Why a process matters
Design is not guessing. Employers in Ghana and abroad want designers who can explain how they reached a decision, not only show a nice screen. A clear process also saves money: fixing a problem on paper costs almost nothing, while fixing it after developers have built it costs days of work.
The design loop
Most teams use some version of the same loop. Different companies give the stages different names, but the idea is the same.
- Understand. Learn about the people who will use the product and the setting they use it in. Talk to them, watch them and read what support staff hear every day.
- Define. Turn what you learned into a clear problem. "Traders lose track of who owes them money" is a problem. "Build an app" is not.
- Ideate. Sketch many possible solutions quickly. Quantity matters more than polish at this stage.
- Prototype. Turn the most promising idea into something people can try, from paper sketches to a clickable screen.
- Test. Put the prototype in front of real users, give them a task and watch what happens.
- Improve. Change the design based on what you saw, then test again.
It is called a loop because you go round it more than once. Testing often sends you back to understanding or defining. That is normal and healthy, not a failure.