Organize stakeholder goals & expectations

Consumers are not the only audiences that matter. Organizations can't sustain good user experiences that don't mesh with business requirements and internal support structures. Even the most optimized customer-centric solution can be doomed to fail if it conflicts with organizational culture, capabilities and expectations for outcomes. Working diligently to understand and help shape internal requirements provides the right foundation for achieving the best outcomes.

It helps to revisit the outcomes of this step after completing additional tasks (e.g. audience research, content analysis) to make sure the way forward is still in line with initial ideas and expectations.

Explore customer needs, expectations & behaviors

User-centered design isn’t a buzzword, it’s a guiding philosophy. And the first step in applying that philosophy is to accept that you probably don’t know what your users want. Intuition will whisper in your ear that you know your customers — you might even be one. But even your best guesses are no substitute for curiosity. Instead of trying to validate what you believe, get excited about finding out what you don’t know. Begin with a willingness to reject assumptions, question existing approaches, and embrace new information. Revelations are waiting to be discovered through authentic curiosity, observation and keen listening.

Test against standards

Ever wonder why the gas and brake pedals, windshield wipers and ignition are in more or less the same place whether you're in a 1988 honda civic or a 2016 BMW 650i? The two Rs of heuristics: recognition and repeatability. Take some time to test how well your product or service meets basic user expectations for core functions. Simply standardizing common components of user experience that customers see encounter frequently can be a major improvement.

Optimize assets and construct the message

Getting your assets in order solves two user experience problems at once: providing value to your customers, and ensuring sustainability of products and services for internal business and support teams. Not only does your content need to be findable, searchable and easily readable, but it needs to be designed to be usable by your customers. Mastering your content inventory and strategy before you delve into interface development means you won't get stuck in the trap of letting design or technology lead the product direction. Even in the land of the killer cool app, content is still king.

Blueprint the user experience

Once you have a sound understanding of your audiences, goals and ideas, it's time to map out your implementation and evaluate how well it measures up. Start by creating lightweight versions of your user journey — post-it notes and sketches evolve into more detailed storyboards, wireframes and prototypes that can be evaluated against initial goals and expectations, and eventually be put in front of stakeholders and users to gather feedback. Add detail and complexity as you go and encourage integrated testing and iteration so that you can act on insights gained at this stage.

Polish the user interface

Prototypes and wireframes help you define and test how your product works. But the full value of your product depends on the way your product makes users feel, and design is a major contributor to that overall experience. Visual polish added to a product at this stage should support and streamline the functional usability of your product, so it's important that designers understand fully the product functions, goals and intended outcomes as well as the mindsets and expectations of your audiences. Design should enhance the product experience, not define it.

Evaluate and iterate

If you've applied diligence to your research and design phases, you should expect to have created a product experience that meets the core needs and expectations of your customers. But there is no substitute for firsthand observation to test that hypothesis. The best way to ensure success is to continue to gather information and feedback on how well your product is performing for your customers, and for your internal stakeholders. And never forget that your audiences' experiences and environments are always in flux — successful product teams are constantly evaluating and responding to those changes. Creating a great user experience is a never-ending cycle designed for iterative discovery, ideation and improvement.