The complete UX Design process in 14 phases
What is the creative process in UX? What are the steps in a user experience project?
Every UX project is a world and the order and specifics may change, but there are 14 steps we always have to keep in mind.
The phases of UX Design
1. Stakeholder interviews
This is the first step when starting a UX Design project. We have to get information about the objective of the business and what is its previous history, who are the users and what do they know about them, and who are the competitors. This meeting is called kick off meeting, and with it starts the product definition process.
This information is very important because it will help us to create the design objectives, and to manage the expectations of all interested parties or stakeholders.
After this phase we will have a clear briefing approved by all, and we will know with certainty what our client wants to achieve.
2. Analysis of the objectives
After having the preliminary information we have to analyze the objectives to make sure they are realistic.
At this stage we can use the SMART model for setting objectives, which states that objectives must be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and defined in time.
3. Competitive analysis
Competitor analysis allows us to understand what is in the market at the moment and can help us to be inspired and create new solutions.
4. Design Thinking
Design Thinking consists of proposing solutions based on real problems. We have to ask ourselves if the problem we are going to solve is a real problem, and if the proposed solution solves that problem.
It is very important to make sure that the product covers the real needs of the users, otherwise it would have no place in the market.
5. User research
Design decisions cannot be made by intuition, but must be based on user research in order to make data-driven decisions.
In this phase we can use different tools to obtain qualitative and quantitative data. Some of these tools are surveys or interviews.
By researching users, we can check whether the objectives we have set for the digital product actually meet their needs.
6. Creating user personas
After researching the user personas we must create user personas, which is a representation of the ideal user personas, explaining what needs they have and what their expectations are. We must create a user persona for each target audience of our digital product.
User personas help in the presentation of the product with customers, as they generate empathy. It is also a way to make sure that the characteristics of the reference user personas are clear to everyone, both the UX team and the customers.
7. User experience analysis
At this stage we already have a well-defined and validated concept and a representation of the ideal user personas.
Now it is time to analyze the customer journey to get an overview of how they will interact with our digital product. We must analyze the actions, thoughts, feelings and opportunities of the users.
8. Identify user stories
User stories are an agile approach where short and simple descriptions of a feature are created and told from the perspective of the users.
The general formula is: How <user> want <goal> for <benefit>.
The graphical representation of the user stories are the user flows, which allow us to have an overview of all the paths that the user could follow to perform an action.
9. Structuring the information architecture
Information architecture is the science of organizing information and helping us understand where to place elements and how to connect them together to ensure ease of use.
We can use research tools such as card sorting or tree testing to test the information architecture.
10. Wireframing
Wireframes are the skeleton of a product’s screens. When we create wireframes we have to study the visual hierarchy, make it as easy as possible for users to perform their tasks and test the initial designs.
11. Prototyping and user testing
After creating wireframes the next step is to create low and high fidelity prototypes, which can be used as samples for user testing.
Prototypes are a faithful representation of what the actual digital product will look like, so they are very important for making modifications before taking the product to development.
12. Iterations
Thanks to the prototypes we can test the product and quickly identify if there are any critical problems.
User testing will show the serious problems that need to be solved as a priority and the more subtle problems. In addition, we will get feedback from the participants that can serve as a source of inspiration to make further improvements and iterate the product.
13. Develop the user interface
Once we have tested the prototypes and done the iterations it is time to move on to the user interface phase.
UI design focuses on the user’s visual experience and determines how the user interacts with an interface. The UI Designer is the person in charge of choosing the typography, color palette or type of images.
The user interface reflects the personality of the product, and should contribute to its overall usability.
14. Final testing
Finally, after having created the user interface we can create a new prototype and perform more tests with users to make sure that everything works correctly.
This is important because the developers’ work is very time-consuming and expensive, so make sure that what you are going to develop is validated.
In short, by following the complete UX Design process we make sure that the client’s requirements are realistic, we create hypotheses that respond to the real needs of the users, we perform UX research to validate the hypotheses and we iterate the digital product.
The goal is to uncover needs and problems that are not visible from the outset. In addition, the steps of the process are not linear, but have to be adapted depending on how the project evolves.
If you want to go deeper into each of the phases of product design, you can do so with our Product Design Specialization Program:
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