The daunting challenge of a blank page...er...Sketch file. For many of us, the actual “designing” phase of a project is typically fairly comfortable; it’s starting that’s messiest and most challenging. How do you avoid paralysis and get to that place where you can effectively use creativity to solve complex UX problems? Whether you’re designing a dazzling Uber-for-cupcakes consumer product or an HR insurance policy management tool, there are often pieces of the puzzle missing that it’s your job to track down and fit into the overall process. In this talk, I cut through the jargon and buzzwords and dig into practical first steps toward making your next project move faster and be more successful. As part of this we break into groups to test drive some techniques at our disposal to enhance the getting-started process. Expect to walk away more confident of how to go about getting the UX project ball rolling and producing your best work possible.

1. Ready, Set, GO
Taking the First Steps in a UX Design Project
and Unlocking Creativity
Dan Romlein, Apprenda @danielromlein
Wi-fi: Apprenda Guest Pass: apguest5

2. “On this path, it is only the first step
that counts.”
St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, Catholic Saint, “Cure d’Ars”

4. Discovery
phase
Agile
Lean
Content
audit
User
stories
User
flows
PRD
Competitor
analysis
Journey
mapping

5. Start with the why

7. “If you aim at nothing, you will
hit it every time.”
Zig Ziglar

8. Establishing why unlocks creativity

9. dribbble.com/creativemints

11. “Creativity is coming up with
original ideas that have value.”

12. Input Creativity Output

13. “In an uncertain and volatile world,
CEOs realize that creativity trumps
other leadership characteristics.
Creative leaders are comfortable with
ambiguity and experiment to create
new business models.”
2010 IBM Study of 1500 CEOs from around the world

15. “The how of building software is
largely solved. Now it’s a question of
‘What do we build,’ and ‘Why are we
building it?’”
Greg Petroff, Managing Director, Online, Google Cloud

17. #1
Engage stakeholders

19. (This all relates to figuring out why)
Process Tips

20. #1
Engage stakeholders

22. “It’s all about dialogue”
Vineeth Nair, UX Designer, Salesforce

24. POST ITs &
SHARPIES
TIME!

25. #2
Define the problem

26. “Design needs to have an opinion
about the types of problems the
organisation is solving, not just
helping to execute on solutions to
specific problems.”
Alastair Simpson, Design Manager at Atlassian

27. #3
Define success

28. Page views?
Registered users?
Time on site?
Conversion rates from visitor to member?
Subscriptions?
Advertising revenue?

29. #4
Learn the business

30. “There’s no longer any real
distinction between business
strategy and the design of the
user experience”
Bridget van Kralingen, Senior VP of IBM Global Business Services

31. In Conclusion...

32. ➔ Creativity’s important, even especially
in UX design.

33. ➔ Creativity’s important, even especially
in UX design.
➔ Creativity requires figuring out why.

34. ➔ Creativity’s important, even especially
in UX design.
➔ Creativity requires figuring out why.
➔ Design your own process.

35. ➔ Creativity’s important, even especially
in UX design.
➔ Creativity requires figuring out why.
➔ Design your own process.
➔ Be curious.