Discovery
Generally, I'll start a project out with a discovery phase, where I work on understanding the project parameters, the business needs and goals, and the competitive market.
UX + Me, A Love Story
The moment I learned about UX was the moment I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. UX Design now has roots in every thing I do, from my work designing and redesigning web and mobile apps, to the way I approach and experience life.
How did this love affair come to be? Having lived in Berkeley, California, Germany, and South Korea while growing up, I’ve always enjoyed studying cultures and learning how people work. (I received my BA in Anthropology from the University of Missouri in 2013.) Being the hands-on person I am, I needed a way to apply this passion to a practical field, where I could spend my time making things and making things better.
Enter UX, and queue heavenly chorus. The way that I can employ my skills and passions in one satisfying, practical career. Every day, I get to study and advocate for the user, strategize with businesses, craft beautiful, usable products, and then test them and make them even better. I couldn’t ask for more.
A Road Map
Every design project is different; accordingly, I adapt my UX process to fit the task at hand. One thing that never changes, though, is my focus on the user. I'm also a big believer in an iterative process - a cycle of experiment, feedback, and adjustment.
Here's an example of the kind of process I typically use when approaching a UX project:
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User Research
Next, I'll do user research, where I try to understand who the users are, and how to bring them value with the design that I create. To do this, I'll conduct user interviews, and use my findings to create artifacts such as personas, empathy maps, and storyboards. Then, I'll present my findings in an insight report.
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Information Architecture
To create the information architecture of the product, I’ll use my understanding of the target audience to create user stories, do card sorting tasks with users, and create a sitemap. I’ll also usually create user flows, in order to make sure that I accommodate the users’ main goals.
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Design
Next, I’ll move into the design phase. I’ll usually start with sketches, and then I’ll use programs such as Sketch, Photoshop, and InVision to create wireframes and prototypes. I’ll also create a style guide early on in the design phase, and then adjust it as the design changes and formalizes.
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User Testing
Using the prototypes that I created, next I’ll do some user testing, to get the product in front of the target audience and discover what works and and what doesn’t. Then I'll make revisions on the design based on the results of the testing.
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Hand-off
Finally, I’ll pass the design off to the developers that are collaborating with me. I like to work as closely as possible with the developers to make sure that I've given them everything they need, that the designs make sense, and to answer any questions they might have.
Gizmos and Gadgets
Below, I've listed some of the tools and applications I regularly use throughout my UX design process. However, I'm flexible with the tools I use, and prefer whatever best fits the job at hand.
