UI/UX Design Up Close: Design Frameworks

We’ve given a very basic view of ui/ux design principles and benefits in a previous article. Now we’ll be taking a look into more in depth ui/ux design requirements that benefit the software product development process.

We’ve mentioned before that digital product development will become more important than ever with the quick adoption of digital products projected from 2023 towards 2027. This means that only an overview of what ui/ux design means won’t be enough to fully encompass the importance of its role in software product development process. As such, we’ll be diving into one of the important aspects of ui/ux design, which is the usage of design frameworks. These frameworks are key to ensuring a smart product development process that incorporates a structured approach to making seamless digital experiences without sacrificing any of your business goals.

What Are Design Frameworks?

To put it in simple terms, design frameworks are protocols and procedures used in design projects meant for problem solving and project delivery. Any design framework gives designers a roadmap and a systematic approach for reaching solutions. They also help new team members understand team dynamics and where in the design process the team finds itself, helping them understand how to take products to completion, assign responsibilities and onboard them effectively.

Following a design framework is especially necessary for cross-functional teams for smooth communication and collaboration, but this benefit is also highlighted when looking into the context of nearshore software outsourcing. Nearshore software outsourcing involves the cooperation not only with cross-functional teams, but also international teams, meaning that communication is all the more necessary. Lowering the risk of consequences due to miscommunication with a systematic approach to your software product development process can help avoid prioritizing one group of stakeholders over others. 

One thing to remember is that, though design frameworks structures the ui/ux design process, these are not meant to be rules set in stone to be followed to the letter; rather, they serves as guidelines that help designers reach solutions on their own, but still avoiding bad ui design, as well as bad ux design.

What Are the Benefits of Design Frameworks?

You can expect any of these benefits when working with a design framework in your software product development process:

• Uniformity: Design frameworks ensures your software product development process develops consistent designs across all the stages of the ui/ux design process.
• Efficiency: Design frameworks help the team use established work patterns to make better use of their time and reach solutions faster.
• Effectiveness: Keeping deliverables on track and allowing for proper delivery is another benefit of design frameworks.
• Collaboration: As we’ve mentioned before, they ensure proper communication between cross-functional and international teams due to nearshore software outsourcing, as well as the different stakeholders involved with the project.
• User-centrism: Helps focus on user needs, while also considering business needs to build better products that also ensures a company’s success.

Some Design Frameworks to Use

Not every design framework is useful for every situation. Depending on the requirements of the project or the team, one method will be favored over others. There are some teams that specialize in one specific method, while others morph their focus according to client requests, in the case of nearshore software outsourcing.

UCD

This design framework prioritizes the user experience over all else. Short for Use-Centered Design, products designed with this framework are usually intuitive, efficient and enjoyable to use because of the forethought it places on the user’s experience using them. It’s a holistic approach that takes into consideration all stakeholder needs, although users are the main sources of insights in this method.

Some key points considered in this method are:

• Understanding the user: Research user pain points, behaviors, goals and expectations to gain deep insight into the mind of the end user.
• Usability: Focus on the products ease of use. This means that reducing the probability of errors and frustrations on the user side are taken very seriously.
• Prototyping and testing: Prototype the design elements and test them with real users. This is to ensure any remaining issues with the proposals are taken care of before handing off the designs.
• Iterative: Constantly improve the products through a constant user feedback loop that keeps you aware of the end user’s most recent needs.

Design Thinking

The most basic design framework. All other frameworks use this as a basis for their own structure and problem solving logic they implement. There are three stages that Design Thinking uses:

• Observation: Understand the realities of the end users. These could include product use cases, behavior logics and interactions.
• Reflection: Take the data found in the initial stage and structure it in a way that generates insights and hypothesis.
• Make: Transform those insights into physical design elements that reflect those user’s needs and behaviors.

It’s an iterative method, which also incentivizes prototyping and testing to ensure the insights and hypothesis acted upon are true representations of what all stakeholders need and expect out of the product. These stages are flexible enough that they can be used from the initial ideation phase of the project, to its conclusion. As such, implementing the Design Thinking design framework allows a team to finish with a fully functional product. 

However, these steps can be taken even further; for teams whose main goal is to have consistent feedback on a product, these steps can be condensed into five day intervals, allowing for constant user feedback and iterations at every step of the product development process. This method can also be taken to a projects conclusion, however it’s dynamic and iterative nature allows for it to be implemented well beyond the project’s conclusion.

Double Diamond

A design framework based on outcomes. It incentivizes innovation and design iterations, as well as iterations in product. These iterations are done by establishing all the problems a team is facing or might face in the future. Once this is done, these problems are organized into a grid and then paired with solutions that might prove helpful in solving those established problems. In other words, the Double Diamond design framework helps develop scenarios for solving the problems a team or client establishes. This scenario building helps determine what solutions will be the most effective so that the teams working on those problems can prioritize the solutions they’ll be using. There are two main stages for this design framework:

• Preparation: This is where a problem and a product is understood through the lens of the user. They directly interact with end users to generate insights on what user needs and problems need to be solved first.
• Prototyping and Testing:  Pass the insights and hypothesis formed in the preparation stage through tests with stakeholders and real users. Leave behind solutions that don’t work and bring those that do into the iteration pull.

Hook Model

Mostly for products whose objective is to develop habits in the minds of end users. Software products such as video games might use this framework in order to develop their gameplay loops that keep their users hooked to the product. This is a more business goal oriented design framework, however designers are encouraged to use this method ethically, as to provide real value for the end user. This framework uses four stages:

• Trigger: What causes some users to take specific actions over others?
• Action: Determine what action you want the users to do at any given moment.
• Reward: Reward users for completing the determined action.
• Investment: Repeat the cycle through more user investment.

Agile UX

A design framework made in the image of agile software development principles. These also have 12 main principles, similar to their agile software development counterpart. For more information, check out this article.

BASIC

This is a fairly recent design framework. It is an acronym for the five principles of this method:

• Beauty: The visual elements used in the designs should be aesthetically pleasing, high quality and follows the established style guide of the product.
• Accessibility: The product should be usable to as many people as possible. This includes cross-platform compatibility.
• Simplicity: Zero clutter and reduces the end user’s workload when using the product.
• Intuitive: The product should be easily understandable and usable for the end user, with little hand holding needed. 
• Consistent: Is the design and performance consistent? Is the branding used consistent with the design system implemented? Are the elements being used properly?

Fogg Model

Similar to the Hook Model, the Fogg Model is a design framework that looks to increase a product’s use and engagement over time. The main difference between this method and the former is that Fogg establishes the importance of what they call “baby steps”, which calls for slowly easing users into the expected behaviors.

Design Frameworks with Teravision

Does your project require a proper understanding of design principles? Do you need understanding in software product development through the lens of ui/ux design? We’ve helped companies of many sizes develop software products for over 20 years. Contact us and let’s get your product properly defined!