Approach

The way I work

How I create experiences

Overview

This site gives you an overview of my methodical approach when designing experiences, including the details of ideation, conception, prototyping, and testing.

I work with a variety of methods that I adjust accordingly to eventually achieve my goals.

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The Idea & The Problem

First I identify the actual problem or develop the idea for the project before I start into the design process. This allows me to define my goal very precisely.

Additionally, it helps to define when the goal is actually achieved; in other words: what needs to be done to consider the project a success?

Research & Analysis

Approach Understanding the User

The User and their Journey

Next, I define the personas that I develop from existing data and interviews. To better understand the users, I walk through the user journey to then pull pain points from it.

I then summarize and prioritize these pains based on quality and quantity (depending on what interview type I used to understand the users).

Competitors & HMWs

Depending on the project, I do a Competitor Analysis to create a benchmark and collect more information.

Through the collected info and prioritized pain points I now develop HMWs and the basic vision (what will the idea look like later on).

Ideation & Workshops

To now tackle the solution of the problem, I first develop a variety of ideas based on the Pain Points. Sometimes on a high level, sometimes lower (i.e. first wireframes). Usually in different workshops with or without stakeholders (depending on the project).

Not every idea works, so they need to pass a first user test. I also prioritize them based on three parameters: benefit for the user, effort for the team, and value for the business.

Roadmap & MVP

After I developed and reviewed the initial ideas, it is important to now create a clear roadmap for the development of the product. Based on appropriate parameters (time, business value, team size, etc…) I usually develop a Big Picture with an MVP that solves the core user problems. This will become the overall vision.

Next, breaking down the vision to see with what minimal effort the best value can be created for the user is imperative. The result will mark our MVP target.

Approach Big Picture and MVP

Developing & Prototyping & Testing

05 Approach Preparation

In order to test the first ideas, we determine the most important wireframes in the team and develop prototypes for them.

Before we can test these designs though, we need to find valid users and develop an appropriate test format: these test users are given a handful of tasks to solve in a certain amount of time.

And finally, after the tests (which are often also structured as A/B tests), we collect the feedback and get back to the wireframes, which we carefully revise and prepare for the next test.

Approach User Testing