“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”
Dreams. Plans. Actions. Memories.
Throughout my life, unconsciously this has been my way to approach every idea (creative or otherwise), every outing, every whim and desire I ever had. Quickly enough, it entered my workflow as well. As soon as I consciously understood my process, I made a framework out of it. I consider it my own personal twist and application of a lovely, fun design thinking process.
“Being creative inside your head is easy, true creativity lies in making something beautiful, useful and lasting from whatever you have at your disposal.”
Dreams (Brief & Research)
Dreams represent whatever is possible within our minds. It is the ideal version. It is every what if. In a dream there are no constraints. Nevertheless, to make these dreams possible we have to ask: How do these dreams enter our reality? How will they change our lives and everything around it? How will they interact and build amongst other dreams and fantasies?
This is the first step of any design process. Listen and dream wildly. Dream to me means finding the problem, and then solving it. In a regular design cycle this would be the brief & research stage. During this step I look out for the goals that the stakeholders set out to acomplish, I listen and empathize with any problems or issues our users might be having, I find and understand the technical limits and constraints together with the development team, and in the end and through all the collective effort we will have our dream defined.
Moving forward we will have:
A clear problem, with an ideal solution that we will set out to acomplish.
User stories, their problems and reasoning behind their actions and motivations.
User requirement list and technical constraints.
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Plans (Sketches & prototypes)
Once I dream of something I start to think of every possible road and way I can take to make it a reality. Until that is done, the line connecting the current moment and the goal is fuzzy and cloudy. In a normal design cycle this is the moment to sketch and prototype.
During this step I will come up with as many possible real solutions that fit the framework defined in the previous step and try and break them. It is during sketches and touching and moving and playing with the possible solutions that I can realize which path will hold and which will not. To get where I intend to go, I need a strong path, and in my eyes the strongest paths are those who allow for the greatest flexibility within their boundaries.
For our next step we will have:
A clear solution and a defined idea of what needs to be done.
Sketches, wireframes and prototypes of that solution.
The first rudimentary test of usability.
“Work hard and be nice to people”
Actions (design & Development)
With the path opening ahead, it is time to embark in the journey. It is time to put in the hours and work. It may be difficult, intricate, mysterious, rewarding, fun or all of the above, but that remains unknown until we get to experience it.
This step equates to the design step of any design cycle. This is where the actual visual design is made. Nothing can be left to imagination at this point. I will use any tool in my visual communication toolbox to make sure the solution that we came up before stays in-line with the brand, on par with the highest aesthetic standards for the industry and that the message is carried crystal clear to the user.
It is my responsibility to hand over all the necessary deliverables to the development team, so they can turn all the hard work and ideas into a reality, and to support them at every step of the way.
At the end we will have:
A final visual design, based on all the pooled resources during research and planning.
All the deliverables needed to build the solution, and the support to acompany it.
The actual product, service or solution our users can interact with.
“Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.”
MEmories (Lessons, emotions & feedback)
Once it is all over, we get to keep the reward of the hard work. We managed to change our reality. We also get to keep every lesson, story and emotion that came with it. Nobody can take that away from us. That is how we grow. This step is also the last one and one of the most important in the design cycle: Feedback.
In this step I get to test the solution with the users. I receive the feedback and measure how did the real world solution applied to the problem at hand. During this is where I learn from what our users are saying and doing and take their feelings and thoughts with me into the next cycle. The key is to keep in touch with the end-user as much as I can and listen carefully. Empathy is vital to understand and learn.
What we have for the next cycle:
All the lessons learned through the obstacles bested during the process.
A new, deeper understanding of our users and their issues and desires.
New problems to solve, new goals to achive and new dreams to dream.
I hope with this you have a better understanding of how my workflow and (most of the time) my head works. As a closing remark I just want to pour my heart out here: At the end of the day, this is a human centered discipline, so I believe we must stay as human as possible. We should stay humble (says the guy with a quote by himself in between other quotes of truly amazing people), we should stay fun, we should keep an open mind, ear and heart and work hard. If you are here, thanks for taking the time to read the ramblings of a dreamer turned UX designer.
- Santi