The restaurant has been around, in some form or another, since ancient Rome, and its function – to bring people together over a conveniently cooked meal – has changed very little in all that time.

There’s another benefit of restaurants that specifically applies to designers and other creative people, and that is to stimulate your creativity. That’s right – it’s been proven that socializing improves your intelligence. Not just academic intelligence either – interacting with friends and peers actually helps to make you more creative.

When you go out with others, you’re exposing yourself to an influx of new ideas that can’t help but positively influence your creative process. And food is a natural bonding agent, which is why so many creative ideas are born around a lunch or dinner table with other designers, artists, musicians, writers, et cetera.

Today, I’m going to explore the idea generation process familiar to so many designers who eat out with friends: the “awesome idea scribbled on a restaurant napkin” process.

It’s very high-level stuff. No, really! The lowly napkin sketch (or scrap paper or ledger pad sketch) has been used by everyone from babysitters all the way up to top creative executives at Microsoft and Walmart to bring to life important ideas that change the world, or at least bring in more profits.

Some experts say that the business sector is too dependent on language to express ideas that really should be expressed using visuals (i.e., sketches). That’s good news for us designers, but how exactly do we adapt it to our working process to make things easier for ourselves and our clients?

We designers all know the advantages of sketching: it’s a way to sort out our preliminary ideas and eliminate the ones that aren’t right for the job.

Of course, you don’t have to sketch on a napkin, but any kind of sketch is more useful than just thinking about the idea, because it requires you to use a different part of your brain.

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When you think, or read, or write, you’re nurturing the connections your brain makes between the different thoughts you have (called ‘neural pathways‘), and increasing your brain’s “elasticity.” When you add drawing to that process, you’re exercising important motor skills that can actually feed your creativity.

Personally, I prefer to sketch on paper. Why? Because it allows me the opportunity to step away from the computer for a brief moment and collect my thoughts on something I can touch and hold in my hands.

That’s important to me, and to a lot of designers whose work almost always ends up on the computer one way or another.

We humans respond to things that are interactive, and that allows us to make a direct impact on something. Ever wonder why more and more vending machines are see-through, rather than opaque?

The working mechanisms of those machines are engaging to our brains – we love to put our money in the machine, and literally see our desire (to have a refreshing beverage or snack) being fulfilled right before our eyes. It’s fun.

And guess what? Your clients are the exact same way.

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If you’re a designer or art director redesigning a company’s brand identity, how do you make sure everyone there understands the creative vision you have?

Well, you could tell them. But most people aren’t going to take notes and will end up misinterpreting what you said at some point or another.

You could show them a presentation, which might work for some people. But I think that printing out handouts of your sketches, and walking people through them is the best way to involve them in the decision-making process.

Sometimes, sketching can be used to effectively communicate ideas to people – designers or non-designers – in ways that far surpass, say, a PowerPoint presentation.

Think about what you’d rather have in a department meeting: a dry, preachy collection of slides, or a sketchbook to work out your ideas about the company’s creative direction?

Just like a clear-windowed vending machine allows us to see the effect our money has on it, involving people with live sketching gives them a democratic insight into how design decisions are made.

It can turn a lofty, complicated mess into something that’s easy for everyone to understand. And we all know that an informed client is a happy (and oftentimes repeat) client.

You don’t want to just talk at your clients and lecture them about things that are going to go over their heads. Your clients aren’t stupid (well, hopefully not).

They are running a company, after all. Clients like to feel creative, or at least like they’re contributing to something to the creativity of their businesses. And what better way to make grown adults feel powerful and in charge of something than by handing them some paper and making them draw like grade-schoolers?

All joking aside, people love that stuff. It creates a feeling of harmony and democracy in the company, as anyone, from the janitor to the CEO, can make a sketch.

As Lou Levit explains in his article, How Sketching Will Take Your Design Process to the Next Level, sketching allows you to “dig deeper” with your idea process, uncovering more design solutions that often work much better than the initial ideas you start out with.

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Another downside to simply absorbing information via presentation is that it tends to lead your client through the design process with minimal challenge to their own imagination.

Because of this, your client may not really understand your reasoning behind a more nuanced design solution, and may fight you on it. Presenting sketches is one way to quiet those feelings of misunderstanding. The more your client can see of your process, the more likely they are to trust your judgement.

The key to engaging your clients with sketching is to think of your design meeting more like a restaurant date with friends. Obviously, you should probably keep the celebrity gossip and alcohol consumption to a minimum, but the general feeling of creative camaraderie should be the same.

Engage your clients with spontaneous sketches, draw things out for them that you might otherwise just dryly explain, and observe the difference yourself in their level of understanding, engagement, and trust.

You don’t have to make them draw too, though, as I mentioned before, many people do love that. But just like passing around a napkin at the restaurant table to your friends can result in weird and wonderful new ideas, incorporating sketches in your meetings with clients can propel your projects to heights that you never would have expected.

The post The Idea Generation Process of Scribbling on a Napkin appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Today, I’m going to share some tips on how the tools you select as a designer can help improve your creative process, and aid you in creating work you can really stand behind.

You’ve Gotta Have Standards

Do you know why so many chefs and cooks prefer wood over other materials? Well, it’s much the same reason many designers prefer Macs and software by Adobe: it’s the industry standard and using it makes your life easier in more ways than one.

Now before you say it, I know there are plenty of professional designers who are perfectly happy running Gimp or other non-standard software on a PC or Linux computer. And their work is just as awesome and up to par as any “Mac person’s.” But, for many designers, the benefits of having a standardized way to communicate with clients, other designers, and/or other departments outweigh the little idiosyncratic advantages of marching to your own drum.

Something else to remember – which might seem insignificant at first, but bear with me – is that you have to consider the technological “culture” into which you’ll be entering as a designer. This applies a bit more to in-house designers than freelancers, although freelancers working for a long-term client may experience the same thing.

My last in-house job was in a PC environment, and there was quite a strong anti-Mac sentiment among my peers. They “tolerated” me propping up my MacBook Pro on my desk alongside the office PC, but they definitely made their feelings clear. I thought it was funny, but a more sensitive person might have gotten their feelings hurt.

People can get mighty serious about their tools. And, as many of you out there have probably noticed, it can get ugly if you’re not careful. If you are totally in love with your tools and wouldn’t consider changing them for the world, by all means stick with them.

But if your peers or clients have a different opinion, be prepared to put up with a lot of their ranting and raving. And preaching and lecturing. And complaining and… yeah. You get the idea.

The Forest For the Trees

Nothing makes you feel like a “Real Chef” like gripping the handle of a huge, weighty, wooden spoon. It may seem a bit cliché, but I encourage you to try it the next time you’re in the kitchen. You can thank me later. Cooking enthusiasts, like designers, can get pretty hardcore about their wooden spoon choices.

Some people look for spoons that can handle stirring all the ingredients in the pot with ease. Others look for good scraping ability – the ability to remove food off the bottom of the pot so it doesn’t get stuck. And of course, you have to have a spoon you can use to taste your food while it’s cooking.

The debate on which wooden spoons handle all three of these tasks the best is endless, fierce, and sometimes a little scary. But enough about that. Consider your own tools as a designer. If you’re a pro, or aspiring to be, odds are decent that you use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, or a combination of all three. Why do you use these programs?

Well, like I said, they are the industry standard. Being able to communicate ideas in a standard format across different people’s systems is an extremely valuable asset.

But there are other factors to consider as well. Believe it or not, some professional designers get by just fine using software that competes with Adobe on factors like price, interface preferences, and software size and speed. As powerful as a program like Photoshop or Illustrator may be, a lot of times you just don’t need all that power.

Some designers might actually be better off trimming down to something sleeker and less clunky. I’m an Adobe user myself, but, well…sometimes, for certain projects, other tools do the job just fine. I’m totally serious.

Beyond The Pale

Alternatives to Adobe software are plentiful, and they are used every day by pro designers. Some are free and open-source, others are web-based, and others may have a simpler or more familiar interface. Again, there are many reasons a designer might choose a non-standard tool, many of which may not be immediately obvious.

Web-based software might be perfect for frequent travelers, for example, while a more familiar interface might increase a designer’s speed tenfold. If you happen to be in the market for alternative software, do your research and figure out what your number one priorities are.

Now Leaving Digitopolis

But wait! Computers may be the fastest and most efficient tool to use, especially in the world of web design, but you know what? Sometimes you don’t want to be fast and efficient. Sometimes you want to let a design simmer slowly over a low fire, stirring it occasionally with your spoon until all the flavors meld together in an exploding cacophony of deliciousness.

What I mean with all the food metaphors (besides the fact that I might just be really hungry) is, perhaps you’re one of those designers who think better off the computer than on it. Computer screens are made up of billions of little glowing pixels, and staring at one for hours on end can be draining on not just your eyes, but your creativity as well. Paper and other non-digital surfaces don’t have that problem.

There are plenty of designers – yes, even web designers – who take the hand-crafted approach to assembling their work. Paper, cloth, yarn, and yes, even food, can be used as tools in your design arsenal.

Canadian designer Marian Bantjes, for example, continues to create a stir with her unique designs that feature sugar, tinfoil, fake fur, glitter, flowers, and other unconventional materials.

Choose Your Weapon

Remember, choosing the right tools, just like choosing the right wooden spoon in the kitchen, is a completely personal process. You can listen to someone else rave about the wonders of one tool versus another, but at the end of the day, it’s just a tool.

The decision is yours and yours alone, and a tool can only go so far in helping you with your working process. It can’t create the work for you, nor can it improve any weaknesses you have in terms of technical skill or design sensibility.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with eschewing the computer, even if it’s only for a little while, in favor of a more experimental approach. The great thing about experimenting is that you can take bits and pieces of the stuff that worked and add it to your regular design process to put a new spin on things.

So, if you really want to play around with paper and scissors and glue for your next project, go for it. As long as you solve the problem put in front of you by your client, it won’t matter how you got there.

Your client will most likely be impressed by your individuality and willingness to take risks, which, if you play your cards right, could lead to more challenging and higher-paying work in the future.

So dig around in the toolbox. Try them all. See what works best for you, and what will become your own personal “wooden spoon” standard for finding solutions to design problems.

For the record, though, a heavy, olive-wood spoon with a long handle and a rounded bowl (not too large) is as close to cooking tool heaven as you can get. According to this cook, that is. Bon appétit!

The post The Personal Process of Choosing the Right Design Tool appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

But if you simply disappear off your clients’ radar once the work is done, you’re missing massive opportunities for more work, as well as testimonials and referrals to help your business.

There are some important things that most designers never do when ending a freelance project, and today we’re going to go over what they are and why you should always do them, no matter what.

Wrap Up All The Loose Ends

The most important thing you should do when ending your project is to make sure that your client is 100% set to move forward without you. This means providing them with a package that includes everything they will need to manage on their own (site logins, full-resolution files, etc.)

It also means providing them with ways to solve any problems they might have without having to call you, in the form of FAQs, troubleshooting guides, or checklists.

Despite what you might think, it’s actually a waste of your time to have an old client call you for help with minor stuff that you could have easily provided for them in an email or spreadsheet. It’s unprofessional to hoard all the knowledge of how to use the goods you’ve created for your client in your head, making them come crawling back to you to obtain it.

You might not think this is what you’re doing, by neglecting to provide your client with information, but this is the way it comes across.

Keep Them Warm

People are much more likely to purchase services from people they’ve worked with before, so you already have that working in your favor. All you need to do is keep the line of communication open for when you need it again.

We’re all guilty of letting a relationship fade away, then finding ourselves wishing we hadn’t. But you can’t just pop up out of nowhere after months or years of not communicating with a client and ask for more work. The relationship needs to be kept warm in the meantime.

Luckily, it’s easier than you think to do this and make sure your clients never fail to think of you when they need high-level work done by a professional they trust.

It does you no good to drop off the face of the earth and never talk to your old clients again. You never know when a former client might be handy as a reference or provide some other career-boosting aid. You can’t just ignore someone for months and only contact them when you need something.

For clients, you definitely want to maintain a relationship with, make a minimum contact of one email per month. You can send them a brief update on what you’re up to, letting them know subtly that you’re still interested in referrals.

You might think you’re important and unforgettable, but you’re really not. You’re replaceable just like anyone else. In addition to your main client (as in, whoever signed your paycheck), send regular emails to any team members you worked with who you want to maintain a relationship with.

They’ll be more likely to let you know about any new projects or opportunities that might be of interest to you. Let them know what projects you’re currently working on (of course, never reveal any confidential or sensitive info).

Be Of Service

Always be thinking about how you can help your former clients, even though you’re no longer working for them. Send them information or introduce them to others you think might be able to help them. Just because you’re no longer getting paid by your former client, it doesn’t mean that you still shouldn’t try to help them in other ways.

Send 3-5 emails throughout the year that offer some kind of value – a link to a useful article, an offer to introduce someone who might be helpful, whatever – before you go asking for something.

A great way to instantly add value to any type of professional relationship is to become a connector. What that means is, if there’s someone you know whom you know a former client would benefit from knowing, don’t be afraid to make the connection and introduce them to one another. Your client will be grateful and you’ll be on the top of his or her mind the next time a juicy opportunity comes up.

It’s far easier to keep a current client happy than it is to gain a brand new client. You should always strive to acquire new quality clients; however, it’s possible to get trapped in a never-ending cycle of finding new clients and totally ignoring the old ones.

This is the worst thing a freelance designer can do – it means you’re spending valuable time generating new leads instead of designing, which will ensure that your portfolio work never develops or makes any interesting progress and you never get picked for the cool, high-level jobs you want.

But if you can retain most of your current clients, staying in touch with them so they never forget about you when they need more work done, you’ll have the opportunity to live life at a more leisurely pace (well…for a freelancer, that is) and spend more time designing.

Now that you have finished this project, here are five questions you should ask before starting your next.

The post Those Things You Must Do When Ending a Freelance Design Project appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

You rush back to the task at hand instead of rushing for freedom, even as the hour hand hits five o’clock and rolls on to six. But you don’t feel tired. You may even feel energized. You are super creative! You are at one with the project!

Congratulations, you have found flow!

What is Flow?

First proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, flow is a mental state in which a person is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the participation of an activity.

In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one is doing. Flow can happen with many types of activities: This positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields, from education to music to sports and even video games.

If you have the time, you should watch this video, and let Mr. Csíkszentmihályi tell you about ‘flow’ himself:

Flow is also a priceless state of mind when it comes to work-related tasks. When someone is in flow, they can get a lot of tasks accomplished, do it well, and often quicker than expected. It’s a time when self seems to fall away, while concentration, energy, and skill combine.

You can’t bottle it, and you can’t buy it. No, really, there’s no way to replicate flow. It happens when it happens.

How to Create Flow

It is something that happens organically when you enjoy what you’re doing, but what if you could will yourself into a feeling of flow? Think of how much you could get done if you could find a way to induce that state of mind when you needed it most.

While there are no sure-fire ways to put yourself into a true, hunger-ignoring, time-warping, creativity-magnifying state of mind, there are several things you can do to try to encourage your brain to start going with the flow.

Tips for Finding Flow

1. Know the Task at Hand

This is a two-fold equation. First, you have to know what you’re working on and what is expected at the end. Second, you have to know that the project you’re working on is within your skillset and that you’re capable of carrying it out.

This requires you to know a lot about the task before you even start. I’d daresay you want to know everything you can: Stopping and starting to ask questions or track down materials puts a damper on flow.

2. Eliminate Outside Distractions

The biggest disruptors of flow are distractions. Do your best to eliminate those within your control, like putting your phone on silent, closing down your email app, and ignoring your social media apps.

Some distractions may be harder to eliminate, though, especially if you work in an office. You could ask coworkers beforehand if they’ll need anything from you before you dedicate your time to the big project you’re about to start.

Once you know what they’ll need and when, let them know politely that you’d like not to be disturbed for the next few hours. Try blocking off the time on your calendar so people won’t try to schedule meetings. Do everything you can to grab a few solid hours to focus only on the project at hand.

3. Get Comfortable

Pain or discomfort will inhibit your ability to concentrate. Case in point, the writing of this article was delayed several times due to a headache and a shoulder injury. Though I could have written an effective article with either, I knew the pain would make it hard to get fully immersed in the project, which could lead to typos and grammar errors.

Wear clothing in which you can relax, sit in a comfortable chair with your tools (pen, paper, laptop, tablet, whatever), and everything else that you may need, at a comfortable level in front of you.

4. Full Stomach, Full Brain

Like pain or discomfort, hunger and thirst will also pull you out of your concentration. Have something filling and healthy to eat before starting a big project.

Foods with beneficial omega fatty acids, like fish and eggs, as well as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, are good for your brain. They help to supply energy and vitamins when you need to think clearly.

5. Stay Hydrated

About 78% of your brain is made up of water. That’s a high percentage, which means even a little bit of dehydration can have a negative effect on your performance.,/p>

Keep some water close by and perhaps another beverage with electrolytes like juice or a sports drink. Be careful with sweet drinks, especially if you are susceptible to sugar crashes.

6. Enjoy the View

Make your surroundings as attractive as possible. If you have enough control over your space to paint walls and add decorations that inspire you. That’s perfect because you can turn your entire environment into the perfect place to work.

If you can’t do that, the very least you can do is to make the area clean and orderly. Add some inspiring personal items that you can, like photographs of loved ones.

7. Listen to Music

The hustle and bustle of the office can energize some people while others find their best creative work is achieved when they can tune everything out. The silence of an empty house can even be disconcerting to some people. You can control the sounds you’re exposed to and find the level of quiet or noise that you need with headphones.

Pick music that you’re familiar with so that you won’t be tempted to stop and listen to something you’ve never heard before. Classical may also be a good choice, as some studies show that it can be particularly helpful for concentration and stimulating the mind.

8. Smell Something Sweet

Okay, it doesn’t necessarily have to be sweet, but smell is a powerful sense that can affect your mood and concentration. Think about it: The smell of your favorite meal cooking can make you instantly hungry; the stinky, greasy, fast food bag sitting in the wastebasket next to your desk can make you feel queasy. If you’re working at home, light some incense or a candle, or use any other sweet-smelling solutions.

The office is a little trickier, as some of your coworkers may be sensitive to smells. I like to wear a little lavender or lilac essential oil on the inside of my wrist. You could also keep a cup of fresh coffee on hand, as the smell of it may help you feel alert and energized.

9. A Little Something More

Coffee or diet cola fuels some people’s creativity and stamina, while sipping on a beer sparks others’ imaginations. Both alcohol and caffeine have been shown to have different effects on the brain that may be beneficial to creative work for some people.

Obviously, coffee and beer while working isn’t for everyone, but as long as it’s okay with your workplace and as long you’re not consuming so much you get jittery or inebriated, you may want to consider having these things within reach.

And don’t forget the wise old adage commonly attributed to Ernest Hemingway: “Write drunk, edit sober.” Whether you’re amped, buzzed, or stone-cold sober, always come back to your work later with fresh eyes.

10. Just Do it

It’s hard to develop flow if you’re not already moving. If you spend all your time “setting the mood” and never actually dive into the work, none of this preparation is going to do you any good.

Eventually, you have to sit down and work on the project. Once you start working, trying to develop flow is a lot like trying to learn to meditate: Every time you notice your thoughts drifting away from the task at hand, take a moment to acknowledge it and then bring yourself right back to the task.

It might be hard at first, but if you can focus long enough, you’ll get into your work. You’ll start noticing it’s harder for you to turn away from the project. You might just look up to find that several hours have flown by.

Challenges to Flow

Don’t feel bad if you’re not able to achieve that mystical state of flow even after putting in the efforts. If attaining flow were easy, everyone would be doing it, and all of the time. A whole workday just flew by? Sign me up.

It can be difficult to really immerse yourself in a project for a variety of reasons. Feelings of apathy, boredom, anxiety, anger, or sadness can all inhibit flow, but we often feel these emotions every day. You may have to find ways that work for you to get past those feelings before you can achieve a state of flow.

Even if you work hard on your project and time seems to drag, following the suggestions in this article can help you be more productive. Being comfortable, well-fed, and having everything you need at hand can help you work longer before you have to step away or take a break.

And the more you try to encourage a state of flow, the better chance you will succeed. Practice will always make you better, and at some point in the future, you will be able to recall that feeling of concentration when you need to use it again on your next big project.

The post How to Find Flow in Your Creative Process appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Why? There are a number of potential factors. But the one that seems to stand out most is that it’s easy to get bogged down in work that doesn’t let us flex our creative muscles. It’s those mind-numbing tasks that make us forget the fun we used to have. That’s a shame, because having a passion for code and design is what leads many of us to this career in the first place.

The good news is that you can indeed get your groove back. And the potential ways to do so (listed below) run the gamut from simple exercises to full-on projects. So, even if you don’t have much in the way of free time, you can still do something to bring back that creative rush. Let’s get started!

Experiment with a New Technique

This one works whether you love design, code or both. And it doesn’t necessarily have to take up much of your time.

The idea is to find something you don’t know much about. Maybe it’s a new-fangled layout technique like CSS Grid (which is full of unique possibilities) or take a quick tutorial on creating special video effects. If you really want to dive in, sign up for an online class.

What’s really fun about this is that you can pick whatever subject you like. Even if it’s something you don’t think you’ll use a lot in your day-to-day work. Just the experience of learning something that truly interests you can provide a more positive outlook.

Start a Side Project

The ubiquitous side project has been the go-to remedy for many a designer. The reason for this is simple: It enables you to work on something you’re passionate about.

Again, the subject matter can be just about anything. Dedicate a blog to your favorite sports team or musician. Write short stories, poetry or opinion pieces. Share your photos with the world. Help your mom sell some homemade crafts.

Side projects aren’t one-size-fits-all, either. It might not even require building a traditional website. But it does work best if you can use your creativity, along with other skills you enjoy utilizing.

Also, a word of warning. It is possible to take a side project far enough to where you start the feel the same drudgery as in your day job.

The positive of this is that it usually means that you’ve built something really cool and maybe even popular. If it gets to be too much, you don’t need to feel obligated to continue. After all, the goal is to reduce your stress – not add to it.

Become a Mentor

Earlier, we mentioned how passion for code and design tends to lead us into this line of work. That being said, it’s also natural that our feelings toward work ebb and flow over time. None of us are without our own ups and downs.

Sometimes, rediscovering that joy comes not from building yet another website. Rather, it’s a result of connecting with another person. Mentoring is a great way to do just that.

Sharing what you know with a designer who’s just starting out on their journey can be very fulfilling. That’s because you’re not only helping someone achieve their goals, you’re also benefitting from their eagerness to learn and optimistic outlook. That feeling can be quite contagious.

As a bonus, it’s also nice to know someone who does the same kind of work. They often understand those ups and downs associated with buggy code, demanding clients or creative droughts in a way that those outside the industry can’t.

If this sounds interesting, there are plenty of places you can start. Support forums, social media or your own blog can allow you to interact with others online. If you’re more of a face-to-face type of person, local meetups or design conferences might be worth your while.

Reignite That Spark

The day-to-day pressures of web design are enough to make even the sunniest among us a little sour over time. That’s why it’s so important to find activities that allow us to do the aspects of our job that we love most.

Of course, we’re all individuals and the activities we choose should reflect our personalities. Whether that’s engaging in a 15-minute tutorial, starting a cat meme site or reaching out to a younger version of ourselves, the doing is what matters most.

It reenergizes the spirit and gives us something to lean on, even on the toughest of days.

The post Fun Ways to Help You Rediscover the Joys of Web Design appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

And why should they? They are far too busy running their new company, and dynamic CEOs are used to clicking their fingers and getting a new brochure or billboard design within a week or two, or a brand new marketing campaign launched within a month. So they fail to see why they have to wait so long for their new website.

Luckily help is at hand. We’ve produced a web design process infographic that you can share with your client to show them exactly what you need to do to produce a website that meets their needs on every front.

The Web Design Process Periodic Table

Click on the image to view the full-size version.

Using the Infographic

Use the infographic to explain the hoops you need to go through to clarify the project brief and plan the website structure and content navigation – and that’s before a visual mock-up can even be contemplated.

Once the client has agreed on the best mock-up and starts to get tetchy if the live website doesn’t swiftly follow, use the infographic to explain why the subsequent stages all take time:

• The complexities of the design stage – how the artwork, typography and even the call to action buttons all have to be carefully chosen to fit in with the desired look.
• The nitty-gritty of the development stage – getting the content right and implementing functionalities requested such as online forms and shopping carts, as well as making the website secure.
• The importance of the launch stage – testing and quality assurance tasks to avoid the embarrassment of going live with a sub-standard website.

And once the client is delighted with their new website, the work of the infographic is not over – use it to explain the importance of ongoing maintenance to make updates, and to continually optimise the website to result in more conversions and more sales.

A client who fully understands what is going on behind the scenes is indeed a happier client.

The post The Web Design Process Periodic Table [Infographic] appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Ironically today, it is a question whether the invention of the computer and design software has negatively impacted the creative and research process. In fact, various factors have immobilized the design practice. Some critics argue that American schools are producing weak undergraduate designers. Effective designs depend on proper research, experimentation, collaboration, critiques, creativity and even teaching.

The design field is confused on how to advance its discipline as well as maintain, build and share knowledge.

Gadi Amit, president of NewDealDesign LLC., views thousands of portfolios a year. He claims he has noticed portfolios becoming weaker; showing two separate categories of skills and process work instead of integrating both. He articulates several assumptions.

Academic design programs have cloudy standards that are not constant with one another. Because of this, students have no real design process education. Many have an idea of “Design thinking,” but lack the knowledge of cultural, aesthetic, or form intelligence. Ultimately, fewer understand what design integration is. Most importantly, the key to all creative process, handsketching, is dying.

Sharon Poggohpohl believes that students primarily in undergraduate schools don’t know what research is. This may be in part of her argument that undergraduates are prepared for professional practice, while higher degrees come with the responsibility of research and teaching.

Good research is certainly not looking through trade magazines, asking people for their opinions on your design, nor fooling around with design forms to achieve better results. True research contributes to a discipline’s development. Instructor Micah Barrett at the Rhode Island School of Design also agrees that influence from trade magazines and internet blogs is apt. It transforms designers into decorators, lacking engagement in the story they’re telling.

Jeanne Verdoux, teaches incoming freshmen Process and Skills at Parsons New School for Design in New York. She agrees that the computer impacts process and that students must know what they are doing before they get on the computer. Development before production is key so she requests proof of process for course assignments. Her method includes:

1. Research and image references
2. Sketches and initial visual concept
3. Development of concept and production
4. Revisions

Outside the school setting, working designers are constrained by time and finances. I have witnessed how easy it is for designers to skip some methods and/or transfer them to the computer. For instance, rough compositions are quickly created on Illustrator, allowing quicker changes later by shifting design forms and elements to the client’s request. Deadlines are of importance for firms, but I do think that with a proper method, time and quality can merge.

For instance, Matt Cooke developed a systematic approach to design when working for the World Cancer Research Fund. The organization wanted to alert the public of the link between obesity and cancer. Required to make a leaflet, Cooke developed a design methodology by researching several theorists and practitioners.

He drafted his own methodology composed of all their ideas, also allowing for changes that could be modified to his convenience. He claims that the benefit of his systematic approach is that it is a clear, quick and progressive plan that accounts for every stage in the design process. It also enhances creativity because it allowed for his team to interpret the findings in imaginative ways. Although the leaflet was successful, Cooke admits that the strengths of methodologies continually must feed back on suggestions for improvement.

This realization is another factor that designers fail to ignore. Ego is a big problem designers face when it comes down to their work. It discourages a designer in considering strategies to improve.

Instead, they fall victim to what Poggehnpohl calls “tacit knowledge,” a term that explains why some designers can not provide a clear explanation to their work. Tacit knowledge is related to Paul Rand’s definition of intuition, which is a “flash of insight conditioned by experience, culture, and imagination” (Bennett 15).

Poggehnpohl encourages explicit knowledge, which doesn’t necessarily rule out tacit, but requires a foundation in theory, principles, methods, and/or teamwork to provide developmental design. The generation of theory, development, testing and creating tools is an explicit activity based on analysis and trial and error. Instead, disciplinary development is rejected according to several factors:

1. There is little value placed on creativity
2. The specifity and messiness of the design practice
3. Research is seen as dry and unimaginative
4. Designers are isolating themselves from one another
5. There is disconnected information
6. Traditional craft education is neglecting contemporary challenges
7. The location of art schools and universities
8. Designers are not interacting with other disciplines because they are intimidated by their language (such as science)
9. Varieties of research are unknown

Poggehnpohl and Amit both agree that universities are a muddled mess. However, I believe that it is reinstated in Poggehnpohl’s factors that design is a messy yet specific practice. There is no defined step-by-step method to creating a pamphlet, poster, or book.

I don’t think design can be an algebraic solution because the possibilities are always endless.

Thomas Ockerse from the Rhode Island School of Design believes that the design process is not mechanical. Like life itself, it is a living, dynamic, and changing human experience. However, designers can positively use their intuition to determine what proper steps they see fit for a certain design.

Ultimately, designers need to be able to justify themselves and have the ability to argue, question and discover. Not being able to do so is just an act of faith.

Nevertheless, quantifiable research, or justifying why particular designs are produced should be practiced with caution (especially in marketing.) As Poggehnpohl mentioned, asking others for their opinions can be harmful, and in the case of consumers, should always be avoided.

Debbie Millman explains that qualitative and quantitative research has a bad reputation because consumers are uncomfortable with change. Consultants and anthropologists do believe that research is not the problem, but how it is used incorrectly.

Research should not interfere with creativity and should give designers inspiration and focus. As a result, a consumer should never be asked how to improve a design.

I believe there is no wrong way, as long as a designer has truly committed themselves to improvement by utilizing skills approved by educational standards. Although designers can practice relevant steps to complete a design, the option of trial and error never goes wrong.

Mistakes always allow for improvement and reconsideration. Sometimes, even good mistakes happen and open new avenues.

Ockerse’s opinion hits the nail on the head with his interview statement, “personally I place SEARCH (to discover what is not known) far above RESEARCH (to collect what is known.)”

After all, design research should be flexible and allow trial and error for results. Revealing the unknown opens new doors. It’s when designers become comfortable and don’t question their methods that the advancement of design becomes stuck.

Designers must remove themselves from the computer, and explore outside their boundaries and norms. Critiques and collaboration with other disciplines is linked to why we talk, and ultimately communicate ideas. Design, best known for communication, should always reflect those actions.

The post Does the Computer Negatively Impact the Creative Process? appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

These kinds of relationships can lead to the habit of not bringing clients into the design process, or waiting until the end to unveil visuals and hoping that it all works out. Conversely, it can result in having to spend more time and money going back to the drawing board because a design doesn’t hit the mark and meet the client’s goals.

Bringing clients along for the design ride doesn’t have to be a daunting undertaking. It can be a productive collaboration that ends with a useful and intentional outcome. And we’re definitely not talking about over-the-shoulder designing in Photoshop.

It’s about finding ways to put everyone’s minds together in a productive way. Clients bring their subject matter expertise of the business and organization, while designers bring their ability to visually communicate ideas and problem solve. Thoughtfully done, collaborating on design leads to a more impactful outcome than either party could accomplish individually.

What to Think About Before Collaborating

Before bringing in decision makers, think about what you need to know in order to do your best design work. Do you need their input on brand values? What goals do they have for the thing you are designing? This knowledge can help you shape the right activity for your collaboration.

Design is an area that clients may not feel expertise in, and struggle to know how to contribute meaningfully (as much as they may want to). Therefore, one of your goals should be to lead and guide them through the process. Help them learn how to contribute.

Ways to Collaborate in Design

When ramping up to design, there are three methods that can be helpful to involve clients in, and even start co-creating/co-imagining with designers:

1. 20 Second Test

Gather a range of images or collections of design elements (eg. if you’re working toward a website design, try using website screenshots that have a range of design styles). Put each image or collection in front of the client (and the design team) for 20 second each.

Ask them to rate what they see on a scale of 1-5 (1 is meh, 5 is awesome – but this scale is customizable to your needs!) Then take another round of 20 seconds each with the same images and ask everyone to write what comes to mind when they view each one.

After these two rounds, discuss as a group how everyone rated and described each design. This is a great way to see where everyone’s visual tolerance is and can help create a common language around how people define different adjectives. “Clean” and “modern” can mean different things to different people, after all.

2. Visual Values

If the client has established brand values (or you’re helping define those), hold a session where everyone spends time clipping designs, products, typography, and other elements from magazines (or even printed out websites and brand elements) that each person feels aligns with those values.

This can help establish alignment among teams and open conversation about how everyone sees those values manifesting visually.

3. Concept Sketching and Mashing

With goals for the website or product (or whatever you’re designing) in mind, have a session with the client where everyone sketches concepts (or wireframes) that might meet those goals.

Time box the sketching (anywhere from 3-5 minutes per round) and share the results. Have everyone vote for their favorite ideas or elements, then take another round to try mashing the favorites to build toward the best outcome. Use those mashups to have conversation about what might work and not work, and help inform design direction.

Continuing the Collaboration

If you’ve used any of the methods above, then you’ve started to establish a shared visual language and build a bank of ideas with your clients. That can make it easier to talk about designs as they start to shape up. It also helps foster trust and get buy-in sooner, which makes for a smoother design process.

Collaborating with clients in the design process can be rewarding and help you save time by avoiding endless revisions. It’s rewarding for clients, too, as it helps them feel more involved and have an increased understanding of the rationale behind at a particular solution.

All of this keeps us on the path of doing quality work that we love, while building great relationships to boot.

The post How to Involve Decision Makers in the Design Process appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

I’ve found it a lot easier to build a unique, memorable style by introducing illustrations to the mix. Maybe it’s because it’s giving me another stick to beat the product with to sculpt its true brand identity.

Bring a Twist to Reality

Photography is often dull, forgettable and bland. Finding the right image that you need to sell your cherished product, a product that you’ve slaved over, caressed, truly loved, can be virtually impossible. Nothing is good enough for your digital baby. Trawling through stock image galleries, looking at poorly paid models in ridiculous poses can be a difficult task, to say the least. Photography is limited. Unless you’re willing to get a photographer involved, you are pretty much stuck to whatever stock galleries have to offer.

This is where illustration comes into play. Illustrations have been around since the local cave man wanted to explain to his mates what he had for his dinner. When done right, an illustration can tell a thousand words with one simple swipe of a cave man’s stick.

You can go far beyond the limitations of photography. The rules can be easily bent. In fact, illustration is far more effective when we take a sidestep from reality and jump knee deep into something away from the norm. Illustration design gives us a chance to create a unique, memorable style that will live long in the memory of our users.

Enhance the Brand Identity

At times a brand can be rather stagnant. We use the likes of a content strategy to bring a dynamic approach to our brands. But visually, we’re often limited with regards to what we can do to enhance our brand identity from a product design level. We’re often cornered as to how we can express the true identity of a brand.

The use of illustrations across a platform can help drive brand character. For example, the use of strokes in an illustration can portray simpleness, the use of vibrant colours or rounded corners can push a fun and playfulness approach. It is important that the illustration style mirrors the brand values.

Help Guide the User’s Experience

Introducing illustrations across various areas of a design can help guide the user experience. It’s becoming more and more common for the likes of onboarding screens to be driven mainly by illustrations. What used to be a space for content strategists to flex their writing muscles to explain how a product should work has been captured by product owners drawing stick men explaining to illustrators how their product works.

“Never underestimate the simplicity of the general public”

Generally, I find, the user doesn’t read all that much when skimming through a flow. Designers often rely too heavily on the use of content to explain certain aspects of a flow and then when you test it, you are left pulling your hair out as the user looks everywhere, but at the line of text they should read that explains exactly what is needed. Less is more.

Introducing Illustrations to Europe’s Biggest Airlines

Recently, I was lucky enough to be heavily involved in the site redesign of one of Europe’s biggest airlines, Ryanair. With over 40 million visits monthly, it certainly was a daunting yet incredibly exciting project.

One of the arms of the project was to lead a team of designers in creating a new illustrative style for the Ryanair platform. As Head of UI at Ryanair, I was tasked with coming up with a redesign that was unique and memorable and I felt giving a fun, illustrative twist to the site would certainly differentiate ourselves from the competitors.

It was early on in the project when we decided that leaning heavily on illustrations would give us an edge, so we set about putting some ground rules in place as to how exactly we were going to approach the project.

• What is needed exactly?
  Firstly we met with stakeholders to get buy-in as to exactly what way they felt we should tackle the style. We had already delved deep into this exploration earlier in the project when we were figuring out the broader UI styles, so it was easy enough to get an understanding as to exactly what we needed.

An early exploration into an illustrative approach

• How are we going to use them?
  The next step was to figure out how and where we were going to use illustrations on the site. Everyone on the team agreed that we should try to incorporate illustrations into both our ancillary products as well as to the destinations that we flew to. So myself and another illustrator on the team, Chris O’Sullivan, took it upon ourselves to try flesh out a style that fitted our unique brand. Our main approach was to try to keep the illustrations as fun, colourful and as simple as possible, as we felt that that would line up nicely with what we were doing on the user interface side of things.

• How are we going to get them done?
  We split the two illustration families up; Chris took the product illustrations while I tackled the destinations list. We were in the lucky position that the style was effectively up to us to create, control and push forward. The stakeholders on the project had totally bought into what we were trying to do so it gave us a lot of confidence to really push the illustrative style to work hand in hand with the overall interface.

• How can we develop the library?
  As the project developed, we searched for areas where we could push the catalogue of assets even further. Introducing characters into the mix gave us a chance to reinforce the fun, playful approach but also gave us the opportunity to drop the character into various scenes enabling us to explain various complicated scenarios through illustration rather than wordy content. Basically, the more assets we had in our library, the more flexibility we had to expand on our illustrative approach across the platform.

• Now we have them, how do we use them?
  Once we had settled on a general style; the next step was to carefully introduce the correct amount of illustrations across the platform. We didn’t want to totally overwhelm the site with illustrations, but equally, we wanted them to be ever present so that they would have an input into the overall experience of the site.

• What do we do going forward?
  A key part of the project, as with product design projects in general, was enforcing consistency. A styleguide was created outlining constraints around colour palettes, stroke widths and the rules around the overall simplicity of the concepts. We felt it was vital to have this documentation going forward especially if a new illustrator was given the job to carry our project forward.

I’ve since left the team at Ryanair, but I’m confident that the legacy that we built will remain a key element of the brand identity of Europes biggest Airline for years to come.

You can see more of what we achieved over at a recent case study I created around the subject here

At the End of the Day

I believe it’s time to embrace illustration as another arm of your visual identity. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not for everyone. I just believe you’re pretty naive if you’re willing to overlook this extra string to your bow when trying to build a stronger identity. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words

Feel free to pick my brain (or whats left of it) over at:
// Twitter // Dribbble // Behance // Portfolio site //

The post When Illustrations Matter to the Design Process appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

As Lean UX advocate Jeff Gothelf describes in a piece for Smashing Magazine, thick deliverables created simply for future reference regarding the user experience become obsolete almost as soon as they’re created. In today’s Lean and Agile world, the experience should be the focus — not deliverables. Whether you choose lightweight or more detailed processes, the key is that your documentation should help move the design forward (rather than being just a lagging indicator).

The following is an overview of product design and development documentation, individual elements, and the respective phases to which they belong. Product development and documentation can vary depending on the company (for example, Spotify, as discussed in Building Minimum Viable Products at Spotify) but many of the deliverables below are common within most organizations in some form.

We’ve chosen the methods that we think work best, but feel free to pick only what works.

How They All Relate

When it comes to product design documentation, theory and practice are two very different things. We all know basic tenets of user-centered design. We recognize different research methods, the prototyping stage, as well as the process of documenting techniques in our rich methodological environments. The question you probably often ask yourself, though, is “How does it all work in practice?”

Image Source: The Design Process.

Simply put, it’s all about making documentation complementary rather than supplementary to the design process. Before we go into detail, it might help to take a quick birds eye view of documentation during product design and development. Below, we’ve given a practical explanation of how every step of design documentation ties together:

1. During the initial phase of product definition, you’re brainstorming the product and how to execute on the project at the highest level with all necessary stakeholders. This might result in project kickoff plan, a lean canvas, and a bunch of really early concept maps and mockups of what you’re looking to build.
2. Moving into research, your team refines assumptions and fills in the blanks. This stage varies based on complexity of the product, timing, resources, level of existing knowledge, and many other factors. In general, however, it’s good to build out competitive and market analyses and conduct customer surveys. If you have an existing product, reviewing analytics, heuristics, content, product context, and user tests are also quite helpful.
3. In analysis, the product marketing data collected so far provides the foundation for personas, experience maps, and requirements documents such as prioritized feature spreadsheets and user-task matrices. At this point, the product definition, product priorities, and product plan has been defined and are ready for more formal design deliverables. As discussed in the Guide to UX Design Process & Documentation, sketches and diagrams are also likely constantly being generated throughout this time.
4. From this output, scenarios, concept maps, and mockups may be created, leading into the design phase. Common documentation includes sketches, wireframes, prototypes, task-flow diagrams, and design specifications. For example, competitive analysis and personas created during research and analysis feed into the mockups, concept maps, and scenarios. In turn, these pieces influence intermediate and advanced deliverables such as wireframes, storyboards, and detailed mockups. Some companies treat the Research, Analysis, and Design phase as one large process, as you can see in this overview graphic.
5. During implementation, code and design assets are assembled to create a product that follows the product design specifications.
6. Upon launch of the live product, feedback data such as support tickets, bug reports, and other analytics continue to drive product refinement through subsequent iterations, and upgrades. With the offering in production mode, data should be continually generated and monitored in the form of analytics and reports to ensure continued success.
7. Continual, data-driven product improvement is achieved through measuring and iterating the offering in production, using performance dashboards and analytics.

Guiding Principles

Now that you’ve seen how each stage is connected to each other, let’s look at some helpful principles for moving the product along each stage. We’ll explain how to use design sprints so that the process evolves over time instead of being defined only in the beginning.

Image Source: Source: User-Centered Design.

Similar to its Agile software counterpart, design sprints are 1-3 week sprints that focus on solving specific product and design issues.According to Alok Jain, UX Lead at 3Pillar, the three key elements to design sprints arecollaboration, reduced handover friction, and team focus . In a nutshell, your documentation is a collaborative effort that must always focus on the user itself. Because you move quickly between each stage, you build momentum and minimize waste. More importantly, you’re tackling smaller problems which allows for more exploration and risk-taking.

An extremely lean version of the complete cycle can be found here, but we’ll describe in detail below how to apply this thinking as you understand the product, design the product, and release and improve the product.

1. Understanding the product

Before you can build a product, you need to understand its context for existence. Why should stakeholders, the company, and the users care about moving forward with your idea?

Image Source: Achieve Shared Understanding.

According to Smashing Magazine, you need to include activities that address business requirements, user requirements, and the best design solution to satisfy both. The keyword here is “activities”, because while documents like the Business Model Canvas and Lean Canvas are important, you need to energize stakeholders — otherwise you just have a bunch of expensive people talking about stuff everyone already knows. These activities are efficient and invite collaboration:

• Stakeholder interviews — Using this template, you can have each team member interview 3 stakeholders. How will the product make customers feel? What should they do? By recording how stakeholders think customers will think, feel, and do, you’re setting a benchmark to compare against usability testing and user analysis.
• Requirements workshops — Get stakeholders together, discuss the project plan, and start discussing how concepts feed into product and
  technical requirements. You can start with a blank Business Model Canvas or Lean Canvas and complete it with the team.
• Crazy 8s — Grab some markers and get everyone to sketch 8 product or feature ideas in 5 minutes. Have everyone score each idea, and
  you’ll start to see trends and preferences. This was actually Step 2 in the redesign process for Google Ventures. For additional ideas, check out this list of brainstorming activities.

Once you’ve laid out the groundwork, talk and test with tons of users so you have real field data for research and analysis.Marcin Treder, CEO of UXPin, dove deep into customer development and usability testing after identifying the problem and scope. Back when UXPin was just a paper prototyping tool, Marcin documented (on paper and video) over 50 user interviews and in-person usability tests with UX superstars like Brandon Schauer, Luke Wroblewski, Indi Young and others. The product team then used these insights to create personas, write dozens of user stories, and eventually, outline the product requirements.

At Amazon, an alternative “working backwards” approach is used in which the first step is drafting an internal press release for the finished product. This approach helps to work backwards from the customer, rather than trying to bolt customers to an idea. By iterating the press release until it sounds appealing, the product team gets an immediate reality check as well as a quick benchmark document for later design and development.

2. Designing the product

As discussed in the Guide to Minimum Viable Products, once you have a sense of the
product purpose, your main goal is to build a prototype. Whether your team likes to draw on napkins, create high or low fidelity wireframes, you should ultimately end up with something functional. What’s unique about this stage is that for most of the deliverables, the documentation is the design.

Image Source: UXPin.

According to Cennydd Bowles, Design Manager at Twitter, the product team should research two iterations ahead, design one iteration ahead, and review the previous iteration. If you’re trying to stay Agile, he advises diving straight into low-fidelity prototypes as a way of prioritizing “interactions over processes”. If you want to get a bit more detailed but still want to stay somewhat lightweight, you can start with concept maps or sketches, then iterate to low-fidelity wireframes, and finally create a high-fidelity prototype. Regardless of your method, make sure you test with stakeholders and users.

If budget and timing allow for it, you can also create experience maps to highlight where the product meets or fails user needs and task models to provide insight into activities users perform to reach their goals. While these aren’t part of the design, they are complementary since you also need to see where your product fits into mind and market. Interestingly enough, Yelp takes their design stage a step further by creating a style guide that includes common lines of code, allowing the documentation to literally be built into the product.

At UXPin, our process is to hold a group sketch session with sharpies on gridded paper, then cull that down to a few wireframes, and then add detail until we have a high fidelity mockup. If user testing is involved, we will build the mockup into a high-fidelity prototype. For large feature releases, we conduct extensive user testing so the ratio is about 70/30 in favor of prototypes.

3. Building and launching the product

As you start to do the heavy technical lifting, it’s important to create documentation that helps you see the overall vision. Specific requirements may change as you refine the product, but your documentation should help you understand priorities as your product goes into the wild.

Image Source: The MVP Campaign.

Kristofer Layon, UX Manager at RedStamp, believes that you can visualize product requirements and technical specification documents as a roadmap. The product road map shows user stories and helps prioritize the features you’ll build to satisfy them. Sometimes, specific dates may be added into the roadmap so that it also works as a timeline. The elegance of the roadmap is that helps you prioritize what you’re building, making it complementary to the “how” defined by your product requirements and technical specs. When deciding features, you can use the Kano Model to evaluate them in 3 categories:

• Basic Attributes — These are absolutely required just for the product to work. For example, a laptop’s basic attribute is the keyboard or screen.
• Performance Attributes — These can be compared between different products as a KPI. For example, a laptop is judged on CPU speed and hard drive space since people tend to prefer fast computers that can store lots of data.
• Delightful Attributes — These are subjective depending on customer preferences. For example, the Macbook Air is extremely thin and smooth to the touch. The right customer would find it a great selling point while others are unimpressed.

By scoring features on a 1-5 scale based on this model, you can then plot them out on a prioritization matrix to help you start envisioning what your product roadmap will look like. At Apple, the “Rules of the Road” and “Apple New Product Process” serve as the product roadmap by defining responsibilities, stages of creation, and significant milestones from inception to launch. In fact, the Rules of the Road is taken so seriously that losing it can result in immediate termination (it’s even stated in the document).

4. Improving the product

As you build (and ultimately launch) your product, the documentation also needs to focus on defining and tracking sales and other KPIs. After all, you can’t improve the product if you don’t know what metrics you want to optimize.

Image Source: Product Management by Numbers.

Dave Daniels, Founder of LaunchClinic, advises that you write down the launch goals (e.g. 30,000 downloads in 30 days) and verify that you have the right tools to document progress. Using metrics tools and bug reporting software, you can set up recurring reports to keep tabs during the first few weeks of launch and beyond. On the customer side, you can also segment users and send them custom surveys to gauge where you may want to iterate.

At Spotify, the iteration phase is the longest stage of product development. The product team uses current metrics and prioritization matrix (likely created during the Design stage) to weigh benefits vs. effort of improving certain products beyond their “local maximum”. If they determine the effort is worthwhile, they will then return to the Definition stage to revamp the product for it’s “global maximum”.

Objective Processes In a Subjective Environment

When it comes to product design documentation, there is no single magic bullet. Almost all companies that use our product employ bits and pieces of the tactics we’ve described above. While product development and UX design are highly subjective spaces, your processes and documentation don’t need to be. After all, the end goal of a product is revenue, and there’s nothing subjective about that.

Image Source: Design Process Notes.

Whether you go lightweight or prefer more detailed documentation, the goal is all the same — get it out of your head and onto paper (or the screen) so your team can interact and react. Documentation should be a compass for the product, not rules carved in stone. Some of the stages we discussed may happen in slightly different order or even parallel, but they all exist to provide method to the madness. Use what works, scrap the rest, and evolve your documentation as your product evolves.

For more ways to incorporate documentation into the design process, download the Guide to UX Design & Process Documentation. Expert advice is featured from Aarron Walter, Laura Klein, Ian McAllister, and dozens others. Visual examples are also shown from companies like Vurb, MailChimp, Apple, Google, and many more.

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