Design phase

Take stock of the results of the discovery phase and plan your design approach.

• Assess and refine project parameters In development

  Review the research synthesis from the discovery phase and assess whether the project scope requires adjusting

• Determine design activities of best fit In development

  Discuss possible design approaches, align the team and stakeholders on the best design approach, recommend design activities and tactics

Start design activities with rough sketches to test the team’s ideas before committing to them.

• Visualize the ideal user pathway In development

  Building off of the findings from the discovery phase, run co-design sessions to start mapping out the best user pathway using models like service blueprints and future state user journey maps

• Brainstorm design ideas In development

  Conduct brainstorming activities, challenge assumptions raised by the team and record ideas using mind mapping or storyboarding solutions

• Evaluate early concepts In development

  Use paper prototypes or Wizard of Oz testing to test design ideas and assess the impact of proposed solutions on users, CRA employees and the broader environment

Build out the content, moving from the information architecture to the layout to the detailed writing using co-design sessions and consulting with stakeholders throughout.

• Content location and structure

  Create a content map and build it out into a detailed future-state content inventory using the principles of information architecture (IA)

• Wireframing

  Produce rough content ideas and early wireframes to demonstrate how users will move through the content

• Detailed content prototypes

  Create content templates and start writing content using co-design exercises

Now it is time to put the finishing touches on your design, review further with stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs) and conduct validation testing of the complete prototype with users.

• Functional prototype In development

  Refine the layout, structure and interaction patterns of the pages and then design and code the prototype

• Heuristic usability evaluation

  Use a set of criteria to evaluate the content's quality and usability to identify strenghts and areas for improvement

• Usability testing

  Develop a testing plan, recruit users that match the target user profile, conduct usability testing (unmoderated or moderated) and report on results

• Refine prototype based on testing results In development

  Make changes to the prototype to address any issues that were observed during usability testing or, if there are significant issues, go back to earlier stages of the design phase and re-design the product