Design process

Over the years I’ve read, watched and listened to tonnes of material about designing and building websites. Information about the technical elements of design and development is easy to come by in a range of formats, but there seems to be much less out there about the design process itself.

And that leaves me wondering: what are the steps designers are following in their practice that lead them to a final design direction?

Process evolution

When I think about how my own design process has evolved, I’ve made lots of small, incremental changes over the years. These changes have often been prompted by other designers/developers generously sharing a nugget about their own process.

Examples of these would be:

• People discussing and sharing onboarding questions with clients in Slack groups
• Hearing about the benefits of using video for design feedback on the Boagworld podcast
• Andy Clarke sharing details how to offer a design process with no limits on revisions on early series of Unfinished Business
• Dan Mall’s Project Questionnaire
• Things I’ve picked up from talking to clients: a good example was an architect who shared that they stipulate a standing weekly meet with all their clients, and what a game-changer that had been for them

These changes have almost always had a positive effect, often with an impact much greater than I would have anticipated. The few that haven’t worked out were still useful learning experiences.

Thinking about these makes me curious about the threads other designers follow in their design process:

• What are the things they’re thinking about and prioritising?
• How do they structure the process?
• What does each step look like in practice?
• Are there steps other people follow that they skip because they don’t find them useful?
• What bits of their process are non-negotiable?
• Which steps usually lead to the most useful insights?

Where to learn

If someone came to me and asked for recommendations on where to learn about design technique, there are lots of books and courses to point them to.

But if they ask “where can I learn about design process?”, that’s a harder question. There are articles, courses and podcasts that touch on this, but it’s not frequently covered as a standalone topic.

Two examples that spring to mind:

• Erik Kennedy’s Learn UI Design and Landing Page courses explain and walkthrough the process he follows
• Fictive Kin’s instant classic on web systems isn’t a process explainer, but pulls back the veil on how they think about and approach web projects

What about you?

So, I’m interested about the design process other people follow, and I imagine it’s different for everyone.

To the designers out there: I’d love to hear from you, especially if you work independently or in a small team:

1. How did your design process come together? Are there any great resources you’ve found?
2. Have you written about it?
3. Is this topic interesting to you?

Hit reply and let me know.