No matter how good an interaction designer is, it will be difficult to make a good design if he does not understand the relevant background and special restrictions of the project.
For example: We all know that actors need to read the script thoroughly before going on stage. It is impossible to act on the spot based on experience without knowing anything (unless there is a special request from the director). In addition to reading scripts, excellent actors will also do other work, such as reading relevant historical books and experiencing the lives of characters. The same is true for interaction designers. A good interaction designer will also understand the relevant information of the product before officially starting the design, so that he can be confident when he starts the design.
So what specific aspects do we need to start from?
1. Understand the market background and collect relevant information
You can search for articles in this area online to understand the market environment and development trends of the product; try to actively collect (not all product managers will actively share) market analysis and various research materials to improve your relevant knowledge background.
2. Analyze competitive products and related products
Among Internet companies, there are not many completely innovative products, so it is easy for us to find competing products or related products. You can analyze the differences in user experience between these products in advance to make yourself aware of them.
3. Clarify product positioning and goals
This is a very, very important point, and it is also something that many product managers and interaction designers tend to overlook. The positioning and goals of the product directly determine the style of the product and the range of competitive products that can be referenced.
For example, if you want to build a website that sells xx products online, competing product A and competing product B are two relatively famous websites in this area, and the user experience of competing product A is obviously better than that of competing product B. Does this mean that we need to make more products? How about referring to competing product A? The answer is not necessarily, because your positioning may be closer to competing product B.
Product positioning is determined by many reasons, which may include market reasons, legal terms, the company's own conditions, decisions, business cooperation restrictions, etc. These are far beyond the control of interaction designers. Therefore, before designing, you must clarify the product positioning and goals through communication with the product manager (just looking at the description in the requirements document may not be enough). If you find that the product manager's description has loopholes or is not clear enough, you need to get to the bottom of it. You can ask other roles in the project (such as business and legal affairs) to help the product manager figure this out.
4. Understand target users and usage scenarios, etc.
Needless to say, you need to know who your users are, their general situation, usage scenarios, usage, etc. If the product manager is not sure, he can check the relevant information online, or ask his friends to talk about how they use this type of product. As long as there is a will, there is always a way.
5. Treat special requests correctly
Special requirements are some rigid rules, such as xx advertisements must be placed here, xx places must...; these places are also not controlled by interaction designers, but are subject to the limitations of various resources. Special requirements directly influence the design solution.
Okay, now that you have understood these, you can sort out the requirements and design user goals, task processes, information architecture, and page prototypes.
Author: legene
Article source: legene’s interaction design blog