Hi, I'm James and I craft exciting user experiences.

My process invariably begins with a thorough examination of data. This involves identifying user pain points, which are often revealed using qualitative sources such as session recordings and user interviews, or from quantitative data such as surveys, A/B tests and analytics. After pinpointing a significant pain point, I distill it into a clear and concise problem statement.

Once I have defined the problem clearly, I shift into the solution space. This process typically starts with some basic competitor analysis and a team brainstorming session, and ends with me creating a few basic wireframes of possible solutions to the problem.

With these sketches in hand, I make a beeline for the users, to validate or invalidate certain ideas and/or any assumptions made earlier.

When testing lower fidelity ideas, I typically choose research methods that produce qualitative results like desirability studies, or concept tests. When testing higher fidelity iterations however, I prefer quantitative methods such as unmoderated usability tests. Depending on the outcome of the testing, I either return to the drawing board or increase the fidelity of the designs.

After gathering enough feedback from the initial rounds of user-testing, I start translating wireframes and flow diagrams into higher fidelity designs and prototypes. These closely resemble real products in appearance but have limited functionality and no real backend. Nonetheless, they are valuable tools for conducting usability tests which ultimately allow me to uncover any oversights before heading into development.

Involving the engineers from the outset of my design process (the early ideation phase) ensures smooth handovers. However, there is still preparation required to finalise designs for implementation. This usually entails defining acceptance criteria for interactions, verifying responsive layouts, and ensuring compliance with accessibility standards throughout.