A Guide to UX Design and Development: Developer’s Journey Through the UX Process (Design Thinking)

✍ Scribed by Tom Green, Joseph Labrecque

• Publisher: Apress
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 261
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Gain a thorough understanding of the two pillars of any User Experience project: the mission and the process. The mission is to keep the user in mind at each step or milestone as the developer progresses through the project. The process is how that mission is accomplished through collaboration and the use of research, design and development technologies. This book walks you through a developer's journey through the UX process, from start to finish. 

A Guide to UX Design and Development concentrates on the intersection of what is called “DesignOps” and “DevOps.” That intersection is where collaboration between all members of the team, including stakeholders and clients, occurs and neither DesignOps nor DevOps can go beyond being considered just buzzwords if they instead silo design and development. To highlight the UX Mission and illustrate the responsibility developers also hold for the user experience, authors Tom Green and Joseph Labrecque take you through a hypothetical project involving the development of a parking app for a municipal parking authority. As the book progresses, they concentrate on the developer's journey through the whole project from discovery to product release. In this journey, you will see how developers can make an impact and contribute to the user experience.

This will include such topics as why there is a need for both a user journey map and a technical journey map. The authors explain why prototyping is not as complicated as it is made out to be because it is simply an early low-cost and disposable minimal viable product that gives the developer a deep understanding of the project's intent in support of the UX Mission. You will also explore the creation and use of design systems and why the developer's role is just as important as the people who create the design system. The role and responsibility of the developer in user testing is discussed in the context of a variety of testing and assessment methods conducted to achieve the UX mission.

Finally, you’ll gain an understanding of how design and development deliverables are negotiated, prepared and sent out for research at each step of the process, and how the developer is involved.

What You Will Learn

• Understand the evolving role of the developer in a team-based environment
• Learn the five stages of the UX process 
• Discover the importance of collaboration and communication with stakeholders, designers, and developers at every stage of the process
• Learn a variety of design and development documents created during the UX process

Who This Book Is For

Developers and designers involved in the UX Process, as well as developers trying to make sense of the confusing amount of information out there regarding their role in the UX process. 

✦ Table of Contents

Table of Contents
About the Authors
About the Technical Reviewer
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: The UX Project Progress
The UX Mission
Why UX Projects Fail
Enter the UX Mission
The Collaborative UX Process
A Brief Review of the UX Process
Discovery and Problem Definition
Scope and MVP Definition
UX Design
UI Design
Development
Deep Dive into the UX Process
Conclusion
Chapter 2: Defining the Problem
Why Research Is Important for Developers
Foundational Research Is Necessary
The Research Process Is Continuous
Research and Systems Impact
Artifacts and Deliverables
The Developer’s Role in the Research Phase
Conclusion
Chapter 3: Determining the Scope and MVP
Why Scaling Our View Matters
Product Purpose and Reason to Exist
Enduring Value in the Minimum Viable Product
Determining the Minimum Viable Product
Generate New Ideas Grounded in  User Behaviors
Conclusion
Chapter 4: The Prototype
Why Prototype?
Accessibility First
The Current State of Prototyping
Lean UX
Rapid Prototyping
Straight to Code
Agile and Prototyping
What to Prototype?
Low Detail, Low Functionality
Low Detail, High Functionality
High Detail, Low Functionality
High Detail, High Functionality
Conclusion
Chapter 5: The Design System Library
The Single Source of Truth
Where Do You Start?
Taking Stock of What You Have
The Pattern Inventory
The Color Inventory
The Typography Inventory
The Asset Inventory
Design Tokens
Naming Tokens
Conclusion
Chapter 6: The UX Design Process
First, What Is UX?
What Is UX Design?
Dancing Between Data and Design
Setting the Scene with Research
UX Design Is a Team Sport
Artifacts and Deliverables
Project Documentation
User Research Deliverables
Design Deliverables
Testing Deliverables
User Testing Is an Iterative Process
Conclusion
Chapter 7: The UI Design Process
UI Design Is a Team Sport
The Design Language
Getting Started with a Design Pattern Library
Creating Content
Imaging
Line Art
Animation
Video and Audio
Pulling It All Together with Prototyping Software
Figma
UXPin
Conclusion
Chapter 8: Development
Opportunities for Discovery in Development
Interactions Between Designers and Developers
Looking Back to Get Ahead
Organizational Tooling and Sharing Data
Test Often and Pivot as Needed
Conclusion
Chapter 9: User Testing
Why Testing Is Important
User Testing
Usability Testing
Some Testing Methods
User Tests
Usability Tests
Preparing to Test
Two Low-Cost Testing Methods
Conducting a Test Using a Paper Prototype
Conducting an A/B Test
It Is All About Context
Conclusion
Chapter 10: Developer Handoff
All Platforms Are Not Created Equally
Bringing the Design System and UI Elements Together
The Front End and Back End Come Together
Front-End Considerations
Back-End Considerations
Nothing Is Ever Finished
Conclusion
Chapter 11: Release into the Wild and Beyond
A “Good Enough” Product Release
Early Adopters and Initial Feedback
Making Use of Analytics Post-launch
Product Road Map and Planned Features
Conclusion
Index