Process

Intuition can lead to great solutions or a great big dud. Better to lean on a repeatable process to make sure projects both simple and complex get the attention they deserve to ensure the best result. Here's the process I use to solve problems:

Research

Building empathy for the user

Industry Knowledge / Observe / Communicate

Research provides the foundation for a project. Understanding the industry, observation of users at work, and communicating findings to the team helps deliver solutions that hit the mark.

Strategy

Creating a vision for the project

Personas brings the users to life for the project team

These personas created for Global Scholar allowed the project team to create a site that spoke to different users of the site, each with their own concerns and requirements.

Mapping out the user journey

Journey maps help identify pain points that can be opportunities for innovation in a newly designed experience. This is an example from work done for Geek Squad that maps out an experience a customer has when their gadget breaks.

Problem solving is a team sport

When everyone is a contributor, getting buy-in is easy. Here the FarmMaps project team is participating in a brainstorming session as solutions are being sketched out on the wall.

Design

Bringing the project to life

Sketching it out

Before spending lots of time in software, designs are sketched out for the team to review. These sketches are from a project for Intel ShopSpot mobile experience.

Putting everything in it's place with a flow diagram

The flow diagram acts as a guide for the rest of the wireframe documentation, capturing the entire experience so the project team will know how the experience works, and developers will know how to build it.

Wiring it up

Detailed wireframes are created to provide specifications for all the functionality within the experience. From functional annotations to descriptions of interactions to mobile and design, the documentation provides the necessary information for team approval and developer work.

Refine

Analyzing results to make it better