Every project moves through three steps. Open any step to see the methods we use.
Step 01
Understand
Find the right problem before solving any problem.
Build deep empathy with people and their context, then turn what you’ve learned into a sharp, shared problem statement.
Discover (go out and learn)
- Stakeholder interviews and kickoff alignment
- User interviews and contextual inquiry
- Field observation and shadowing (“a day in the life”)
- Diary studies
- Surveys and quantitative data review (analytics, support tickets, reviews)
- Competitive and analogous research (how other industries solve similar problems)
- Immersion and empathy exercises (use the product yourself under real conditions)
Make sense (bring it together)
- Research synthesis and affinity mapping
- Empathy maps (says / thinks / does / feels)
- Personas or behavioral archetypes
- Jobs-to-be-Done statements
- Current-state journey maps and service blueprints
- Pain point and opportunity mapping
Frame (pin down the problem)
- Problem statements and Point-of-View statements
- “How Might We” questions
- Design principles and success criteria
- Assumption mapping (what we know vs. what we’re guessing)
- Prioritizing opportunities (impact vs. effort)
Step 02
Create
Generate many possibilities, then make the best ones real enough to react to.
Go wide to explore options, narrow down on purpose, and give ideas a form people can see and use.
Diverge (generate ideas)
- Brainstorming and brainwriting
- Crazy 8s and rapid sketching
- SCAMPER and other prompts that force new angles
- “Worst possible idea” and reverse brainstorming
- Co-creation workshops with users and stakeholders
- Analogous inspiration and mood boards
Converge (choose)
- Dot voting and the “heat map” exercise
- Impact/feasibility matrix
- Concept clustering and refinement
- Checking concepts against the design principles from Pillar 1
- Concept posters or one-page pitches
Make it tangible (prototype)
- Storyboards and future-state journey maps
- Paper prototypes and wireframes
- Clickable digital prototypes
- Wizard-of-Oz and concierge tests (fake the technology, test the experience)
- Physical mock-ups, role-play and service walkthroughs
- Desirability, feasibility and viability check
Step 03
Deliver
Prove it works, refine it, and get it into the world.
Test with real people, learn quickly, and carry the solution through launch and beyond.
Validate (test)
- Usability testing (moderated and unmoderated)
- A/B tests and preference tests
- Concept validation interviews
- Accessibility and inclusivity reviews
- Feedback capture grids (likes / criticisms / questions / ideas)
Refine (iterate)
- Prioritizing what you learned and planning iterations
- Design critiques and expert reviews
- Re-testing the riskiest assumptions
- Building out the design system and specs
Launch and scale (make it real)
- Pilot programs and staged rollouts
- Implementation roadmap and handoff to engineering and operations
- Change management and stakeholder storytelling
- Defining success metrics and KPIs
- Post-launch monitoring, analytics and feedback loops
- Retrospectives and sharing what was learned
