My user-centric methodology: a proven process for delivering great products

 

This goes beyond user experience design, pulling in product management and business analysis. I have formed this methodology over time from project experience, and with input from industry professionals.

 
 
 

1.

Stop thinking of solutions and ask: what are the needs of our customers?

Define the needs of existing and potential customers. Are they being met? How do we know?

what is involved?

Knowledge gathering

  • Data analysis - looking for trends and insights in any data that might already be available

  • Brand personality - how are we perceived?

  • SWOT analysis

  • Competitive analysis

Strategic thinking

  • Looking from the outside in - forget about our business goals for a moment (ROI, ROAS etc) - what is our customer really trying to achieve?

  • What might success look like for our customer?

  • Benchmarking

  • Functional specification

  • Content requirements

  • Our vision and mission

  • Looking from the inside out - in addition to the above, we must never forget about our business goals. We are in business for a reason, and although it sounds nice - it isn't just to build cool stuff.

 

2.

What is their current experience?

The objective here is to dive deeper and find what is working well and what isn’t. This can include further testing and analysis of competitors.

what is involved?

More user research

  • User studies / usability testing

  • User personas

  • Journey mapping

  • Message testing

  • Data analysis - looking for trends and insights in any data that might already be available

  • Needs classification

 

3.

What are the critical touch-points for success?

Here, we loop back to our user and business goals and should focus on areas which impact experience, usage and ROI. Depending on the user needs identified earlier these goals will differ with each project.

what is involved?

Strategy

  • Clearly define user goals - especially after testing

  • Understand the drivers of loyalty and repeated usage

  • Prioritise features and define MVP

  • Create a ‘red route’ (explained in other articles)

  • Present recommendations

 

4.

Shaping the ideal experience.

This is the fun bit where we really get on the tools, conceptualising how the the ideal experience would look and feel. Some loose prototyping (paper based, sketching) may have already happened throughout the previous steps.

what is involved?

Structure

  • Interaction design

  • Navigation design

  • Information architecture

  • Information design

  • Static wireframe

  • Wireframe prototypes (interactive)

  • Sitemap

Designing what is experienced on the surface (UI)

  • Design patterns (GEL, style guide)

  • Language and tone of voice

  • Mood board/field trip

  • High fidelity design

  • Interactive prototypes

 

5.

Are we delivering the ideal experience?

Measurement - we want to make sure what we have built is working and being used. In a busy environment, it’s easy to move onto the next project without effective measurement of the previous one. Following this methodology ensures we don’t make that mistake.

what is involved?

Measurement

  • Event tracking

  • Google Tag Manager

  • Google Analytics

  • Conversion funnels

Learning

  • Establishing regular reporting (Google Data Studio or similar)

  • Dashboards

  • Documentation