Organization
Before starting anything, I like to set a timeline for myself, and specific goals, as well as decide where I'll be storing and organizing my data. Trello and Google Drive are amazing tools for those needs.
Trello
Google Drive
Pre-search
Business Analysis
Design Analysis
Google Analytics
Best Practices
Finding the current issues with a site or application is important as they may be the easiest to fix while working towards more lofty goals.
Trying to find the areas of opportunity within the current application.
While going through competitors, we wanted to see what people may expect to see on our site for Sidewalk Runway.
Finding the current issues with a site or application is important as they may be the easiest to fix while working towards more lofty goals.
Looking at the competition in terms of layout, features, and business goals. I want to make sure that I get as much information from them as I can and see where there are opportunities on which to capitalize.
Google Analytics and other data sources also help to find current issues or what is working well so I know where to focus my attention.
This is also where I analyze the heuristics/best practices for all of the sites/app that i am researching, as well as for the current site/app on which I am working.
Interaction
Site/App Maps
User Flows
Omnigraffle
We wanted to get to the point of simplification, so we created a userflow that we wanted to achieve.
The challenge was creating a sitemap that didn't seem like an e-commerce website, since it was meant to be a website for customer images of these items only.
The previous userflow for the application was much too complex and needed an update. There is a lot more form to the final user flow.
We wanted to get to the point of simplification, so we created a userflow that we wanted to achieve.
Going more into the interaction with the website or application, I like to create basic user flows, site/app maps, and mixtures of different kinds of flows with varying amounts of detail depending on my focus.
For example, a basic userflow of the usual interaction with a site is quick and easy, but if I want to also analyze the layout of information as I go through it, a more detailed flow, like the Amazon Review Flow, would be more useful to me.
It's also helpful when you're trying to place where exactly there are too many steps to an outcome.