UX deliverables, a term that describes the outputs of a UX design process during its various stages. The deliverables produced by UX designers vary according to their role in the design team and also depending on the methods and tools used by each role. We will provide an overview of the most common types of deliverables.
Storyboards
These are comic strips that outline the user’s actions and circumstances under which these are performed.
- The power of this idea is that it doesn’t only demonstrate what the user does, but it also reveals the environment, which might be affecting how or why the user did something.
References and Where to Learn More
Learn more about brainstorming and other idea-generation methods in the course Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide: https://www.interaction-design.org/courses/design-thinking-the-ultimate-guide
- Information architecture is all around us, from supermarket stores to your closet. Find out more about this fascinating discipline here.
- Which UX Deliverables Are Most Commonly Created and Shared?
- Goodman, E. (2012). How I learned to stop worrying and love the deliverable. interactions, 19(5), 8-9.
Personas
A persona is a fictional character which the designers build as a sort of user stereotype. It represents the typical users, their goals, motivations, frustrations, and skills.
- Depending on the scope of the projects, designers will generate a number of different personas to capture as wide a part of the audience as possible.
UX Writing / Microcopy
This specialized writing is about designing the conversation between a digital product and the person using it.
- In large software companies and digital agencies, you might have help from dedicated UX writers. In most cases, however, UX writing is part of a UX designer’s role.
High-fidelity prototypes
These are pixel-perfect prototypes that show all the visual and typographic design details of the product as it would be shown on a real screen.
- They take into consideration physical screen dimensions and are produced in a size that corresponds to the physical device’s size.
Customer Journey Maps
A diagram that represents the steps (i.e., the process) taken by a user to meet a specific goal.
- By laying the process out along a timeline, designers can understand the changes in the user’s context, and their motivations, problems and needs along the way.
Evaluation Deliverables
You must also evaluate your (and your peers’) work to ensure it meets the users’ and the organization’s objectives
Features and Content Requirements
New UX designers might be asked to design certain features or work around pre-defined requirements
- More experienced designers may be involved in conversations about what those features and requirements might be
- In each case, you will likely participate in brainstorming sessions to generate ideas for new features or for implementing those features
User Needs and Product Objectives
Understand product objectives and user needs before you begin your work.
- By building (and reading) personas, storyboards and customer journey maps, you can get a better understanding about why you are designing, and for whom.
Analytics Report
When a designed product has been released and has been running for a while, your company might make some usage analytics data available to you
- Look into this data to gain insights into how to improve usability
- Your job is to lay down the facts and interpret them, so make sure the report contains the data, plausible explanations and recommendations on what to do
Detach Yourself from Your Deliverables
Design is a fluid activity, and you must mentally prepare yourself to adapt to changes
- As designers, we tend to get attached to our work and find it hard to change course
- The beauty of design is to be open to iteration
Visual Design
Problems with visual design can turn users off so quickly that they never discover all the smart choices you made with navigation or interaction design.
- The surface of the product (often the visual design) is one of the first elements that users of your product or service will see. It is, however, often the last detail added to a product.
Design Systems
A library of reusable components and guidelines that people within a company can combine into interfaces and interactions
- Provide consistent styling and interaction guidelines for teams
- Make the process of assembling interfaces much faster
- Ideally, the different elements of a design system are pieces of code that developers can drop into interfaces to build a feature quicker
User Flows
A user flow (also known as a task flow) diagram is a simple chart outlining the steps that a user has to take with your product or service in order to meet a goal.
- These diagrams help designers quickly evaluate the efficiency of the process needed to achieve a user goal and can help pinpoint the “how” of the great ideas identified through brainstorming.
Sitemaps
Like physical maps, they help you find your way through a website.
Wireframes
The first interface-related deliverables in UX design process
- They are the first tangible elements of the proposed ideas or solutions
- Good wireframing is the skill of creating lean layouts so your team and stakeholders can quickly determine if concepts are worth developing
The Take Away
In order to produce a wireframe, should a designer not have a complete understanding of the users and their needs?
- Often, management, clients and other team members are interested only in the type of deliverable that helps them advance their tasks.
- The types of the deliverables you produce might need to be “tuned” to whom you are going to share them with, too.
Usability Reports
summarize findings into a usability report
- Background Summary: what you tested
- Methodology: how you went about the evaluation
- Test Results: an analysis of all the data collected
- Findings and Recommendations: what do you recommend, based on the data that you collected and your findings?
Prototypes
A prototype is a simulation of the product or solution you want to build. It is an early version of a product or feature with which people can interact.
- Bring your idea closer to life before investing time and energy in building the real thing by testing it with real people to identify friction points and iterate on design.
Low-fidelity prototypes
These are inexpensive and serve as a rough guide to allow designers to get a feel of how and where they should place content.
Mockups
These are just images.
- Do not assume you are close to the end of the project
- Make sure they are just more of a good-looking visuals with no code behind them
- Avoid claiming to be close to finishing the entire project
Brainstorming
Generate ideas about how to address the issues and opportunities identified in the user research phase.
- A central point is that team members are free to explore all angles and realms; indeed, the best solutions can sometimes sprout from the craziest-sounding notions.
Information Architecture and Interaction Design
Larger UX teams might have specialist information architects and interaction designers, while in smaller teams, UX designers will likely perform these roles.
