Process
Design is a process, not an output. There are four steps that must occur in any successful design effort. The timeline and budget determine the resources spent on each step, but all four steps are critical in achieving positive results.
Foundations
A solid understanding of the business, the broader market, and the user are foundational to the success of any design project.
Discovery
The goal of this phase is to identify, clarify and validate the problem to be solved.
Exploration
Time to create! Now that we have a sense of the ecosystem we are living in and the problem to be solved, we can start generating ideas and solutions to that problem. We start with low fidelity creations (sticky notes and sketches) and increase the fidelity as we cycle through.
Evaluation
In this phase we evaluate our solutions from the Exploration phase. This is an ongoing process that begins during early brainstorming and continues through release to real users.