Discovery & Research
First step of any design process involves understanding the problem, the target audience or users and the project requirements.
I start with reviewing the brief followed by conducting stakeholder and/or client interviews. This is followed by analyzing the competition.
After this the user's needs and pain points have to be identified as well. Once all of these points are covered can the project goals and objectives be defined.
Strategy & Planning
In this step an overall vision for the product and a roadmap for the design team is created.
The overall scope and constraints for the project are worked out and agreed upon in this step.
A design strategy has to be planned out, following which I start by making user personas and user journey maps.
A final project plan and timeline is created at the conclusion of this step.
Design
In this stage the user experience and visual design aspects of the product are created.
The User-Flows, Wireframes and Prototypes are created which quickly start forming a visual look and feel of the product.
After this the UI is designed, which includes typography, iconography and a comprehensive components library.
User Testing
In this step, the design is tested with real users for feedback and validation.
This helps in testing the usability of the design and gathering feedback from users.
Data gathered in this testing and analyzing the user behaviour are then incorporated into necessary design changes.
Development & Implementation
This is the final stretch in the UI/UX process where the design (including all assets) are handed over to the development team.
During this step, collaboration with the development team is key to insure proper implementation of the design.
Final quality assurance testing is conducted at the conclusion of this step.
Launch & Beyond
Once the product hits the market, constant improvements and updates need to be made.
User feedback and various other analytics direct these updates.
The product needs to be regularly refreshed according to the latest design trends and guidelines. For example, Google's Material Design and Apple's Human Interface Guidelines.