My approach to design...

Design is not just what it looks like. Design is how it works. - Steve Jobs

It's true this may now feel like an over-used phrase in some circles, but I strongly believe it holds true. Good design - or any design for that matter - needs to go beyond the surface layer; it's not enough to think of design as a fancy interface accompanied by a fun logo.

It's my view that ultimately design is the product; in that a design typically defines what something is, how it works, what it behaves like - not just how it looks. All these aspects influence how a customer engages with a product, interacts with it, perceives it, and - in a crucial commercial sense - whether they buy or use it again.

It's therefore critically important we design things with the end-user in mind, and why a user-centred design process is at the heart of all my work. I will always champion the customer and see to validate whether the design is helping them achieve their goals.

 

User centred design

Most organisations advocate user centred design; no-one usually sets out to knowingly sideline their customers. The interesting challenge arises when deciding on the best approach to achieve a user centred product, which is often dependent on the organisation itself and team(s) responsible for delivering a project. 

Agile development has increased in popularity in recent years, and I've often found some tension between the UCD approach traditionally favoured by creatives, and the agile philosophy borne out of software development. It's interesting to me that the fundamentals of user centred design and agile development philosophies are in fact very similar. Both champion users and collaboration, both place emphasis on understanding and adapting to customer needs, and both are iterative processes intended to produce incremental improvement. 

In general I believe UCD and agile can work together given the right sensibilities, with agile helping to bring products to market sooner, UCD encouraging relentless focus on the end-user, and both seeking to refine the product through iterative improvements.   

If I was asked to summarise my approach to design into three key words, I'd adapt the 'build, measure, learn' lean startup philosophy to begin with learning instead of building:

Learn - What is out design goal, who is the product aimed at, how might these people use the product, why would they use the product (would they use the product??)

Build - Not necessarily with code to start with. Could initially be a paper prototype, or sketches; something which represents the concept or idea that's being iterated.

Measure - Test, track and record user responses to the latest build, with a view to using this information to learn more about the users and apply this to a more refined subsequent build.

And repeat.

 

Strategic UX

It is true for many projects agile can deliver fantastic results, fast - however when tackling complex problems in large organisations it can be highly beneficial to engage in design thinking prior to beginning to deliver and iterate on 'something'.

Where possible, taking this broader approach to product development can introduce empathy into the design process and encourage a deeper psychological approach to fully understanding users needs.

Companies that embrace the true value UX design can provide understand its strategic value; how it can be used to gain significant insight into customer behaviour, helping drive evidence-based change across multiple teams and multiple products - which is where we see service design emerging and systems integration projects for a seamless customer experience.

What I think this means is an increasing realisation that there's no one size fits all to design.  

Regardless of methodology, I believe all good design starts with a goal.  The design process is ultimately about finding and refining solutions to achieve it. 

 

Working with Product Owners

As I regularly work with product managers I encourage each piece of project work to consider: 

  1. Create baseline - what are we starting from?
  2. Find a comparative example if one exists - what else has been done that's similar?
  3. Assessment - is this proposal a change worth making now, or should something more important be prioritised?

When assessing features and determining where to focus effort:

  1. What's the change?
  2. Anticipated impact?
  3. For who?
  4. By how much?
  5. By when?

 

Asking these questions helps ensure a sensible prioritisation that can be justified and enables the project team to measure and track progress.