When starting a project the understanding phase of a project is the most important. A new product is a problem to be solved. As designers we must combine our research and understanding of the various spokes of a product to come up with the necessary solutions. Research should be the driving force behind all UX and UI decisions. Below are a few questions you can ask yourself, and others at the start of a project to help think through the various problems, and therefore discover possible solutions.
- What are the business goals of the product?
- Who will be using the product?
- What is he or she trying to do? What task is he or she attempting to undertake? Is this the first time this person has attempted this task?
- Why would he or she use the product? What is their goal?
- Where would he or she use the product?
Is the goal of the product a valid one? Are we fulfilling a user and business need? Ask the below questions of ourself and others to discover the answers to these questions.
- What problem does your idea solve?
- How are users solving this problem currently?
- Can your target market think of another product that does something similar?
- How have previous solutions failed?
- Do users understand what this product or service does?
- How do users feel about the product or service?
- Who is your competition?
- What is the app/site for? What can users do there?
- Does your target market actually have a need for this product?
- What devices do users imagine themselves using when they interact with this product?
- What scenarios can they picture themselves using it in?
Once a pattern of possible solutions have been discovered, and intial wireframes span a flow its then important to again ask the right questions to evaluate if a good solution has been reached.
- Will the user know what to do?
- Is there a clear route for the user to take? Is it obvious what the user needs to do at this step?
- Will the user see how to do it?
- Are call to actions obvious? Is it clear how the user completes this step?
- Will the user know whether their action was correct?
- What sort of feedback is provided? Is it clear whether the user is on the correct path or not?
- What can be taken away?
When a product has reached the stage where actual users can evaluate the solutions you've come up with it's vital to reach out to the users to discover if you are both solving the right problems, and have come up with relevant solutions. Below are a few questions you can ask users to evaluate your prototypes during the alpha and beta testing phases.
If what users are seeing is a wireframe, and not a working prototype you want to ask the right questions tailored to this approach. Below are a few examples of some questions you could ask.
- Before users even look at the wireframe or prototype, what would they expect to be able to do with it?
- How would they expect it to look?
- Once you show them the prototype, do users understand what it does?
- How does it measure up to their expectations?
- What features are missing?
- Does anything seem out of place or unnecessary?
- How do users feel when using the prototype?
- If users had a magic wand, what would they change about the product?
- How likely or unlikely would they be to use this product once it’s finished?
If what users are seeing is a prototype you want to ask the right questions tailored to this approach. Below are a few examples of some questions you could ask.
- Does the prototype do what it’s supposed to?
- Do users think the product’s design matches its purpose?
- What’s the first thing users would want to do on this product? Can they do that?
- When they explore the product, do they become confused at any point?
- Does anything distract them or get in their way?
- Are there any features they completely ignore?
- Do the information architecture and navigation make sense? (Can users find what they’re looking for?)
- Does your target market feel like this product was designed for them?
- What, if anything, would make your users want to use this product frequently?
- How likely or unlikely would they be to recommend the finished product to a friend?
- How would they describe this product using their own words?
Task based questions help evaluate specific solutions taken during the design of a product. When we asked ourself "Is there a clear route for the user to take?" we can now evaluate that question with feedback from the actual users.
- How do you do x? (Look for struggling)
- How difficult was it to do x?