MAKING CONNECTIONS
Innovation happens when we see the big picture—and that’s what I do best. By crafting personality maps, personas, and relationship models, I help teams see beyond the surface and connect with real user needs. I also champion rapid prototyping to test and refine ideas early, ensuring solutions that are not just functional but deeply meaningful. My approach helps brands create experiences that people love and remember.
Design artifacts that help us walk in someone else's shoes
I feel that part of our job as experience designers is to help others quickly get a better understanding of our intended customers. Sometimes, our standard set of deliverables doesn't sufficiently tell the story that needs to be told to get the main point across. The example below walks us through Anita's day and has her jumping from one task to another and, at some points, trying to do two things simultaneously.
Below are just some of the tools that I use to help the team understand how the people we are building products and services for are different from each other, and ourselves.
PERSONALITY MAP | Who are these people and what drives them?
PERSONAS | The hypothetical archetype for types of actual users, that define the patterns in behaviors, needs and goals of those people.
RELATIONSHIP MODEL | Who do they interact with and how often?
Prototype this vs that
The goal of any prototype is to help you evaluate an idea, but identifying which idea or ideas to start with can be hard. So, having a coherent framework around what minimum components you need vs. concepts you want to test help you prioritize and start to prototype an idea quickly.
Where do we go from here?
Share what you have learned and refine your ideas, keep what worked well for the people you're trying to reach, and toss what didn't. Building prototypes gives you something tangible that you can then put right back into the hands of the people you are building a solution for. That way, you'll have some good feedback and a better understanding of what will be of the most value to your audience as you move into implementation.