My UX Strategy

The Approach

The first aspect to think about is, who is this for and who will be using this product? The user should always be the key point of thought.

Every User is different. I would need to find out what are the key information each users needs access, so that I can better address their problem.

What is the main problem that the users are facing.

How does the product align with the companies mission and goals

As this would be an update to what exists at the moment I would need to find out more information about the care planning tools and what is being fragmented and missed within this user path.

I would need to find out what are the main pain points at the moment. What are the users finding partcularly frustraiting about the current app.

I would then think about ways in which I could improve the user journey, so that each user can get to their main end goal.

Research

The most important step would be to do user research. This would save time and money as well as giving the end user exactly what they are looking for. Doing user research will help with designing a more efficient and effective product.

There are many different methods in gathering research:

  • Interviews
  • Surveys
  • Insights gathering
  • Analytics
  • A/B testing

Continuously doing user research and testing throughout the whole product development will make sure that my designs are not based on just my assumptions but delivering a product where the end user problems are solve.

User test

User testing would help me to understand the user better and to see what they are currently doing. How they are navigating through the app and differenciate between what I think the user wants and what the user thinks they want. This would give me the chance to really get to know the user. Working with the user to build a product that they themselves would be using.

It is very important to use empathy and build a rapport with the end user so that I can see things from their point of view. Actually listen to the problems that they are faced with and build a better product for them to use.

Data Gathering

Gathering data from a larger pool of users would be an important step. Using tools such as google analytics to gather behaviour flows. Hot Jar to do heat mapping and click tracking. Optimizely to do A/B testing.

This will help up to see if the information that we are providing on the app is in the correct location or if we need to use the real estate in a more useful way.

Google Analytics

This is an example of behaviour flow for a website on the google analytics platform. This is helpful to show how a user navigates to a specific page, how many customers stay on that page and where the user navigate to next on the journey. This can be used to identify how customer navigate their journey through the app.

Hotjar

Here are two examples from Hotjarā€™s Click tracking and heat mapping. The click tracking shows where users are clicking, but more importantly where the user are not clicking. As this is an example for a website the heat mapping would be hotter at the top of the page as all users would see this section first. Using heat mapping and click tracking in apps would help me as the designer, identify where the main calls to actions should be.

Interviews & Surveys

A good way of gathering data would be to do interviews, questionnaires and surveys.

A good tool to use would be Typeform. This online software helps to gather quantative and qualitive data with the added bonus of being able to share the information easily.

Due to covid, it is hard to meet face to face. A good online tool to do face to face interview would be to use Whereby. This online app doesnt require both users to sign up to do a video call, this product is browser base so all you need is the link.

I would then use vidyard to record the interview an play it back so that I can listen more attentively to the user and then playback and take notes.

Personas

After gathering all the research information this will help me to identify what the personas are, what the main pain points are and what is the best journey to navigate to the About Me section.

These personas will help to design a product that is useful, desirable and valuable to the user.

User Journey

Information Architecture helps to organise and structure content in a logical and user friendly way. Good IA contributes to a good user experience. Helping the user find what they are looking for quick and easily. This prevents the user from feeling lost. It is crucial to think about the different users and how they would navigate the website or the app.

User Flows

I will then start to think about user flows. What are the steps that the a user needs to take to get to a specific goal. This helps me to formulate my ideas and think about the design process from a users point of view. This also helps to identify the direction of the prototype as well as helps the developers understand the logic and direction of the product.

Information Architecture & User Flows Software

I have recently used Whymsical to create IA and User Flows, as it is a free, browser based platform which is easy to use as well as easy to share and collaborate. I have also used adobe XD and sketch in the past.

Wireframes

Low fidelity wireframe

Wireframes are a simplified blueprint, helping to define the information hierarchy of the design. This will also help with the interactive elements on the app. Using the research and doing user tests, will help to place the elements in the correct place for the user.

Depending on how much time I have to create this product I would choose between doing a hand drawings to formulate the idea or I would use apps such as Adobe XD or Sketch to create the wireframes.

Creating efficient wireframes will help to increase the users engagement with the product as well as increaing the acquisition to the on boarding funnel. Making it easier for new users to use the product.

Work Shops

Here is here I would start to think about doing work shops with other members of the teams. So that we can think about the products vision, product strategy and brainstorm ideas which lead to a clearer path to solve the problems of the users.

Work shops would also help in creating a minimum viable product. MVPs are helpful in getting the prouct to the user faster.Understanding the real needs of the user. Building a good relationship with the user and managing their expectations.

Great UX is the outcome of great functional team-work.

High fidelity wireframe

After creating the low fidelity wireframes, testing the wireframe and having workshops to find the best solution to the end goal. I would start to creat high fidelity wireframes. Making sure that the text is legible, button clearly identified, creating an overal efficient user interface, so that the user clearly understand the story that I am trying to portray.

This would bring together all of the research as well as ideas, slowly breating life into the project.

I tend to use a combination of Photoshop with either Adobe XD or Sketch at this stage.

User testing

As mentioned previously, testing is key. Testing at all stages helps to make sure that I am always keeping the user in mind and always remembering to provide value for the user. Never stepping away from the main problem. Using the high fidelity wireframe helps the user to see what the end result might look like, so that it is very clear to them what steps to take to get to their goal.

Guidelines

Now that I have created the colour palette, fonts, font size and placement. This is where I would use Zeplin to extract all the guidelines. This helps the developers know exactly how to build the product. I will be continuously checking in to see if the project is going the way it should and also listening to the developers and explaining why a feature is the way that it is.

Usability Testing

Once the product has been built, I would once again do a final usability test. Checking to see if there are any flaws or bugs that might have crept in at the last minute. Making sure that nothing is left out, the problems have been solved and that the pain points are minimal to none.

After Launch

Analysis

After the product has gone live I would do another round of analysis. Addressing questions such as:

  • Where did my process go right?
  • Where did I stuggle?
  • How are the users responding to the new product?
  • Most importantly. Did I solve the problems and issues that the users were facing?

I believe having this process would raise the standard of care, as well as making substantial savings in cost.