About me

1. Business research:

• Kickoff workshop: I meet with stakeholders (e.g. marketing, business analysts, product owners, engineers) to understand what they know about the problem, how it is experienced, and what measures have been explored already to resolve the problem. I also endeavour to identify any constrains, along with the timeline and budget.
• Stakeholder design review: identify what works and what could be improved.
• Business goal: discover what the company wants to achieve. What are the overarching goals - what insights need to be uncovered in the user research phase and what is the end goal?

2. User research insights:

Define the user:

I gather insights from stakeholders about the key users and any existing personas or user profiles that have been developed which may include a detailed report of the demographics, user habits, behaviours, needs and goals. I then use this knowledge to create average user profiles.

Steps include:

• Organise a team meeting
• Come to a shared consensus on the different user groups
• Identify facts and behaviours of users as well as their needs and goals

Identify user groups for research:

With team, I work to identify five different user groups. These typically include users of the product or service, frequent users, etc. I select samples: In this step, I take care to avoid selecting representative samples as they require a large number of participants. I endeavour to randomise a selection of participants within the constraints that include only those groups who will provide the greatest insights in the context of the information gathered from stakeholders.

Field visits & ethnography:

I observe and or interview users in their current environment in order to identify any pain-points in their current day-to-day work-flow.

3. User research - analysis, hypothesis and testing:

Analyse user insights:

I report UX research results to team using one or more processes including: affinity diagramming; screenshot forensics; hallway evangelism.

Create a user journey map:

Using observations made during the field visit, I list common tasks that users carry out, arranging in order of high and low level tasks, as well as happy and problematic tasks.

Develop a hypothesis:

I draw on evidence collected to understand what is causing the underlying problem.

Create design solutions:

I generate ideas for the simplest change to make in order to fix the underlying problem.

Define research methods that test the hypothesis:

I identify what types of experiments / user research to consider and what dependent and independent variables to employ.

Define metrics tools:

• I identify what needs to be measured, and what kinds of metrics will help uncover potential pains.
• I deconstruct the construct: Identify ways of measuring non-physical constructs e.g. emotions, desires, attitudes.

Test hypotheses:

I conduct usability test/s using high level process flows, storyboards, paper prototypes or card sorting. I gather feedback and iterate on this process.

Debrief:

I prepare research findings in a digestible report (i.e. infographics, graphs, and charts) and share these findings with key decision makers (eg. clients, stakeholders, product owners, product managers). I share thoughts on what each person has learned from the findings and establish a hierarchy of findings from most serious to least. I focus on the next steps and how to implement change within the budget and timeline.

3. Innovation process: design discovery

Refine user journey:

I reflect on what was learned during the research phase and iterate the user journey designs accordingly.

Information architecture:

Using information gathered from the hypothesis test (e.g card sorting, process flows), I aim to ensure that the website / product’s content is well structured and that users are able to navigate and perform tasks with ease.

Iterative design:

Building on the information gathered from research, I generate a range of design concepts and present these concepts to a range of stakeholders, testing and generating feedback, and retesting throughout the iterative process.

Accessibility:

The following areas are addressed to ensure the design is accessible and that it complies with WCAG guidelines:

• Text size: large enough to be legible
• Content: images and text are not cropped or outside the user’s viewport
• Contrast: ensure there is enough contrast ratio between the foreground and background of text
• Responsive: ensure the product is accessible on different screen sizes.
• Hierarchy: ensure that the interface can be navigated using the keyboard

4. Usability tests

Using the methods, materials and procedures defined in earlier stages, I endeavour to conduct a series of usability tests to substantiate the hypotheses. These tests essentially help to validate all design assumptions.

A/B multivariate testing:

As part of an optional testing procedure, I endeavour to test small design variations in small increments using software such as Google Optimize.

Metrics:

I analyse UX research and test results and I iterate on design and testing procedures if necessary.

Debrief:

I demonstrate what each solution will accomplish and provide detailed reports and findings from user research and usability tests to validate and prove these assumptions. I work closely with project managers, product and engineering teams to estimate time and prioritise tasks.

5. Development:

I work closely with development teams to implement designs or changes to code. I ensure developers have all necessary design resources and software knowledge and take steps to ensure nothing is missed and that pixel perfect quality is translated into the coded version.

6. Analytics:

I measure the performance by tracking conversions and observing the user’s behaviour using a variety of analytics systems including Google analytics and HotJar. I set goals and track conversions using a variety tools and investigate any possible issues.