Leadership: Design Process
I worked with the product team to update Start Studio’s design process, improving the quality and consistency of our work.
Establishing a Design Process
Some surprises are good. Having my wife show up unannounced at the office with Jimmy John’s sandwiches: good surprise. Some surprises are not — in particular having a coworker or client pop up at my desk unannounced with a some UI mockups, and the words, “You can have this done in a week, right?”
Early on at Izeni (later Start Studio) this was happening far too often. We needed a cohesive design process that we all understood, and which we could use to move our clients from ideation to finished product in a way that addressed UX and technical considerations, along with presenting a beautiful UI.
I based the first iteration of our design process on Jesse James Garrett’s steps in Elements of User Experience.
From Jesse James Garrett’s Elements of User Experience.
To his five steps, I added a sixth, development. I also defined the stakeholders who would participate in each step of the process, including who would review the work done in each step before proceeding to the next. This inclusive approach reduced surprises by involving key stakeholders at relevant points along the process. With increased communication, clients understood the importance of building from the ground up, and developers got involved early on, so they had a well-established mental model of the project when it was ready for development, and knew the designs were technically feasible.
My customized version of Jesse James Garrett’s process.
It’s one thing to make what the client wants. It’s another to make what they need. A nasty surprise, from our clients’ standpoint, came when their finished tech failed to gain market traction, because they hadn’t tested their assumptions or solutions.
In response to these problems, I collaborated with the product team to update our design process. We built on our previous approach, and involved another key stakeholder — the customer — through user interviews and usability testing.
After finalizing the update, I created a slideshow to share and explain our process. It needed to be a stand-alone experience — something self-explanatory that a sales rep could share with potential clients over email. You can see the slideshow here. The slides are also included below.
