Human Centered Design Process
Design Frameworks and Models
I apply several industry-recognized design frameworks to inform my approach to user experience and product design.
Double Diamond Design Process
The Double Diamond model, established by the Design Council, guides my method for tackling complex design challenges. It divides the process into four key stages: discovery, definition, development, and delivery. The discovery and definition phases help identify and prioritize problems, while development and delivery emphasize iterative design, prototyping, and testing until measurable results are achieved.
Design Thinking from Nielsen Norman Group
Another foundational model I use is the Design Thinking framework popularized by Nielsen Norman Group. This approach moves through stages of understanding user needs, exploring potential solutions, and materializing them into functional products.
User Experience Honeycomb
To ensure comprehensive user experience, I reference Peter Morville’s UX Honeycomb, which highlights the seven core aspects that contribute to a positive user experience:
- Usable: The system in which the product or service is delivered needs to be simple and easy to use.
- Useful: A business’s product or service needs to be useful and fill a need.
- Desirable: The visual aesthetics of the product, service, or system need to be attractive and easy to translate.
- Findable: Information needs to be findable and easy to navigate.
- Accessible: The experience needs to work for those with disabilities as easily as others.
- Credible: It needs to be trustworthy and instill confidence.
Design Toolkit: Activities & Deliverables
My experience leading design teams has involved collaborating with product managers, researchers, business analysts, and engineers to produce a wide range of deliverables. Here’s a summary of the key tools and activities I utilize:
Research Methods
- User interviews, contextual inquiry, and heuristic evaluation
- Surveys, task analysis, competitive analysis, and content audits
Synthesis & Insight Generation
- Development of personas, empathy maps, journey maps, and use cases
- Synthesis of user insights into reports, presentations, and recommendations
Strategy Development
- Stakeholder workshops, alignment sessions, and experience strategy development
- Creation of product roadmaps, CX/service strategies, and guiding principles
Design & Ideation
- Ideation workshops, inclusive design, and interaction design
- Production of wireframes, sitemaps, user flows, and rapid prototypes
- Design systems, style guides, and component libraries
Testing & Evaluation
- Moderated and unmoderated usability testing
- Accessibility testing, concept testing, A/B testing, and tree testing
- Delivery of actionable insights and testing reports
Research & Analysis
I conduct research at multiple levels to inform design decisions, ensuring user and business needs are fully understood.
User Research
- Recruitment and scheduling, user interviews, and contextual inquiry
- Use of diary studies, customer app reviews, and card sorting to gather insights
- Personas, storyboards, and journey maps as research outputs
Business Research
- Stakeholder interviews, employee interviews, and product workshops
- Analysis of business models, customer touchpoints, KPIs, and OKRs
Field Research
- Field observations of users interacting with physical and digital interfaces
- Ergonomics assessments and manual process analysis
Competitive & Comparative Analysis
- Evaluation of competitor business models, products, services, and user experience
- Comparison of design features, technical performance, and brand strategy
Evaluation & Heuristic Reviews
To assess the effectiveness of digital products, I conduct comprehensive heuristic evaluations. One impactful model designed by Corey Stern is the SURFACES Heuristic Evaluation Framework, which organizes usability best practices into the following key areas:
- Supported and guided
- Understandable and clear
- Recoverable and preventable
- Flexible and controllable
- Accessible
- Credible and trusted
- Efficient and usable
- Searchable and navigable
Journey Mapping
When developing journey maps, I capture the user experience from end to end, highlighting critical moments of friction and opportunity. These maps inform design decisions by visualizing the customer's path and pain points.
User Personas
I craft user personas by combining data on user goals, pain points, and behavioral patterns. These personas provide essential context for product teams and stakeholders, ensuring alignment on design priorities.
Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework
To understand the "why" behind user behavior, I employ the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework. This approach emphasizes the user’s core objective and the tasks they are trying to complete and how we can make it easier to complete those tasks.
Usability Testing
To evaluate usability, I create testing plans and conduct moderated sessions.
Design Principles & Practices
When crafting user experiences, I prioritize clarity, accessibility, and user-centric design. Key practices include defining user flows, prototyping, and maintaining design systems.