Blog 61: Four-step design mind map

In previous blog 60, we talked about how good design aids fast growth in user base. What can we do to achieve a holistic and a killer design process? Increasing the probability of a great user experience (UX). This four-step design mind map covers most aspects.

Four-step design mind map:

Step 1. Extensive User Research: The importance of user research cannot be stressed enough. There are approximately, 20 user research methods across 3 dimensions.

• Attitudinal vs. Behavioural: These include user research methods that help us monitor ‘what people say’? (for e.g., usability testing) vs. ‘what they actually do’? (for e.g., focus groups).

• Qualitative vs. Quantitative: Qualitative user research methods capture behavioural or attitudinal data based on observing or hearing users directly. For e.g., interviews. Quantitative user research methods capture behavioural or attitudinal data indirectly. For e.g., surveys.

• Context of use: These user research methods refer to the extent of product usage. There are four types of product usage. Firstly, natural, or near-natural use of the product, secondly, scripted use of the product, thirdly, a limited form of the product is used to study a specific aspect of the user experience, and finally, not using the product during the study.
  

Methods in the middle of the qualitative-quantitative axis can be used to gather both qualitative & quantitative data.

If user research is done in the beginning of product development then the methods to be used are field studies, diary studies, interviews, surveys, participatory design, concept testing. In this stage of product development, the aim is to strategize. Know what to build.

Step 2. Understand Unique Users’ Needs: Leverage findings from step 1 to understand our users better.

Map value proposition with customer expectations. i.e., customer tasks with products we offer, customer pain points with pain relievers we offer, gains that the customer is looking for with gain creators we offer.

Create user personas. Personas must go deeper than the obvious demographic characteristics.

Create customer journey maps. Represent a potential customer’s experience with a product, from the very first interaction (discovering the product) to a being a customer (purchase or download or signup etc.).

Perform competitive analysis. Analyse the product against competition include a detailed feature analysis.

Refer blog 10 for mapping value propositions with customer expectations, blog 14 for user personas, blog 16 for customer journey map, blog 13 for SWOT, blog 62 for detailed competitive analysis. Refer to blog 78 to understand the different types of customer segmentation. Note the difference, customer segments are broader grouping of customers based on shared characteristics. While personas help us creating personalised content and messaging that speaks directly to individual needs. Also refer to blog 77 to understand how to identify the target market?

Step 3. Focus on Users-Product Interactions:

Create product workflows. Product workflow is a sequence of tasks to accomplish an objective. Each workflow has a clear start and end points (refer blog 15).

Create wireframes. Wireframes are simple yet powerful. They are black and white outlines on how each screen should look like. Follow up wireframes with a basic prototype (using tools such as Figma). Get a sense of how the product functions (refer blog 17). Wireframes and prototypes discover hidden problems.

Next, avoid heartaches by documenting data & information flow for each screen (blog 18).

For example, for each screen, we documented the following:

I: Inputs into a screen (data points inserted/inputted)

A: Actions taken on this screen

O: Outputs of this screen (in terms of data/information)

S: Saves of this screen (i.e., the data points saved in a relational or NoSQL database)

V: Validations of this screen (i.e., the data validation activities)

S: State management of each data point field (i.e. what is the state or value of a field of every data point)

R: Retrievals of this screen (data retrievals from a database)

Steps 2 and 3 are done in the mid stage of product development. The aim is to design. Improve design usability. User research methods for this stage include card sorting, tree testing, usability testing, remote testing (moderated and unmoderated).

Note: While building user-product interactions such as wireframes, prototypes refer blog 28 for UI best practices, blog 29, 30 for UX best practices.

Other tools we can leverage include Service Blueprint, Ecosystem Map, etc.

Service Blueprint: A map that displays all consumer-brand touchpoints. It is useful to visualize the path followed by consumers, across channels. Next, we must delve on how to improve that flow.

Ecosystem Map: A visualization of the company’s digital assets, the connections between them, and their purpose in the overall marketing strategy.

Step 4. Experimentation and Iteration Mindset:

Design has no end state. It is ongoing process. Hence, continuous performance measurement, user testing, metrics analytics etc. (Refer blog 34 on measuring product success).

Step 4 is the final stage of product development. The aim is to launch, monitor and iterate. Measure product performance. User research methods for this stage include usability benchmarking, A/B testing, clickstream analytics, surveys.

Design thinking processes such as Five Stage Design Thinking, etc. follow similar or variations of such mind maps (Refer blog 52).

Jump to blog 100 to refer to the overall product management mind map.

All the best! 😊