UX Design

Do less, better

My approach to UX design can be summarised as “do less better”. What is the least amount of work we can do to get the answers we need? The idea of double-handling work or creating deliverables for the sake of it drives me nuts. Communication to stakeholders is important, but do we have to make everything into a presentation? Probably not. Sometimes a quick verbal debrief will suffice and unblock us so we can continue on with a more important part of the overall process. What I am trying to say is that I respect UX process, but I like doing it in the leanest way possible.

  • Understanding our users is the first part of any process. If we don’t know who we are designing for, how do we know we’re designing the right thing at all?

  • Defining the problem space is the next priority. I like to single out the riskiest items first. And collaborating with the team to do this helps us align at the same time.

  • We know what we’re trying to solve, so this is where we think of new ideas. Again, what is the least we can do to get the answers we need? And what is the biggest risk right now? Collaboration here is key to help generate usable ideas.

  • We don’t always have to build something to test our assumptions. Sometimes a survey or user interview will give us the info we need. If we know which problem we are focused on, we can choose the appropriate method. But once that testing is done, we can return to one of the other previous steps to iterate upon the product.

UX Research

Be led by insights, not methods

I believe that the decision to use a specific method should be based on the insight you want to discover. Need to know if people can actually navigate your game? You don’t need playtesting if you can just do usability testing. Or maybe a player interview? I never start with the method and look for the problem.

  • I believe that at its core, UX research is a tool to help with risk mitigation. Uncovering the riskiest problem to solve first is the reason for doing research and the earlier we can catch problems, the more time we have to fix them.

  • Pinpointing issues is all about making things better based on real world data. Our insights help to uncover more game or product design opportunities.

  • The whole point of UX research is to ensure that it informs next steps. I always ensure that outcome of any research piece helps point us all in the right direction.

  • My goal is always to understand where we are, where we are going and where we have come from on any product.