Discovery & Delivery Design Phases

Phase 1: Research and Analysis (1 Month)

Objective:
Understand user needs, market trends, and technical requirements.

Activities:
Conduct user interviews and surveys to gather insights, user needs and pain points.
Analyse competitors to identify best practices -- if any.
Collaborate with stakeholders to define technical constraints, business requirements and opportunities.

Deliverables:
User personas and journey maps. Confluence.
Competitive analysis report. Confluence.
Technical requirements documentation. Confluence, Jira.

Phase 2: Conceptualisation (1-Month)

Objective:
Develop the initial design concepts for the product & service.

Activities:
Brainstorming sessions to generate creative ideas.
Sketching and Wireframing are used to visualise the basic layout, user journeys, and navigation.
Create a design system that includes, at a minimum, things like branding, colour schemes, typography/font pairing/font sizes for headings and content, and the primary and or feature UI content components.

Deliverables:
High-fidelity wireframes.
Interactive prototypes for crucial user flows.
Design system documentation and design tokens.


Phase 3: User Testing & Feedback (2-Months)

Objective:
Validate design concepts with real users and refine them based on feedback.

Activities:
Conduct usability testing sessions using interactive prototypes.
Gather feedback on UI elements, navigation, and overall user experience.
Iterate on designs to address user feedback and improve usability.

Deliverables:
Usability testing report.
Revised wireframes and prototypes.

Phase 4: Final Design & Handoff (2-Months)

Objective:
Finalise the design and prepare for development handoff.

Activities:
Create final high-fidelity designs for all screens and user flows.
Develop a comprehensive UI kit and style guide for developers.
Collaborate with developers to ensure a smooth handoff and clarify any design-related queries.

Deliverables:
Final UI designs.
UI kit and style guide.
Design handoff, design system documentation, design tokens and annotations.
—Never hand over source files without a conversation. It might seem unnecessary, but assuming everyone understands without explanation isn’t worth the risk when explaining a design is so simple.

Phase 5: Implementation Support and Post-Launch Evaluation (1-Month)

Objective: Support the development team during implementation and evaluate the design/s post-launch.

Activities:
Provide ongoing support to developers during the implementation phase.
Conduct A/B testing to compare different design elements.
Gather user feedback post-launch to identify areas for future improvement.

Deliverables:
Implementation support documentation.
A/B testing report.
Post-launch evaluation report.