I.D.E.A.S. UX Design Process

“ First you learn the instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that s**t and just play” — Charlie Parker

I for imagination

Imagination is the process to understand other people from their gut feeling.

I started every UX Design project as a customer, not a designer. I have a question such as How this product will improve my life?

Furthermore, I also imagine myself as a client who’s hiring me in a first-place. What are they looking to get out from me?

D for design

Visualisation is the best imagination. Rather than wait for a perfect moment, I invite my client to design with me straightaway. I’ve found that a simple hand sketch can generate more ideas and conviction all together compared to a finished design.

At this point, we need a quantity rather than quality. The design-early approach helps the client to fill in their ideas and reframing the problems on the fly.

More importantly, it is the best way to make an ongoing relationship with them too.

E for experimental

We never know if the design will work or not, even if it has been working before. Instead of working on a concept that may go big or go home, let’s break a whole thing into a small modular design experiment that the end-user can be testing.

I usually prepare rapid prototyping to evaluate and iterate the idea. The purpose of the experiment is to ensure that the products/services will benefit the customer.

A for affordance

If experimental is the dots, affordance will be connecting the dots. Affordance is the connection between Form (how it look) and Function (how to use it).

At this phase, I will be looking for a repeat pattern that the users perform so that I can create a design system to support those patterns.

S for simplicity

Most of my UX projects in the past are more about eliminating unnecessary design rather than adding new elements into the product.

At this phase, a design system or style guide will help simplifies the design by limiting its unnecessary design element and create consistency.