The UX design process: 7 actionable steps

Editor’s note: This article was updated by Allie Paschal on 25 November 2024 to expand on the UX design process, provide actionable steps and checklist items, discuss advanced UX design concepts, answer common questions about the UX design process, and refresh visual aids throughout the post.

The UX design process helps UX designers work step-by-step to create a useful feature or product. Though there are many variations of this process, the overall shared goal is to understand the user’s needs and create designs that solve those needs. You can and should tailor this process to create the best solution for your users.

The UX design process is vital to a product’s success because it improves UX, reduces development costs, and facilitates user-centered design. Although this process follows a specific order of steps, each step may vary by project or by team, and you may need to go back to an earlier step when revisions are needed.

Let’s dive in and discuss more about the UX design process. We’ll start with an overview of the process, then follow-up with a few advanced UX design concepts and FAQs.

Overview of UX design process

The UX design process serves as an iterative manual for creating design solutions, meaning the process may look slightly different between UX teams or even project-to-project. You may see different quantities or definitions of steps in some guides; you may find some steps unnecessary for your own needs or might want to add some more.

Overall, the below seven steps offer a baseline for designers to arrange their own UX process for creating solutions to suit the needs of the project at hand:

Let’s go over each step’s expected actions and deliverables – starting with project definition, and ending with launch and iteration.

1. Define project & scope

Before you can run full-steam ahead to any research or design work, your team must align and clarify on the project’s objectives and requirements. Here, you’ll answer questions such as:

• “What are we trying to achieve with this project, and for whom?”
• “When does this need to be done?”

Asking straightforward, practical questions like this is beneficial for the entire team because it encourages collaboration, helps set realistic expectations, and reduces feature creep (when a project’s features keep increasing without adding value).

Approaches to define the project

• Address user and business needs — Users and the business have needs, and it’s important to identify and address both within a project. Find where they overlap, such as where a user need (like customer satisfaction) can drive a positive business outcome
• Create a shared vision with stakeholders — A shared vision creates alignment throughout the entire team. By understanding business objectives, conducting interviews with stakeholders, and analyzing the competition, designers are better equipped to support a project definition that is both user- and business-centric

Checklist for defining the project

• Defined objectives and goals (ideally with target metrics)
• Identified target user(s)
• Established budget, timeline, and resources (who is going to work on this project)
• Specified scope of features (must-have, should-have, nice-to-have features)
• Completed project brief including the above details (with stakeholder sign-off)

2. User research

After defining the project comes user research. Here, you can begin to answer questions like:

• “Why do users act the way they do?”
• “How do users interact with our product?”

It’s critical to prioritize users in your design process because if they don’t see a need for your product (or can’t use it), it won’t be successful. User research is also important because it confirms or rejects any bias designers have, as well as helps designers develop empathy for the target users.

Set research objectives & methodology

• Goals and objectives — Before starting any research, you first need to set the goals and objectives for the research plan, including the why, what, and how of the research. When thinking about the research objectives, it’s good to ask questions like, “What main questions do I have about the user?” and “How does the user complete this task?”
• Methodology — After finalizing the research goals, you need to decide on the methodology. Do you need quantitative or qualitative data? Should you do onsite or remote testing, or a combination of both? The methodology determines how you’ll conduct research, the time needed, and what tools you’ll use for data collection, and can vary the types of responses you get from users

User research methods

Though there are several UX research methods to choose from, we’ll review two common approaches below with interviews and surveys:

• Interviews — Typically one-on-one conversations between the interviewer and a target user to identify user needs and pain points. They can be done in-person, over the phone, or in a video call. Tools like recorders and notepads are essential during interviews to retain information for further review. Though interviews allow for follow-up questions, they are more time-consuming and costly to complete.
• Surveys — Usually online questionnaires, but can also be conducted in person. Surveys obtain the user’s perspective on a launched or a budding product. Design teams collect and compile the gathered user data in easy-to-use tools such as Google Forms and SurveyMonkey. Though surveys allow you to reach a wider and more diverse range of users, the users may not be as honest and expressive compared to interviews

Checklist for user research

• Finalized research brief outlining the objectives and methodology
• Completed “X” number of interviews or survey responses (determined by the research goals)
• Raw data from interviews and/or surveys

3. Analyze

Once you have the raw data from your research, you need to review and organize it. This can be a daunting task given all the data to review, but there are methods to arrange the data to find key insights and patterns. Let’s look at a couple ways to analyze the data, then we’ll review methods to present the data to help with the remaining UX process.

Methods to analyze data

• Data analytics — Allows the researchers to get a quick summary of quantitative data from research. Online survey tools like Google Forms generate automatic counts, percentages, and data visualizations that help identify trends. But tools like Excel can be used to import data to get the same analytics summary. Data analytics is great to include within a research report or to validate a design decision for next steps.
• Card-sorting — Helps the researcher review and analyze qualitative data from interviews and/or surveys. Researchers use cards, sticky notes on whiteboards, or even card-sorting software (like Miro) to group similar user experiences, motivations, needs, and expectations. This is helpful for creating personas, storytelling boards, affinity maps, user journeys, etc.

Methods to present data

• Persona — Fictional characters with real-life characteristics and experiences that are derived from user research. They create a sense of empathy among project members, and visually represent a summary of user needs and expectations that can be discussed with stakeholders. Personas can be recycled from project to project as long as the target user remains the same, but should be revisited a few times per year
• Journey map — Visually shows the user’s holistic process when completing a task in a product. It displays a timeline of actions from when the user starts the task to when they finish, but also conveys their mindset and emotions during the process. A journey map is powerful in showing opportunities where the user gets confused or frustrated, as well as enhancing empathy with the user

Checklist for analyzing the data

• Completed summary of data analytics (if applicable)
• Finalized personas and journey maps
• Completed research report or presentation that documents all the above details (shared with stakeholders)

4. Design & prototype

Now that you understand your users, the next step is to design and prototype. Here, your UX designs need to balance aesthetics and usability. Users want products with good design elements, but they also must solve their problems. Since you’ve done the research, you know what the user’s expectations are with regard to the UI and its functionality; these go hand-in-hand to create an intuitive user experience.

Methods to generate designs & prototypes

• Brainstorming — A generative technique where designers collaborate with one another to create ideas based on personas, journey maps, and data previously collected. Brainstorming can be in the form of text and card-sorting, sketches, or low-fidelity wireframes (which we’ll review below)
• Sketching — Another generative technique used for putting your thoughts on paper when designing. While sketching, you can use prior brainstorms and research to think about possible solutions to solve the user’s problems, as well as what the product should look like and features to include. Though some designers sketch on white paper with pencils, you can also do it digitally

• Wireframing — There are two types of wireframes: low-fidelity (lo-fi) and high-fidelity (hi-fi). Wireframes are also a generative method and considered the digital version of the sketches since they are typically greyscale. They are more tangible than sketches because they can be prototyped and later tested, but are more time-consuming to produce. Lo-fi has low-quality intentions for the final design (sketches can be considered lo-fi). On the other hand, hi-fi is more detailed and looks closer to the final product

• Prototyping — An evaluative method, and a draft version of the product’s UX for a specific project or feature. Though not one-to-one with a coded website, a prototype is a representation of the UI and its functionality before any development begins. This allows designers to explore and experiment with ideas, as well as ensure the product’s usability before any resources are used to implement the designs

Checklist for designing and prototyping

• Completed sketches (with multiple iterations)
• Finished lo-fi and hi-fi wireframes (reviewed with stakeholders)
• Finished prototype that is fully-functional (reviewed with stakeholders)

5. User testing

Once you have designs, you can begin user testing. The testing stage can be done in tandem with the design-and-prototype stage as you iterate designs and need data to support direction. However, you must test the final prototype with real users before handing it off to engineers to ensure there are no usability issues. This validates the design solution by users (or gives you feedback for revisions) and saves money by addressing UX issues before development.

Approaches for user testing

• Set test objectives and goals — Similar to research, you need to set objectives and goals for the user test. Figure out questions you want to answer and create a task around it. For instance, do you have a new feature and want to see how the user feels about it? You can set up a task asking them to locate and use that feature, as well as note how easy or difficult it was for them
• Recruitment — Recruitment of the right participants is essential to the testing stage. You should test your products with real users – not friends, family, or stakeholders. This reduces bias and gets efficient feedback from the user. Tools like UserTesting.com allows you to screen users to find relevant and applicable users for every test you conduct in the platform
• Testing method — The type of testing method you use depends on your goals and testing questions. For example, do you have two versions of the design and are unsure of which to finalize? Run an A/B test. Or are you testing a brand-new feature and want to get user feedback? Run an unmoderated or moderated usability test. If you’re unsure of which test method to pick, here is a guide to user testing to help
• Tool selection — When selecting a testing tool, think about the target user and testing mode. User testing can be moderated or unmoderated, as well as remote or in-person. Moderated, in-person testing tools differ from those used for unmoderated, remote testing. You may also need to examine the diversity of users… Do you need to consider accessibility? How can you accommodate testing for users with disabilities?

Checklist for user testing

• Finalized test objectives and methodology
• Completed “X” number of tests with real users (determined by the test goals)
• Remediation of any UX issues
• Finalized designs and prototypes (ready for hand-off)

6. Design hand-off

After the designs are tested and finalized, it’s time to give the designs and documentation to your software developers. These developers code the designs into fully functional products, so they participate in design and product discussions throughout the UX process.

Though it’s up to the developers to implement the designs, it’s important that the entire team work together to ensure usability.

Approaches for hand-off

• Communication — A vital in product development that keeps the entire team on the same path. During the design hand-off, the developers must understand the solution and the findings before they start developing. So communicate the designs in a clear, concise way that the developers can quickly understand
• Set realistic goals — From handoff to the final launch, both teams should set realistic development goals, especially regarding timelines for development and QA (quality assurance) testing. It’s important to allocate enough time for building the product, and making any needed adjustments; rushed projects lead to errors
• Involvement in the entire UX process — In some organizations, the entire product development cycle involves the entire product team, while other organizations tend to work independently. Regardless of the pattern you use, leave no one behind in the process

Checklist for design hand-off

• Completed documentation(s) of final design specs
• Detailed instructions for animations and UI interactions
• Annotations for accessibility (tab and focus order, headers, etc.)
• Meeting(s) to review finals designs with developers

7. Launch & iterate

Despite being at the end of the UX process, the launch and iterate stage is not the end — it’s a continuous cycle with the designs being improved based on user feedback as well as further product development.

Approaches for post-launch

• User feedback — After launching a product or feature, more users will access it – meaning more feedback. Though you can revert to the user testing stage to evaluate the live product, you can also have a feedback survey that is easily accessible in the product. For example, after a user completes a task in a new feature, they can be prompted to complete a short survey about the experience.
• Product analytics — Digital tools like Google Analytics give you easy access to usage analytics of the product. These tools help you monitor where users are clicking, how much time they’re spending on certain pages, and their scrolling behavior. With this data, you can identify bugs and areas for improvement.
• Iterate — After finding any bugs or user pain points within the product, you need to prioritize the changes and remediate them. This may include iterating on the existing product. For example, if the analytics show that many users abandon their shopping cart, how might you help them complete their purchase?

Checklist for post-launch

• Finalized method to continuously collect feedback from users (surveys or reviews)
• Strategy to monitor website traffic and KPIs (user satisfaction)
• Cycle of releasing updates and bug fixes (as needed)

Advanced UX design concepts

We covered a lot within the above UX design process, but not every design concept you may encounter within each stage of the process. Let’s go over a few advanced UX design topics that you may come across with inclusive design, design systems, and information architecture.

Inclusive design

Inclusive design is the practice of creating designs that are accessible and can be used by most people – regardless of their abilities or background. Designing for inclusion means to understand the diversity of users, and to create a user experience that they all can access.

Methods to design for inclusion

• Ensure features are accessible — Creating accessible features is critical for users with disabilities, such as low-vision or motor disabilities. Guidelines such as following proper color-contrast and ensuring all interactive elements are accessible by a keyboard is required for users with disabilities to be able to use a website or app. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is the tool to access and understand these guidelines
• Use plain language — By using simple, plain language in a website or application, more users can comprehend the product and the tasks they can do within it. Users have various literacy and cognitive abilities, so avoid jargon and technical terms so more users can better understand the content on a webpage
• User test with diverse participants — To ensure your website or application can be used by users with disabilities, you need to user test with them. For instance, if your target users use a screen reader, you need to create a product that’s compatible with screen readers. Tools like Lookback offer usability testing with more diverse participants

Design systems

A design system offers a set of recyclable UI components and patterns that help maintain consistency within a product, as well as help teams produce designs and code faster. It’s common for companies to have their own internal design systems, but many open source design systems exist, like Google’s Material Design.

Methods to create design systems

• Audit existing assets — If you don’t have a design system, your UX team probably already uses common components that are applied in the product. You can audit existing designs in your team’s design tool (like Figma), and take those components as a starting place for the design system
• Build core UI components — If starting from scratch, it’s best to start with building the core components, like buttons, text fields, and icons, that will be used in larger components and patterns
• Use open-source design systems — If you don’t have time or resources to build a design system, you can use or borrow UI components from open-source design systems. Systems such as Adobe’s Spectrum and IBM’s Carbon not only offer the UI components, but also extensive documentation on how to use them

Information architecture (IA)

Information architecture (IA) is the practice of organizing the content within a website or app that makes it intuitive for users to navigate, find, and comprehend. IA can be also referred to as content strategy because it deals with presenting content to users at the right time in the right way. Without IA, users can get lost and confused while using a product, leading to abandonment and dissatisfaction.

Methods for IA

• Develop a taxonomy — Content needs to be organized into categories that make sense to the user. A product’s navigation menu is a good example of a taxonomy because menus include the top categories of the product, each with sub-categories within. These categories must be understandable by users, which can be tested with card-sorting
• Use descriptive labels — Labels are everywhere within a product – buttons, input fields, menu items, etc. But if the user doesn’t understand what will happen if they select it or what information is needed, they’ll ignore it (which can be detrimental)
• Optimize search — Some users know exactly what they want to find within a product, and they’ll use the search feature to get it. So implementing a search function that includes metadata, tags, and filters improves the findability of the product

FAQs: Answering common UX design questions

After digesting the UX design process, you may have some lingering questions. Let’s review some frequently asked questions by designers below.

How long does the UX design process take?

The length of the holistic UX design process, as well as each individual stage, varies with every project. It can take several weeks to many months, but it’s dependent on the project’s scope, budget, and allocated resources.

For example, a project with multiple new features will have a large scope, so the research and design stages will take longer due to the information and iterations required. On the other hand, a simple project like updating a feature from user feedback, will not take as long since it doesn’t need every UX stage and won’t need as many resources

What tools should I use for the UX design process?

The tools you can use during the UX design process depends on which stage you’re in. Here are some popular, paid tools per critical stages of the process:

User research tools

• UserTesting — UserTesting offers a platform that allows you to set up interviews or even test the usability of live websites to Figma prototypes. You can use their testing pool of participants (which can be screened out) or invite your own contributors to test with
• Dscout — Similar to UserTesting, Dscout is another usability and concept testing platform where you can test just about anything or interview specific target personas from their participant pool. Dscout is better for large-scale, ongoing research studies compared to UserTesting

Design & prototype tools

• Figma — Figma is one of the most popular UX design tools where you can easily design, prototype, and share design work. A great feature of Figma is how supportive it is of design systems, so hi-fi wireframes can quickly be created and shared for feedback.
• Framer — Framer is a newer design tool that allows you to develop websites and applications with little to no code. So Framer can be used to host your website or build fully-functional prototypes to test with.

Post-launch tools

• Google Analytics — Google Analytics is a (partially) free tool that monitors how a website is performing by tracking its user traffic and engagement, as well as SEO. Though the basic features are free, the more advanced features are paid.
• Hotjar — Hotjar is another analytics tool that lets you see what users are clicking on, as well as identify issues and areas for improvement. Since Hotjar offers more qualitative data, some people use Hotjar in addition to Google Analytics.

How do you handle feedback during the UX design process?

Feedback is one of the most valuable pieces of information you can get during the UX design process. Without it, the project can fail and stakeholders (and users) will be very unhappy.

While getting feedback, it’s best to remain open to both positive and constructive criticism. When showing designs to users, they may give feedback that requires re-work or new designs, but that’s ok. Take the feedback and create better designs that are more user-informed.

And as you receive user feedback, it’s best to sync with stakeholders to share these updates so they’re aligned and have a chance to give their feedback.

How can you measure the success of UX designs?

Once the project is complete, you want to make sure you got it right. Using web analytics tools such as Hotjar or with surveys, you can monitor metrics like the following:

• Net promoter score (NPS) — Measure of how likely a user is to recommend the product to a friend or family member
• System usability score (SUS) — Measure of the user’s satisfaction with a product
• Task success rate — Percentage of users who complete a task correctly
• Retention rate — Percentage of users who continue to use the product overtime
• Drop-off rate — Percentage of users who abandon a task in the product

Conclusion

We’ve covered quite a lot with the UX design process. Though it’s a lengthy process, it’s worth it in the end due to its benefits of an optimized UX and reduced business costs. But remember, the design process is a cycle – so once you’ve launched the product, further iterations will need to be done to continuously iterate and improve the product.

This step-by-step breakdown of the UX design process offers a guide to begin using in your next UX project, but can be customized to fit your project’s needs. For instance, if the target user’s persona is already built, it can be reused in the new project (no need to build it again). Choose the steps that make sense for you and your UX process.

Not only did we review the UX design process, but also discussed advanced UX design concepts with inclusive design, information architecture, and design systems. Then, we reviewed some common FAQs about the UX design process, such as how you can measure the success of completed UX designs.

Now it’s your turn to effectively use the UX design process to create product solutions that solve problems for your users – the ultimate goal of UX design.