A systematic approach to solving problems allows you and your creative teams to move faster and develop innovative solutions. Every problem is different, but this approach can be applied to any situation.

Research

The design process begins by assessing the situation and gathering information. Ask questions. A ton of them. Understand the audience and try to put yourself in their shoes. Begin to observe what is working well. Then identify things that could be improved upon and things that are downright broken. Evaluate processes, systems, technology, and people. Don’t give feedback, just listen. And take lots of notes.

Define the problem

Once you’ve gathered all the information, begin to filter out the nonessentials. Start to prioritize and begin hypothesizing. Is there a lack of communication between teams? Do we have the right protypting tools to demo designs? Is the feedback time with the customer too long? Are you missing a clear strategy on how to migrate the acquired company’s brand? Identify the major pain points and then do something about it.

Ideate

This is the fun part. We called it brainstorming growing up. Start thinking about all the possible solutions and creative ideas. For example, if we create an interactive digital infographic instead of a static PDF version, we could probably get better engagement metrics. If we pull this graphic element out of the logo, we might be able to build a whole visual design system from it. If we outsource the production of emails to an agency, we can focus our attention on innovation.

It’s worth investing time here because ideas don’t always come when you want. And the best ideas might come from whom you least expect. Remember, at this point there are no bad ideas.

Evaluate and pick

Remember how there were no bad ideas and brainstorming? Some (actually) are better than others. Start to identify those good ones and measure them on a few different scales: time, capability, and cost.

You can build an awesome AR experience for your next event, but does anyone have the skillset to build it? Do you have the budget to lean on an agency to build out your visual design system? Try to determine which idea will have the most impact on the investment. But at the end of the day, picking something and start building.

Build

You’ve identified the problem and come up with possible solutions. It’s time to execute. Think of this phase in building blocks. Don’t focus on kerning, rule width, and PMS colors. Start with concepts. Sketch out your ideas. Iterate on that idea. Then add more details and push pixels. Focus on building a prototype where you can start getting feedback. You may find in building something that you need to go back to ideation, and that’s OK. The key is to move beyond ideas into something real. This will be your most frustrating, and most rewarding step.

Ship it

Don’t stay in build forever. Ship an MVP (minimum viable product) as fast as you can and start learning. Don’t try to build perfection. Do B+ work fast. Then start gathering feedback on what you've shipped, and move back into research phase.