Getting down to business

My way of working depends on what task it is. Being a consultant also means adjusting to what works, keeping it agile.

Getting started

Before I even start designing I need input from my team and/or client. My go-to methods include:

• Research (made by me or someone else)

• Workshops

• Design studios

• Customer journeys

• Design sprints

Designing

Once I have material about the users as well as business requirements I start sketching out ideas. Depending on the project there might already exist a solution that needs to be updated or sometimes I get to start completely from scratch. The getting started phase is equally important in both cases. When I sketch out my ideas it could be on paper or digitally. I find that I more often start on paper if there is no existing solution. When there are a lot of ideas, requirements and needs for a design I like to gather it all on paper in something like a mind map before starting to sketch. Once I have my overview I start sketching. Maybe I start off with the very basics, the MVP. There will always be functionalities that the user cannot be without. Once these are in place I start with the next thing and the next and so on until I have everything in my sketch. Am I’m done now? No, of course not. I need to iterate, show my sketches to my team and get their input.