~ by Alan W
If you’re building a rocket to go to the moon, make sure you have the right team of experts to get you there. As we embark on MVP’s there are key areas of design expertise you should be equipping yourself with. If you do not have all these specialists in house, look at potential collaborative models with potential partners. It is imperative that we have value conversations on what each area of expertise brings to the efficacy of what we are creating.
> The Design Advisor is the guiding light, keeping the team on course to deliver something exceptional. An advisor not only to their team of design specialists but also an advisor to the business, orienting us into a design-led way of work for our business.
Design strategy
Design vision
Ideas generation
Design decisions
Strategic decision making
> The Design Researcher brings insights into the foundation of what we are building, always asking why and ensuring we are not designing solutions in boardrooms but rather based on real truths from all users both consumers and business stakeholders.
Insight generation & storytelling
Contextual inquiries with users
Contextual inquiries with stakeholder
Secondary research
Competitive analysis
> The Service Designer, your big picture thinker and the one who beautifully sews all moving parts of an experience together in their blueprint, the inner workings of how the business delivers the experience. They prevent our ideas from falling flat in reality because they leave no stone unturned on how it will play out in reality for the business.
Service blueprint
User journeys
Ecosystem mapping
> The User Experience Designer, providing the detailed lens into how our users experience the product, and making that seamless.
User journeys
Usability testing
User flows
User personas
Mental models
Information architecture
> The User Interface Designer, quite literally, brings our ideas to life. They help the design team and us as the business, see our idea in reality. What could be.
Wireframes
Hi-fidelity design
Prototyping
Branding and graphic development
User guides and storylines
Interactivity and animation
Activities within each specialist role varies by business and iteration but essentially the makeup of the ‘killer design team’ is evident in what each area of expertise brings to the MVP. It is the combination that is designed for success, where the whole is greater than its parts as the saying goes. Skimp on one of the roles, compromises are evident. Sure, many are going ahead with no design advisor, no service design or even researcher… and it is evident in the quality of designed MVP's being produced. If you are positioning yourself as a must have product/service, then premium delivery is no compromise.
To repeat what was pointed out earlier: If you do not have all these specialists in house, look at potential collaborative models with potential partners. It is imperative that we have value conversations with our service providers on what each area of expertise brings to the efficacy of what we are creating.
Work with Alan W
“Solving niche challenges founders face”.
Illustrator: Lisa Williams (Instagram: @artist_llw)
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