Albert Einstein once said:

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

My design process is simple - I begin by understanding the problem and defining the problem statement. This involves a strategic research phase that includes interviews with stakeholders/ users, understanding business objectives, identifying user needs, reviewing competitors and analysing quantitative data.

I try to generate maximum ideas during research phase, by asking tough questions, brainstorming for plausible solutions. I am not afraid to take note of the flawed or pristine concepts that are already in place, and build on it, to further enhance the user experience. I routinely seek new insights and challenge my decisions to steer the project ahead. At every step, I conduct benchmarking research where I look for inspiration from similar products.

To understand the users better and to create a reference that depicts a reliable + realistic representation of the target users, I create personas, user stories and customer empathy journey maps. Subsequently, I define a decision path flow based on progressive disclosure.

The solutions that make the website/app/product valuable for both users and business are prioritised. I get in touch with everyone involved with the product development, and decide on the information architecture, key navigation paths, interaction, navigation and interface design. I come up with a plausible timeline for the entire process and get the client's approval.

Once the content workflow is identified, I create sketches and low-fidelity wireframes on paper as it allows me to focus on the essentials. I play around with the different components, and strengthen the information architecture.

This is followed by grey-scale, mid-fidelity wireframes and mock-ups online which can be easily shared. I try to get regular designs feedbacks from the client and perform usability tests after each major step. I remind myself not to get attached to the design, and that there is always a scope for improvement.

Finally, I incorporate the brand colour palette into the high-fidelity prototypes with all the imagery, components and text. All the pages, components and icons are then connected to make a fully interactive prototype. I also create illustrations and animations according to the project requirement.

The prototype is then subjected to usability tests wherein the designs are probed by user testing, A/B tests and heat-maps sessions . Even after developer hand-off, I make it a point to review the the designs constantly to improve the product.