The User Experience Workflow, a simplified guide to help you reflect
It’s funny how, as an interface designer, or a user experience researcher, you reassess your workflow with every new project.
I am saying it is funny because we people have a knack for overcomplicating things, and we should remember that us designers, do so too. Every time we start a new project we feel overwhelmed by all the new information, the people, and the environment we find ourselves in.
It often creates a chain reaction of panic, not feeling like we understand design well enough, and feeling like we should perform better because our colleagues seem so smart! Starting a new project is almost like our gateway drug to imposter syndrome.
Of course, we do get better over time and we learn how to deal with complex situations faster. But we should not forget that we all have the same goal. To advocate on the user his behalf to build an ethically sound product that helps humanity grow.
That last part can be quite tough if you are alone and find yourself in a company that guides its employees through fear, micromanagement, or even worse, misplaced ego. But it is people in those places that I want to empower because you too are not alone. There is a community out there to help you become a stronger designer.
It would be too ambitious for me to force a formal way of working down anyone’s throat, but I can give you the handles to help you reflect upon your user experience workflow. I call it The User Experience Workflow by Dylan de Heer. And it is nothing more but a poster that you can utilize to maintain an overview of what you are currently working on.
It takes two scenarios into account. One, starting a new product, and second, starting on an existing product. The steps described in those two flows are completely open to being filled out with whatever tools, methods, and work methodologies you deem necessary to achieve a successful outcome.
I have iterated and tested the poster a few rounds now and am happy with the feedback I have been getting so far but would love to open the discussion here on Medium. So if you have any questions or comments, please let me know in which kind of situation you find yourself in and how your thoughts came to mind.
The poster is based on what I have learned over the past few years from highly-rated Dutch designers and complex work environments. Therefore I would like to thank Thierry, Wessel Grift, Jeffrey vd Dungen Bille and Giorgio Lefeber for all their coaching and support over the past few years.
