5. Travelling for 7 years
Just got back from a roadtrip in ! Belize
40 countries and counting!
In the last year:
" New Zealand
# Australia
$ France
% Italy
& UK
' Iceland
( USA
! Belize
) Belgium
* Netherlands
+ Denmark
, Sweden
- Switzerland
7. Melewi
T H E T R A V E L L I N G D E S I G N S T U D I O
8. We design awesome products for users
and businesses around the world
Team of 8 people from 7 countries
Just turned 5 years old
Clients in 5 continents, 48 countries
Millions of users globally
13. 2010
now
in 3 parts; crammed full of info
Everything I’ve learned on
how to design a brilliant product
without killing your cofounder
P R O D U C T D E S I G N F O R S T A R T U P S
19. Page skeletons / blueprints
Figure out what your pages / screens are
Start sketching
Continue sketching
Fill in important text - e.g. Headers, call-to-actions
20. Don’t start with a program (e.g. Illustrator)
Even the playing ground > even my grandma can sketch
Share ideas quickly
Don’t be afraid to re-do or edit
Paper can be passed around, scribbled on, cut up
Can be taken with you (unlike a whiteboard)
21. Too tempting to start building
No! It’s got to work / function right first
Puts your thoughts + ideas down onto something you can test
And with it, you go out and get results!
28. It doesn’t have to look AMAZING
It just has to look presentable!
Do NOT jump straight into coding
Sketch and test before working on the UI
Use design tools to help you!
Start and maintain a stylesheet for consistency
38. Tell people where they are
Keep things where they’ve
always been (forks don’t
belong in the loo, do they?)
39. Tell people where they are
Keep things where they’ve
always been (forks don’t
belong in the loo, do they?)
People read left to right,
top to bottom, so…
40. Tell people where they are
Keep things where they’ve
always been (forks don’t
belong in the loo, do they?)
People read left to right,
top to bottom, so…
Keep your top-level info on
the top and / or left
41. Tell people where they are
Keep things where they’ve
always been (forks don’t
belong in the loo, do they?)
People read left to right,
top to bottom, so…
Keep your top-level info on
the top and / or left
Keep your key actions
bottom and / or right
43. Split the page into sections
Keep sections holding
roughly the same level of
information or required
focus
navigation
secondary
primary
44. Split the page into sections
Keep sections holding
roughly the same level of
information or required
focus
Keep the key area the
biggest (and typically to
the right)
45. Split the page into sections
Keep sections holding
roughly the same level of
information or required
focus
Keep the key area the
biggest (and typically to
the right)
Cluster information
together to form groups
46. 2Everything I’ve learned on
how to design a brilliant product
without killing your cofounder
a brilliant product
P A R T 2 O F 3
47. 2
Get your foundation right
Spend time really figuring out what the problem is
Remember: you’re not building for you!
A brilliant product doesn’t come from a genius
Even experts can’t guarantee it’s right till it’s been tested
48. a brilliant product
P A R T 2 O F 3
User Research
A K A “ Y O U W A N T M E T O T A L K T O P E O P L E ? ! ”
49.
50. Know who you’re targeting inside and out
What do they like and value? How do they think and behave?
You cannot target everyone!
It’s never a one-size-fits-all
Decide, design and build accordingly
Does your target audience segment even exist?
51. USABILITY.GOV
“User research focuses on understanding user
behaviours, needs, and motivations through
observation techniques, task analysis, and
other feedback methodologies
a bunch of different ways
52. User Interviews
A qualitative question and
answer discussion conducted
with one participant
Contextual Interviews
A specific “interview" method
to collect observational data
in a specific context
Surveys
A list of quantitative and or
qualitative questions that can be
filled at scale and anonymously
I N S I G H T S
E F F O R T
I N S I G H T S
E F F O R T
I N S I G H T S
E F F O R T
53. I N S I G H T S
E F F O R T
e.g. We believe that new mothers are lacking a
support system that will help them feel less
stressed and enjoy having a child more.
Step 1: Create your hypothesis
I want to know if new mothers are lacking a
support system
Step 2: Identify what you want to know
I want to know if new mothers feel less stressed
when talking to other new mothers
I want to know what would help new mothers
enjoy having their child more.
User Interviews
A qualitative question and
answer discussion conducted
with one participant
54. I N S I G H T S
E F F O R T
User Interviews
A qualitative question and
answer discussion conducted
with one participant
Step 3: Frame your questions
I want to know if new mothers are lacking a
support system
I want to know if new mothers feel less stressed
when talking to other new mothers
I want to know what would help new mothers
enjoy having their child more.
How has your experience as a new mother been like?
What is your support system like?
Tell me about any friends you have who are also new mothers?
Do you talk to them often? (Why / why not?)
If you had a magic wand, what would you
wish to change in your daily life?
55. I N S I G H T S
E F F O R T
User Interviews
A qualitative question and
answer discussion conducted
with one participant
Step 4: Make sure you’ve good questions
Make sure it’s not leading
Try to make it open-ended
How little support do you think you receive?
Do you feel you have enough support?
Tell me about your support system
Try to bank it off past behaviours
Have you ever any sought help when you were struggling?
Do you think you will seek help if you’re struggling?
58. Representative snapshot of your target audience
It should not represent one sole user
Are there outliers?
59. No. Gender Age City Occupation User since… Other products used Income
1 Male 31 Singapore UX Designer 2015 Invision, Atomic 60k
2 Female 28 Singapore UI Designer 2015 Invision 79k
3 Male 45 New York City
Marketing
Manager
2016 Marvel 150k
4 Female 28 Kuala Lumpur
Interaction
Designer
N.A. Invision 79k
5 Male 31 London
Product
Manager
2015 Marvel 60k
6 Male 31 Kuala Lumpur UX Designer 2014 Invision 60k
There were some very different answers, who is
most likely to have contributed them?
Spotting Bad Data
60. Representative snapshot of your target audience
It should not represent one sole user
Are there outliers?
Perhaps a different demographic is a better fit for your
product. Have you been talking to the wrong people?
Turn your research into something concise and human
61. Leia Organa
“Darth Vader destroyed Alderaan (my home planet),
and is taking over The Galaxy. I will not sit still for this!
I need to defeat him. But how?!
If only there was a way to destroy the Death Star and
defeat the Empire once and for all…”
N A M E
Q U O T E
A G E T E C H - S A V V Y F R U S T R AT I O N ( S ) G O A L ( S )
/ 5
21 5
The Empire destroyed
her home planet
She doesn’t know how to
destroy the Death Star
# K E Y W O R D
Bold
Leader
Courageous
Princess
* because she’s
from the future To defeat the Empire
To restore democracy
within the Galactic
senate
64. Find people who are your users
Having an incentive usually helps (Starbucks gift card)
All you need are results from 5 people
Put yourself out there! Cafes, coworking
space, friends, limitless possibilities
Observing people using your product
65. Don’t ask questions, give tasks instead
Person A: Give tasks + Interact
Person B: Observe + Notes
Approx. 3 to 5 things to do
Humans feel obliged to please
66. Resist the urge to help them
Or to guide them
Or to correct them
No! Learn from where they struggle
Deduce patterns from multiple tests
67. Usability Testing Process
Task Scenario 1 Task Scenario 2 Task Scenario 3
01. Task Scenarios
Setting the context and
creating a task for the user to
attempt to accomplish
e.g. Purchase a pair of shoes for
your best friend’s birthday
Note-taker
Interviewer
2. Set the Roles 3. The Rest
30M I N U T E S
5I N T E R V I E W E E S
1D E V I C E
68. 1. Be specific about what
you’ve observed
“User couldn’t purchase item”
“User couldn’t find the checkout
button on the cart page”
2. Organise and group your
notes to your task scenarios
3. Number and label your
screens for accuracy
4. Create a hypothesis of what the
problem is from the comments
Task Scenario 1
1A 1B 1C 1D
point
point
point
point
Cohesive and
concise summary
of the problem
Sorting Your Results
Task Scenario 1 Task Scenario 2 Task Scenario 3
69. 3. Write down observations from
each participant according to
their colour (1 point, 1 post it)
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
2. Write down the user
info for each participant,
and set aside
1
2
3
4
5
1. Get a different
coloured post-it for
each participant
Sorting Your Results
70. Sorting Your Results
4. Start grouping
similar points
together into piles
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point point
point
pointpoint
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
71. Sorting Your Results
4. Start grouping
similar points
together into piles
5. Label each pile
with their
problem or issue
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point point
point
pointpoint
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
Unclear what the steps
are to create an account
Didn’t like having so
many steps to sign up
Couldn’t figure out how
to check out their cart
Couldn’t find
delivery information
Got stuck at adding
product to cart
Could not navigate to
the products section
Wanted more
product information
Did not have a credit
card; could not checkout
72. Sorting Your Results
4. Start grouping
similar points
together into piles
5. Label each pile
with their
problem or issue
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point point
point
pointpoint
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
point
Unclear what the steps
are to create an account
Didn’t like having so
many steps to sign up
Couldn’t figure out how
to check out their cart
Couldn’t find
delivery information
Got stuck at adding
product to cart
Could not navigate to
the products section
Wanted more
product information
Did not have a credit
card; could not checkout
This will give you a quick
idea on which problems
were faced by the
majority of participants,
and which were outliers
You can also quickly look
over demographic traits
via post-it colours to see if
there are any correlations
73. Task Scenario User 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Task Scenario 1 Good Good Good Good Good Great Good Good Great
Task Scenario 2 Poor Bad Average Poor Bad Poor Poor Poor Bad
Task Scenario 3 Good Great Great Good Great Good Great Good Good
Task Scenario 4 Great Good Good Great Average Good Great Average Great
Task Scenario 5 Average Great Average Good Great Good Great Good Good
Task Scenario 6 Great Good Great Great Good Good Great Great Great
What can you tell from this table?
Sorting Your Results
74. Task Scenario User 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Task Scenario 1 Good Good Good Good Poor Great Average Good Great
Task Scenario 2 Great Good Average Good Bad Good Good Great Great
Task Scenario 3 Good Great Great Good Bad Good Great Good Good
Task Scenario 4 Great Average Good Great Average Good Great Average Great
Task Scenario 5 Average Great Average Good Bad Good Great Good Good
Task Scenario 6 Great Good Great Great Poor Good Great Great Great
What can you tell from this table?
Sorting Your Results
75. Task Scenario User 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Task Scenario 1 Good Bad Average Bad Poor Good Average Good Poor
Task Scenario 2 Poor Bad Average Poor Bad Average Poor Poor Bad
Task Scenario 3 Poor Good Bad Average Bad Poor Poor Good Poor
Task Scenario 4 Great Good Good Good Good Great Great Good Great
Task Scenario 5 Average Bad Poor Bad Bad Average Poor Poor Bad
Task Scenario 6 Poor Bad Bad Average Good Poor Bad Poor Poor
What can you tell from this table?
Sorting Your Results
76. 3Everything I’ve learned on
how to design a brilliant product
without killing your cofounderwithout killing your cofounder
P A R T 3 O F 3
77. 3
Knowing how to design a great product is useless
if you can’t work together well to build it
Getting on the same page makes a big difference
Spend some time to intentionally put together a
simple working structure and flow
Prevent confusion, frustration, mistakes and
wasted time = a better business & relationship
78. without killing your cofounder
P A R T 3 O F 3
Central Documents
& Labelling Conventions
79. With so much going on, and multiple
iterations, things get confusing quickly
The whole team needs to move in
unison and with little confusion
Your time is wasted answering
needless questions
Get everyone on the same page with
some simple rules and guidelines
80. Keep a central document
that’s constantly being
updated
realtimeboard
trellospreadsheets
81. Keep a central document
that’s constantly being
updated
Group and categorise
features and functionalities
Mark out notes, flows,
sketches, etc. in one spot
Number and label things
for easy reference and
organisation
84. Melewi
Full team standup
Mondays to Fridays
3pm SGT
Rain or shine
Go through all projects statuses
before doing stand-up (done
yesterday, doing today, obstacles)
91. Keep organised with
central documents
Keep it lean and
validation-focused
Keep consistent
with a stylesheet
1 2 3
92. Systemise, organise, iterate,
and automate
Sometimes rules and
processes are useful to have
Reflect & introspect
Work on how you collaborate
Take care of yourselves!
4