THE WAY I WORK
My Toolkit
Whilst at Barclays, as part of a Digital Driven, Design Led, Lean and Agile (DDLA) research effort, I began to realise how important it was for all Product and UX, UI Designers, Product Owners and Developers and Testers to understand the toolkit necessary in order to select the right tools for any specific project.
Observing the diverse face to face or other interactions that occurred with stakeholders, users and internal teams throughout all the design and technical disciplines and methodologies, I realised it would be easier to identify all the tools and processes practitioners required and try to streamline the processes - thereby reducing the redundancy that often occurred when different teams have digital and other touchpoints with custoemrs and stakeholders.
Identify all the Digital-specific tools required for the project
Identify all the Product and Service Design tools required for the project
Align the team structure and how best to work together
Identify all the Digital-specific tools required for the project
where to start...
Understanding the Brief
Understanding the needs of the client AND THE USER
Identifying user pain points or insights, marrying them with business goals via a series of workshops, interviews, User research and analysis enables me to begin to define what the goal of the project is and define hypotheses behind it.
Understanding what’s out there now, current tools apps and competitors
Depending on whether a project is looking to enhance a current site, app or product or to deliver a completely new one, doing comprehensive research into the competitor market as well as retrieving any data the client has on their own customer activity is critical to UX.
UX ACTIVITIES
PRODUCT AND UX DESIGN
Understanding the User
The U in UX is there for a reason and identifying, learning about and trying to empathise with users is a skill UXers must be able to demonstrate. I review the analytics, feedback and research results and create hypotheses that can be tested against all proposed solutions, prototypes and throughout the entire user-centred design process​
Information Architecture
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Initially, I focus structure - what am I trying to present? What is there and how should I improve it.
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Start with a sitemap, if relevant, rarely isn’t.
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Logical categorisation and position of content helped by card sort
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Consider navigational hierarchy and linking strategy
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Validate findings with product owners and, where feasible, users
Sitemap and Navigation See more on my work with Mercedes-Benz
Sitemap and Navigation
Sitemap and Navigation
Sitemap and Navigation See more on my work with Mercedes-Benz
Personas
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Talk with current customers or users
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Ensure I have the right age range, gender etc
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I make sure I can identify their requirements - whether colleagues, clients or end users
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I sometimes introduce the wider team to the personas - even create full-size cardboard cut outs of them to ensure they're always on our mind
Every persona is created after research and workshops.
La Casa Shambala Persona. See more of my work with La Casa Shambala
I sometimes remind the team to keep the USer in mind by having a cut out of a persona in the office.
Every persona is created after research and workshops.
User Scenarios and Flows
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Can be highly technical, show detailed or high-level journeys with Digital, Product or Service level touchpoints
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Reflects journey, not designs
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Should be reviewed and used by Agile testers and developers to aid thier work
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Useful as tool in Agile estimation and planning
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Great for use in defining data flows as well
Highlights the user journey and digital and service touchpoints
Barclaycard Technical Flow with Errors. See more of my work at Barclaycard.
One HSBC Authorisation Flow
Highlights the user journey and digital and service touchpoints
CONTACT ME
I am here to help you with any digital strategic concerns you and your business may have and, working with you, create intuitive designs that meet your user's needs and business requirements.
If you have any questions please feel free to drop me a line.
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Tel: 44 - 7790 697639
