem, analyse the findings.
Use affinity maps — discover trends and behaviours. Create your user persona — keep it relevant.

Before the Bootcamp, I was reading about user persona creation and wondered how the fact that someone likes dogs might affect the medical app?

Right? Keep the persona alive and relatable, BUT keep information relevant to the problem and based on research.

Keep analysing.

Use all known and available tools.
Create user stories — write down the brief stories about the users, like a creative essay, but based on the research. It’s a useful practice, and you don’t need to be a writer to do a good one.

Ideate

Brainstorm. Brainstorm. Brainstorm.

Once you understand your user, try to come up with the solution. That’s an excellent time to fail.

Test

Solutions, ideas and concepts. If you fail at this stage, it’s a blessing.

Analyse the valuable input of this failure and create a better solution.

Wireframe

Explaining concepts and showing sketches is a great initiative, but nothing is better than a clickable concept of the product.

Yes, everyone loves the clicking part.
Please keep it simple, create mid-fi prototypes and test again!

Keep the testing simple to the user flow and created user tasks.
Failed again? Good, this is the second death.

Iterate! Test again.

Once issues resolved, it’s time to think about beauty. Discuss the colours, interactions, pictures and other beauty maters.

Oh yes. Test the design.
Create the hi-fi prototypes.

And guess what? Test!

You might think this is the place for your third and final death after which you succeed?
No, because you will need to repeat all the steps again until the product is perfect.

I think that the first step added by me is essential for success. An ill-defined irrelevant problem brings poorly designed products.
Thank you for reading my thoughts on the design process.

Want to learn more?

If you’d like to become an expert in UX Design, Design Thinking, UI Design, or another related design topic, then consider to take an online UX course from the Interaction Design Foundation. For example, Design Thinking, Become a UX Designer from Scratch, Conducting Usability Testing or User Research — Methods and Best Practices. Good luck on your learning journey!