How does the modern product design process look?

Working in a UX studio is exciting, it forces you to constantly test your abilities and develop. You not only have to become UX experts but also understand the areas for which you create products. Product development involves many people, the process forces everyone to work closely with each other, including designers, developers, product owners, strategists, founders, and, most importantly, users. A well-trusted ui ux design services and development firm can manage them all.

Dworkz works with enterprises in technology, cloud management, cybersecurity, and communications. Such projects are quite difficult to develop. In this article, we will provide a brief report on each tool and explain why it is useful. Keep on reading! 

Product concept development  

An effective method of understanding a product’s vision is to write a press release. Assume that the project results are ready to go to the market and write a press release that explains the product to the potential audience – why it was created, what problems it answers, and why it makes sense to use it. It can be individual work or teamwork, together with colleagues and founders. 

Future press releases are a great opportunity to work together and agree on opinions in a team, forming the basis for working on a product. On the studio blog, you will find more detailed information on how to write a product vision press release.

Another option for forming a concept is a manifesto. For a product that doesn’t exist yet, we start with why the founders think the product should exist. We dig into the benefits offered, what problems the product should solve, its background, and what value it will bring to the user. Encouraging clients to write down all of these points thoughtfully helps us understand their thinking processes and expectations for the outcome of our work.

Research and validation   

Stakeholder input is incredibly valuable. And necessary, because we wouldn’t be working on a product if it wasn’t for them. Yet, information cannot come from this perspective alone. Ultimately, designers always create for users. So developing a meaningful approach to get user input is critical to identifying potential issues and evaluating how the future solution meets user needs.

After conducting the interview, you can synthesize the data to identify insights in the form of topics, connections, patterns, and opportunities. 

User testing

Testing can be done at different points in the design process. If the product already exists, you can test it for issues. If the product is still at the idea stage, then start a design sprint to conceptualize and develop a prototype that can be presented to users. If a product is developed, constantly test it and try to improve it.

The most valuable is in-person testing but you can also rely on paid remote testing to save time and generate more responses. 

Heuristic estimation 

Heuristic estimation is the key to finding usability problems. It is important to separate user testing from usability testing. In heuristic evaluation, experts analyze the product to identify areas of lack of functionality and usability of the product that may cause problems. The results are rather twofold.

When conducting user testing, pay more attention to the behavioral patterns of users. This helps to determine their intentions and how they think. A product can meet all the heuristic principles but at the same time fail to meet the needs of users.

Understanding design systems

Platform audit  

We don’t always create products from scratch. Sometimes a client comes with a stuffed and tangled bundle of finished products. In this case, we audit each section of the platform to identify overlaps in functionality.

Ecosystem map  

Designers also create what we call an ecosystem map to illustrate user and platform relationships. Think of this as a quick sketch of a mind map. This technique is most useful when the traditional site diagram is too large, too tactical, and does not solve the higher-level tasks of connecting the user to the product. The pattern above was used to collect links between a digital portal, a mobile app, and four main user personas.

Understanding your users

Object-oriented UX

At this stage, guesses are already being built about what should be on the page. In simple words:  

1. Objects are nouns (elements with characteristics). This is more often for users, documents, or files. 
2. Attributes are elements of content tied to an item that is updated by the user. In case a user is an object, the attributes are name, email address, and phone number. 
3. Metadata is information generated by the system. If the object is a file, the metadata must include the size, creation date, last modification, and file type. 
4. Links are used to define how each object is related to another.

Design sprints

Any design sprint milestones can be used in the product design process, including:  

1. Mapping the consumer journey.
2. Stakeholder interviews.
3. Sketching and crazy eights.
4. Label voting storyboard prototyping.
5. User testing.

Proto-characters  

To be honest, character design can be a waste of time. For a situational context, the Job stories method showed excellent efficiency (we will consider this in more detail). But when you need to define many types of users who will interact with the same product in different ways, standard proto-characters are very useful.

Job stories

A job story is a description of a feature from a do-it-yourself perspective. This is a powerful method for distinguishing a bug without prescribing a cure. This approach inspires creativity, stimulates collaboration in the team, and helps to achieve good organization. The job story framework itself is based on the user story.

Final thoughts 

The Dworkz team has developed a process with a methodical set of tools that can be applied to any industry, making work less intimidating, more evidence-based, more collaborative, and more fun. Think of the tools mentioned in this article as a set of tools to build on, a set of techniques that give you the confidence and ability to create something amazing. Hopefully, this information will be helpful for your design projects!