Forging new Design Paths

I guess it had to happen in the design world at some point. Much in the same way that tech teams have moved away from hardcore Scrum, the one size fits all approach to development in the design world is also undergoing something of a renaissance.

Frameworks are great – they offer structured approaches for solving design challenges, optimising user journeys, and ensuring products meet the needs of their intended audiences. Traditional UX frameworks have shaped the design industry for decades, setting standardised practices and methodologies. However, with the rapid evolution of technology and user expectations, new frameworks are emerging that give designers more flexibility and creativity, allowing them to adapt quickly to shifting demands.

Traditional UX Frameworks: Established Pillars of UX Design

Traditional frameworks in UX design often follow structured, linear methodologies that guide designers through each phase of the design process. These frameworks ensure consistency and provide a clear roadmap for teams to follow, which is especially beneficial in large organisations. It’s often tempting to try to shoehorn your design and development processes into some of these – we’ve all done it! Some of the most influential and widely used traditional frameworks include:

1. Design Thinking
   • Overview: Design Thinking is a user-centred approach to problem-solving that encourages empathy and iterative design. It typically consists of five stages: Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.
   • Use Case: Popular in industries from healthcare to tech, Design Thinking has been used by companies like IBM and SAP to drive innovation and create human-centric products.
   • Limitations: While invaluable for fostering user empathy and a deep understanding of user needs, Design Thinking can be time-intensive and rigid in its step-by-step approach, which may hinder rapid experimentation and adaptation. Often you’ll spend a long time moving through the process before any measurable results or delivery to users occurs.
2. User-Centred Design (UCD)
   • Overview: UCD focuses on understanding users’ needs, preferences, and limitations at every stage of the design process. This framework emphasises extensive user research, usability testing, and continuous feedback.
   • Use Case: Companies like Google have leveraged UCD to build products that prioritise usability and accessibility, as seen in their widely used Material Design framework.
   • Limitations: UCD requires significant investment in user research and testing, which can slow down the development process, particularly in fast-paced environments or startups where agility is key.
3. Agile UX
   • Overview: Agile UX merges UX principles with Agile development, focusing on frequent iteration and collaboration between design and development teams. This approach is typically broken down into sprints, with designers working closely with developers to create, test, and refine features in short cycles.
   • Use Case: Tech giants like Spotify and Atlassian have adopted Agile UX to support rapid development and frequent product updates while keeping user experience at the forefront.
   • Limitations: Agile UX can sometimes prioritise speed over depth, potentially resulting in a compromised user experience if not carefully managed.

While these frameworks have been instrumental in guiding UX designers, they can sometimes be restrictive, particularly in projects that demand quick iterations, diverse perspectives, and experimentation. As such, designers are now exploring new approaches that offer a fresh perspective.

Emerging UX Frameworks: Embracing Flexibility and Innovation

New UX frameworks are emerging that build upon traditional methodologies while offering greater flexibility, adaptability, and inclusivity. These frameworks are often less prescriptive, enabling designers to choose and blend techniques according to project requirements and user needs. Here are some examples of these new frameworks – each has a certain advantage that moves the design process forward.

1. Lean UX (Driving at speed)
   • Overview: Lean UX, inspired by Lean Startup methodology, emphasises rapid iteration and testing over extensive documentation. It encourages designers to focus on creating minimal loveable products (MLPs), obtaining feedback, and iterating quickly.
   • Use Case: Startups like Airbnb and Dropbox have embraced Lean UX to develop and refine their products in highly competitive markets. Lean UX allows them to respond quickly to user feedback, ensuring continuous improvement.
   • Benefits: Lean UX fosters faster decision-making and flexibility, enabling teams to adapt to feedback and market changes. It’s particularly suitable for projects requiring frequent pivots.
   • Limitations: Lean UX may not be ideal for large-scale, complex projects where extensive documentation and structured processes are essential. However I think there is a real value here in putting Lean UX to the test regardless of rigid practices or large organisations. You’ll get a faster return on validation with user testing – so incorporate into your workflow, even if as an experimental project.
2. Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) – Leaning into emotive choices
   • Overview: The JTBD framework focuses on understanding what “jobs” users are trying to accomplish with a product, viewing users’ needs through the lens of the outcomes they want rather than features they expect. JTBD prioritises understanding user motivations and contexts.
   • Use Case: Intercom and Basecamp have used JTBD to shape their products, focusing on what the user needs to accomplish rather than the specific features. This has allowed them to build more targeted solutions that closely align with real user goals.
   • Benefits: JTBD offers a fresh perspective on user needs, often revealing insights that traditional user research might miss.
   • Limitations: JTBD is not always easy to integrate into existing product design processes, especially in organisations used to feature-driven development. But give it a shot – download the readily available JTBD questionnaire templates and try a different take on your design process putting emotive decision making at the core.
3. Inclusive Design – A must!
   • Overview: Inclusive Design is a framework that prioritises accessibility and inclusivity from the start, aiming to create products that work well for a broad spectrum of users, including those with disabilities. It involves collaborating with diverse user groups to ensure the product can serve a wide audience.
   • Use Case: Microsoft has been a leader in Inclusive Design, using this approach to build products like Xbox Adaptive Controller and accessibility features in Windows.
   • Benefits: By embedding inclusivity into the design process, this framework helps create products that serve a diverse user base and improve usability for all.
   • Limitations: Inclusive Design can sometimes slow down the design process, especially if not integrated from the beginning, as it requires input from a diverse set of users and experts. But don’t let that stop you – try to build this in at the beginning! You’ll also find it a requirement in many products.
4. AI-Augmented UX Design
   • Overview: AI-Augmented UX Design leverages machine learning and AI to enhance design processes, from user research to personalisation. AI can automate data analysis, generate design variations, and predict user needs based on past interactions.
   • Use Case: Adobe’s Sensei AI and tools like Figma’s ‘Autolayout’ feature exemplify AI-assisted design, enabling designers to speed up repetitive tasks and focus more on creativity and strategic decision-making.
   • Benefits: AI-augmented design can lead to faster insights, efficient workflows, and personalised user experiences.
   • Limitations: Relying heavily on AI can distance designers from the human aspect of design, potentially overlooking nuances that require empathy and qualitative insight. I believe these tools are designed to augment your current workflow but can prove brilliant at speeding up repetitive tasks and free up time for further user testing or visual design.
5. Outcome-Driven Design
   • Overview: Outcome-Driven Design (ODD) shifts focus from delivering specific features to achieving specific outcomes. Designers and product teams start by defining the desired impact and then work backwards to determine which features or solutions will achieve those results.
   • Use Case: Companies like Spotify have adopted an outcome-driven approach, where product teams focus on delivering value over simply adding features. By concentrating on outcomes, they maintain alignment with business goals and user expectations.
   • Benefits: ODD encourages alignment with business objectives, ensuring that design efforts contribute directly to measurable results.
   • Limitations: This approach requires careful alignment with stakeholders and can struggle in projects where the desired outcomes are unclear or constantly shifting. However, looking at products through the ODD lens should be something all product teams should consider. This will help avoid falling into the trap of becomming a feature factory.

Thoughts: Flexibility is the new normal

As designers adopt new frameworks, they’re discovering ways to merge the benefits of both traditional and emerging methodologies. For example, combining Agile UX with Lean UX can strike a balance between structure and flexibility, allowing for faster iteration while maintaining a user-centred approach. Similarly, mixing Design Thinking with Inclusive Design can ensure empathy-driven solutions that are also accessible to all.

The movement towards these flexible, hybrid frameworks marks a significant evolution in UX design, reflecting the increasingly complex, diverse, and fast-paced environments in which designers work. Today, the goal is not necessarily to abandon traditional frameworks but to enrich them, adapting and blending methods to meet the demands of modern design challenges and deliver truly impactful user experiences. Find out what works for you!