The importance of thinking things through from the beginning.

You can't unsee this now.

Forethought before design matters.

My 5th grader can design an app. It's not that hard.

– Most people

Why would I pay a designer or developer when there's Squarespace?

– Some clients before design pitch

You should hire Devon. He's a good boy.

– My mom (probably)

It seems to me, that up until the last 5-10 years, the design process and a user's interaction, journey and behavior have been lost to the need for a product to get out the door. While the mindset of businesses is rapidly changing, the need for an experienced and knowldegeable designer is more important than ever. Screens aren't just limited to a laptop, phone, tablet or tv. Smart everything is out there now and being used by millions. Each one of those screens is an opportunity to make that person's life easier. If you're not making a user's life easier, you're just in the way.

My approach is to keep things simple and intuitive for the user, even if that means sacrificing something really "designey" or visually appealing. If a really intricate interface, albeit really cool, leaves the user confused, I've failed as a designer.

Ultimately, my process isn't unique to me, but I happen to be really good at it.

 
Understand current business landscape. Identify and analyze current user behavior.
 
Define criteria for success and how to measure it. Gather requirements and content, create user stories, estimate time.
 
Organize features, sketch or wireframe basic designs, journey mapping, define/identify tone of the design and key messaging points.
 
Further design and content discovery, document design decision, use collaborative tools to share and present designs/strategies to stakeholders to elicit feedback.
 
Build prototypes to share. Stakeholder reviews, peer reviews, tech feasibility reviews. Higher-res wireframes. Initial user testing.
 
QA. Collaborate with devs to implement design. Work with all involved parties to ensure goals and scope are being met.
 
Create test plans. Test product via A/B testing, usability testing or against perviously defined success measures. Analyze data/metrics. Are business needs being met?