Presentation on the Discovery Phase in UX Design

1. Discovery
Laura Moser
Principles of Production Process
February 8th, 2013

2. Common Documents
Client Survey
This is the first step to understanding the client needs and wants, business goals,
industry, competitors and most importantly the end user. The client survey should also
include project specific details such as backend programming and visual design.
Communication Brief
A communication brief will include the research you’ve done on the client’s company,
industry, and competitors as well as your clients needs and wants. This is an essential
document to have. Miscommunications can delay a project and towards the end of the
project you could be hit with a long list of corrections and revisions.

3. Centralized Communication
Good communication is key to every project.
As a freelance designer and a one women team, effective communication is key to all my
projects. I work with a lot of clients out of state, and when they hand me a deposit having
only speaking to me over phone, I take that trust very seriously. Having a good
communication system not only helps you, but the client as well. Miscommunications can
have a serious impact of the project.
There are many ways to centralize communication. Look at your client, are you dealing with
more than one person on the project? How do they prefer to communication? Phone, Email
or Chat?
Apps like Basecamp, ActiveCollab, DropBox, and Google Drive, are great in setting up a
centralized area for communication. There are tons of other project managements apps
that are very useful for large and even small teams.
No matter how you choose to communicate with your client(s), make sure it’s organized
because in the end you’re the one that could pay the price, not your client.

4. Demographics
Understanding your target audience is essential to building a useable and user
friendly website. Knowing answers to these key items will help as you move forward
with your project.
 Age
 Gender
 Occupation
 Salary

5. Psychographics
Demographics tell us age, gender, occupation, and maybe a few more things. Psychographics
gives us a picture of the whole user and why they are coming to our site. This is useful for
marketing. The key attributes is just some of the things designers use during the development of
the visual design of the site.
 Personality
 Values
 Lifestyle
 Attributes
 Interests

6. Contextual Inquiry
Demographics offer a broad view of the target audience, psychographics offer a more in-depth view
of the target audience. Knowing your target audience helps you know where to market, but knowing
who your users actual are and how they respond, is what helps make the site user friendly.
To get to know your actual users, you need to conduct a usability test. There are many ways to test
usability, one of those includes Contextual Inquiry (CI). CI is a complex test, but one of the most
valuable tests.
The results of a CI can provide a in-depth analysis of the user in the environment performing their
tasks, and how it fits into their lifestyle. Understanding this will allow the designer to make
adjustments where needed to make the more user friendly.

7. References
What to Ask When Designing for a Target Audience
http://www.addicottweb.com/2009/08/what-to-ask-when-designing-for-a-target-audience/
Improve Your Creative Process, Better Design, Quicker Approvals
http://3.7designs.co/blog/2008/07/improve-your-creative-process-better-design-quicker-approvals/
Phsychograhic Targeting Unhinged: The Zen of Whole Customer Persona Modeling
http://www.aimclearblog.com/2012/06/29/psychographic-targeting-unhinged-the-zen-of-whole-customer-persona-modeling/
The Anatomy of a Website: Discovery & Goal Analysis
http://bigseadesign.com/blog/web-design/website-discovery-and-goals
Contextual Enquiry – A Primer
http://www.sitepoint.com/contextual-enquiry-primer/