A hollistic view on Design
A good process is not only defined by using the right tools, but by building a culture where the whole team owns a product and is collaborating towards a common goal.
Defining a Workflow
Design itself can be a chaotic and non-linear process. Working in a team of creatives, especially for digital projects requires a thought-out workflow to reduce design debt and conflict. Nowadays, designtools like Sketch, Zeplin and Abstract (no name a few) enable Designers to collaborate, share and selfmanage in an easy and transparent way. Modern projectmanagement tools like Trello, Jira and Slack (to an extend) enable designers to be part of the whole process without loosing the time to actually design.
Form follows function
There is almost no area of design where this as true as with digital projects. Good digital products are usually the result of extensive research, iterating, wireframing and rapid prototyping before the actual design process even started. Defining a common ground of understanding helps the whole team to build a coherent product, while getting the goal across to all teammembers and stakeholders alike. A good conceptual base ensures that the endproduct is fully functional, with all design decisions based on solid research and usercentric thinking.
Systematic Design
A design system is a collection of reusable components, guided by clear standards, that can be assembled together to build any number of applications. A systematic approach on design streamlines the workflow, giving designers the chance to focus on creating. It transcends platforms and devices, while staying infinitley scalable. The way it is set up a Design System can be owned by the whole time, being a living and collaborative library. It reduces design debt in UI Design and ensures consistency, interconnecting all components and styles.
Telling a story
Offen seen as a nice-to-have, illustrations offer a way of telling a story, taking abstract ideas and articulating them in a relatable way. Illustrations can catpure a brands identity, delivering brand values and tonality to the user through a visual and human touchpoint. They can guide the user, improving the usability and immersing the user in a product, where even error-messages can be taken as a way to engage and stoke interest.
Iterating and Reimagining
Testing and prototyping a product throughout the whole creation process ensures that it aligns with the initially defined product goals at all times. It helps putting out fires before they even start, aligning the product vision of the team with the actual use-cases for the enduser. It empirically supports arguments for both design and concept decisions.
Handing over the design
Being seen as the achilles heel of creatives, properly handing over the design to the development can become a bottle-neck for any number of projects. Collaborating and exchanging ideas with developers throughout all phases of a project helps to avoid confusion and frustration in the end. Additionally, using the right tools like Zeplin, Abstract or InVision makes it very easy for Creatives to hand over designs in a way developers can work with, while maintaining control over the actual design of the endproduct.