ROYBOOK- A Designer’s journey book
Objective of this Book : Book for every Designers
Design is much more than just playing with styles. A good design is based on research and clear strategy. The benefits sought in these new digital practices should help understand and facilitate human activity, as much as increase and improve it. Create a value of practical and substantial use with positive tools!
Building brands to grow understanding their mission and vision and the purpose:
Why does the brand exist?
Vision: What future the brands want to create?
Mission: Creating and analyzing that future
Values: About the company and the process they deliver
UX strategist has a highly effective product strategy requires insight into the intersection of design, business, technology and the user. Strengths encompass defining product vision, crafting compelling stories and designing seamless, human-centered experiences across complex ecosystems. I enjoy interfacing with start-ups and non-profits), internal executives and product teams to bring innovative ideas to life. Thriving on building multidisciplinary teams, solving business problems, and envisioning experiences that delight users. Fundamentally has to believe that design can improve people’s lives, transform companies and change culture.
Verticals
E-commerce, healthcare, education, publishing
Specialties
UX strategy, innovation consulting, experience design, user experience, service design, design thinking, visual design, interaction design, user research, prototyping, branding, storytelling, scenario use case development, convergent design across digital, physical and human touch points, workshop facilitation, leadership + management, mentoring, business development, proposal writing, client pitches, client relations.
A problem solver, cognitive with an Visual Eye having understanding of design principles following Agile Method.
Agile practice that promotes continuous iteration of development and testing throughout the software development life cycle of the project. Both development and testing activities are concurrent unlike the Waterfall model.
Discover — Building Strategy
Method: Why, What, How, Who, Where
Empathize- Learning about the user demographic
(Understanding Problem/Research)
We are trying to solve discovery of larger group or community and their problem and how we can solve as per their capability ( users goal and objective )
Define- Define Scope of Work
Research User Demographics and Business Demographics
( Meet, Talk, Observe.) (Defining the problem)(WHY we need this?) Analysis- Interviews ( Mind Mapping), to remove our assumptions., Functions,Competitive analysis — Evaluating existing task flows, Task Analysis- Proposing new task flows. Need to define the technology.
What is Demographics and where we use it? — Qualitative Questionnaires , User Persona Study of 2 Different frequent and Odd
— Empathy mapping on odd and Frequent characters (Think and Feel)( Say and Do)( Hear ) (See )
— Pain and Gain
Qualitative method?
- which is change and observe through tangible field study on everyday activity. its an iterative process
Quantitative method?
- Which can be counted or measured by asking question to focus group with getting the task time by methods like card sorting
— 20 users, Tree testing- 50–100, eye tracker 40 users
Ideate — Creating the structure through storyboarding and creating User journey with odd and frequent Persona study, User Flow , Card Sorting and Information Architecture.
What — (generating ideas), solution- how will the pieces fit together, Draw sketch ( Low-Fi ), visualize- Creation of Information Architecture — Defining Navigation ( Card sorting )Evaluating current and proposing new architecture
- User Journey through (Entice, Enter, Engage, Exit and Extend)
10- Usability Heuristic Principles
Usability is an important quality indicator for interactive IT products/systems. It refers to the degree to which products are effective, easy to use, easy to learn, efficient, fewer errors and satisfying to users. Usability is mainly about the functional part of the product. In a word, “Don’t make me think”. Remember, stop making usability mistake as they can kill your website conversions.
https://medium.muz.li/10-tips-on-how-to-conduct-a-perfect-heuristic-evaluation-ae5f8f4b3257
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIQVRzatb50&list=PLJOFJ3Ok_idtb2YeifXlG1-TYoMBLoG6I&index=10
Design and Implement — ( Low and High Fidelity )
Activities: Draw paper Sketches, white board flows, Low-Fi Wire frames to share ideas with stakeholders using 3 design principles ( Fitts law which is place of elements, Mimicry which is reference from something from real world and aesthetic is to make it visually appealing
Heuristic Evaluations
Gestalt principles
- Implement: building functionality by tech team.
Activities: Implement back-end functionality
Outcomes: Developed UI with complete functionality and experience following the designed theme and style
- Evaluate: Validating User Flows
- In ter action: ongoing action between the parties. relationship with any humans or object
Activities: Validating user flows
Outcomes: User Feedback, UI Audits, Improvement areas
Few Trending Fonts:
http://www.typevibes.com/
Awareness of trending pairing fonts
serif ( With End Strokes- Times new roman): Rockwell, Sabon, Jura, Brela, Cormorant, Crimson text
sanserif ( Without Strokes- Arial): DIN 1451, Proxima Nova, Montserrat, Nunito, Ui Sans, Open sans, Segoe UI, Moon, Coves, Big john, Slim John, Baron, Aqua Grotesque, Dense
To pair the fonts We need to take care of the Type faces, Contrast with Serf and Sanserif,
Likes:
Bebas neu bold with montserrat.
Open sans extra bold / Cooper hewitt
Raleway/ Roboto
Sefon/bebus neue
Anton/Opensans light
- For Kiosk displays, any sans serif font(IBM Plex Sans, Roboto, Open Sans, Cairo Black, Rajdhani, etc)
Where do i take colors for my designs?
I Prefer something from real world.
- www.paleton.com
- https://htmlcolorcodes.com/color-picker/
- Found an article you may be interested in:
https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/2019-color-trends-worlds-most-popular-colors/
Test
GA, AB testing, Use Case scenarios, task based, Usability testing
- Where are your users mainly coming from?
- Which section do the users stay the longest?
- Which areas on your page are getting the most clicks?
- Which parts can be optimized and which can be ignored?
- Manual Testing by observing the user by giving a task and tracking the duration
- Heat map by few tools like crazyegg similar to GS
- Eye tracking — WebEyeMapper and WebLogger
Tools Used:
Microsoft invisio and Flow map, XMind, Mindomo, etc.
Sketch, Figma, XD, Balsamiq, Invision, Zeplin etc.
Upgraded with Adobe Suite-Illustrator, Photoshop, Afinity, Max, Maya etc.
Advanced animations, be it via CSS, JS, video or 3D Browser Engines,After effect
Testing Tools: Crazyeggs, Manual testing,
What are design best practices?
-Words, Declutterness, clarity
-Validation
-Testing, Being humble, Delight users.
-Words: People don’t read
-Write with your heart and edit with your brain
-Consistency is the key
-Sorting the content on priority
-perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away
-Reduce the users effort
-100 clear screen is always better than 1 cluttered
-Smooth user journey without any confusion
-Ego kills design, It stops Learning and is the biggest enemy of design
-Never be satisfied , become mindful and honest
-it is not for us it is for users
-Whitespaces
-connecting feelings with features
What makes any online sale a true success:#
- 50% — product quality.
— 5% — brand name (this finding fully disrupts the myth that the more solid and famous the brand, the more sales it makes online)
— 15% — interaction with customer (e.g. engagement in social media, tech support, etc)
-10% — promotion
— 20% = user currency (7%) + translation / localization (5%) + payment methods (5%) + user support (3%)
Agile Methods:
- Getting the Backlogs and converting that to sprint
- Daily stand up with the team on the progress
Don’t Make Me Think: 20 Wise Thoughts about Usability — Designing for Emotion
- If something requires a large investment of time — or looks like it will — it’s less likely to be used.
-Making every page or screen self-evident is like having good lighting in a store: it just makes everything seem better.
Question we should be asking to our self every morning.
- Am I happy?
I like to start with some yes or no questions to assess how I feel. I don’t spend too much time answering these — I know that my first response is usually my truest one. - Am I grateful?
I remind myself all the time to appreciate what I have. This question prompts me to do that. - Do I like my job?
We spend most of our time at work, so it’s important to feel good about what we do. - Do I feel good?
When I’m in a good mental and emotional place, I’m better equipped to connect with the people in my life. That’s why I work on my own energy before trying to help others. - What new things am I learning?
If I don’t have a good answer for this one, I know it’s time to make a change. When I’m not learning, I’m not growing, and when I’m not growing, I feel frustrated and weak. - Where is my career going?
I want to wake up excited every day for what’s ahead. Some advice: If you can’t identify your long-term goals, start thinking about them. You don’t need to know exactly what you want to do, but you should have an idea of the direction you want to take. - How meaningful is my work?
This is very simple: I want to feel like my work matters. - How can I get better at what I do?
The better I become at what I do, the bigger impact I can make, which leads to both more satisfaction and more income. - What’s my number-one priority right now?
I probably ask myself this question every day. When we focus on too many things at the same time, we don’t make much progress at all. - How can I achieve that number-one priority more quickly?
This question is not about being impatient — it’s about being creative. Imagining how I might achieve my goals faster pushes me to come up with new ways to get better results. - What tasks should I stop doing?
We all waste time. It’s important to identify the tasks that distract you from your real goals, and stop doing them. - What tasks am I procrastinating?
It’s always tempting to avoid difficult or uncomfortable tasks. But putting them off until tomorrow (or months from now) will only make them that much more unpleasant when you ultimately do tackle them. - How can I help one person today?
My life has more meaning when I do something generous with my time. A simple gesture is enough. I might decide to call a family member, or cheer up a friend. - What questions am I not asking myself?
This list of questions will always be changing — because I myself am always changing. Try coming up with a list of your own, and then bring it out every month or so. After a while, you may just find that your life is better simply because you took the time to ask yourself how things were going.
15. Do at least 10% more what is expected out of you.
16. Never, ever present as fact opinions on things you don’t know.
17. Be courteous and considerate always — up and down.
18. Don’t knock, don’t complain — stick to constructive, serious criticism.
20. Don’t be afraid to make decisions when you have the facts on which . to make them.
21. Quantify where possible.
22. Be open-minded but skeptical. 8. Be prompt.
Tool for Designers:
Goal-Driven Design
- Design first; program second. In other words, goal-driven design begins with considerations for how users interact (and how things look!), rather than beginning with technical considerations.
- Separate responsibility for design from responsibility for programming. This refers to the necessity of having an interaction designer who can champion the end-user, without worrying about the technical constraints. A designer should be able to trust his or her developer to handle the technical aspects; in fact Alan Cooper suggests that to do otherwise places the designer in a conflict of interest.
- Hold designers responsible for product quality and user satisfaction. Though stakeholders or clients will have their own objectives, the interaction designer has a responsibility to the person on the other side of the screen.
- Define one specific user for your product. This particular idea has developed into something that is now more commonly associated with user research: personas. Yet Alan reminds us to connect personas back to the product, and constantly ask: where will this person use this? Who is he or she? What does he or she want to accomplish?
- Work in teams of two. Lastly, interaction designers should never work in a silo. Collaboration with others, which Alan Cooper calls a “design communicator,” is key. Though the design communicator Alan envisioned in 1999 was typically a copywriter intended to provide marketing copy for products, today that has expanded to include a project manager, content strategist, information architect, and many others.
Evaluating it with user feedback and UI improvements with usability testing and below of 5 steps mentioned below.
1- Understand:
Learning and understanding the users and their problem and making sure it is aligned with the brand (WHO & WHY) the female customer (House wife’s and working class) and their need with empathy mapping technique what they say, think, Do and feel.
SAY : I need this service at my convenient time within my budget and it the product should be genuine used by service providers with verified professionals.
THINK: Can i get good offers sitting at Home and save my time and is it actually secured and Are they using genuine products?
DO : Browsing, hunting and comparing the product
– Goal/ Objective: User female customer to get this service at their convenience and cost effective with appropriate guidance and security which involves our company’s services and build their trust.
- Pain Points:Users (Customers) don’t have time for visiting Beauty Parkour, need to plan extra time to get the service with extra cost involved also trust factor and security plays a bigger role for them
- Motivation: Why this Service and the benefits? which will save travel time and cost at the doorstep with verified service provider and best pricing with educational awareness from expert service providers.
What we did:
- Meeting and understanding the users and the stakeholders( female users and business owners, product manager
- Interviews and understanding the of browsers, hunters and buyers users.
- Created Journey Maps based on Interviews adhering to empathy mapping technique.
-Created task flow which will help the user to reach their objective with minimal time with the help of card sorting.
2-Research:
Explored the outer world on similar features with competitor analysis study, UX/UI Trend and guideline creation and extracted bunch of ideas and material. How will the pieces fits together?
What we did:
Understanding the ratio of browsers, hunters and buyers users in the service from competitor research to categorised the UI
The user flow needs to improved specific to transactions and prioritizing the services as per the states and the usage of devices with the current design trend based on the study.
- Created the style guide for the UI with the current trend.
3- Sketch:
Creation, paper sketches and Low-Fi wire frame and sharing ideas with stakeholders and implementing.
What we did:
- Created few Paper Prototypes, based on the stakeholders approvals with low-Fi wire frames
- Brainstorming with Stakeholders and receiving their feedback and implementing those on the wire frame.
4- Design:
High-Fi Mocks based on the Low-fi (Using, High Fi — Sketch tool) based on the new branding style guide
What we did: We took stakeholders (Users and Business manager) feedback on technical and business perspective
- Created High-Fi Mock-ups using Sketch tool which was then approved by ( PM, VP, CEO, ) with few tweaking’s
5- Implement:
Building functionality on the approved High-Fi Mock up.
What we did:
- Shared the approved mock MSite/ Desktop design to tech team in Zeplin tool( used for style guides specification).
6- Evaluate :
A/B Testing, Google Analytics, Use cases studies, Usability Testing (Daily basis)
What we did: Tracking the Google Analytics / User feedback on daily basis and implement the tweaking if required on the user flows. We did some Heat map testing with users.
-Identified UI Improvements.( 2 Designs were Implemented for A/B Testing)
- Uploaded to Live Link in few states for testing purpose.
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