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User-Centered Design Process (again)

Every now and then I go back to my scribbled picture of my UCD process and I think about wobbling it a bit. I spent some time looking at it recently. I added a bunch of stuff, I deleted a bunch of stuff, and I ended up with a slightly adjusted version.

Here it is:

ucd-process

  • Plan
    • Research
    • Problem Frame Diagram
    • Personas
    • Journey Map
    • Impact Map
  • Design
    • Sketches
    • Prototypes
    • Usability testing
    • Style Tiles
  • Build
    • Front-end Style Guide
  • Measure
    • Analytics
    • Usability testing

I still keep the focus on the UX and Front-end side of things, since that’s where I work most of the time. I’ve added research to the plan phase of the picture. It’s been implied before, but I thought it was important to have it shown as it’s own, separate, step. I also added Impact Mapping as I think it’s a great tool.

Here’s a quick list of why we need each step.

  • Research: for gathering data on the problem.
  • Problem Frame Diagram: for finding the overlap of user needs, business needs, and skills of the team.
  • Personas: for clarity on who our users are.
  • Journey Map: for the path our users take and how they interact with the system.
  • Impact Map: for a clear strategic direction and metrics for success.
  • Sketches: for content and its priority on the page.
  • Prototypes and Usability testing: for validating our solution.
  • Style Tiles: for establishing design direction.
  • Front-end Style Guide: for responsive, consistent, and maintainable front-end code.
  • Analytics and Usability testing: for continuing to validate our solution.