A generalized model of a user-centered design process is illustrated in the following diagram. The design process in the model is product agnostic. It can be applied to physical or strictly digital products. The model suggests a continuous flow, which spans the life cycle of the product, from its inception to phase-out.

The product's user is at the center, positioned within the larger circle of the product's target audience. In Chapter 3, Business and Audience Context, we will zoom into these circles for a discussion about audience and user modeling.

The product's user and audience stand at the core of the experience. Orbiting the core are six centers of design activity:

• Business
• Research
• Concept
• Design
• Build
• Post-launch

The centers are interconnected, and information flows freely in a meaningful way. This is not a top-down "waterfall" hierarchy. Each of these centers is a hub of multi-disciplinary activity that produces artifacts, and propels the process forward. Here are some of the disciplines that play an active role within each center:

• Business: Management, product owners, sales and marketing, experience strategists, business process architects, business analysts, and customer support
• Research: Product owners, experience researchers, experience architects, market researchers, industry analysts, research, engineers, technical architects, and content strategists
• Concept: Management, product owners, experience strategists, experience architects, visual designers, product designers, interaction designers, engineers, and technical architects
• Design: Product owners, content strategists, experience strategists, experience architects, visual designers, product designers, manufacturing, programmers, and data scientists
• Build: Product owners, content strategists, experience strategists, experience architects, visual designers, product designers, manufacturing, programmers, customer support, and data scientists
• Post Launch: Product owners, web analytics specialists, and experience designers

In various industries and companies, the grouping of the disciplines may vary somewhat, yet everywhere, the process requires active engagement and involvement of the entire organization, as well as a commitment to staying focused on the core--the user.

Key design activities that happen within each center are:

• Business:
  • The organization determines the vision and motivation for the project, identifies market needs and the competitive landscape, weighs the risks and opportunities, develops a roadmap, allocates budget and resources, and drafts a detailed project plan.
  • The organization considers the experience strategy for the product, and develops a prioritized list of high-level capabilities and business requirements.
• Research:
  • The organization conducts competitive market and technology research, assesses its own strengths and weaknesses, identifies ways to expand market share and extend its reach to a wider target audience; it conducts surveys and focus groups, if relevant.
  • Conducts qualitative and quantitative research activities, such as surveys and contextual inquiry sessions with individuals and small groups, in order to surface important needs, desires, expectations, barriers, and biases.
  • Reviews existing applications, documentation, and other materials to understand current state; models the user experience with personas and journey maps, and helps develop insights for future state.
• Concept:
  • Uses the artifacts produced by the business and research processes as inputs to visualize 2D or 3D explorations of the product and its underlying design architecture; some of the work begins earlier with content inventory, and strategy, information, and technical architecture.
  • Designers use various participatory methods, such as ideation workshops, to brainstorm the approach; visualization is developed iteratively, advancing from sketches and rough wireframes, to high-fidelity concept prototypes that can be validated by users.
  • User feedback and validation; continuously revising the work, based on feedback from actual users, ensuring that the approach meets needs and expectations.
• Design:
  • Uses all the work produced previously as inputs to concentrate on a detailed design for the various components that make up the product; documents the experience by creating specifications, pattern libraries, design guides, and interactive style guides.
    For physical devices, continued logistical planning for appropriate machinery, suppliers, distribution channels, and human, capital, and supporting resources.
  • Usability testing--ideally, several cycles of testing with real users; the feedback used to improve the design.
• Build:
  • Programming the front and back ends of the system, detailed documentation, and manufacturing.
• Post launch:
  • Track and analyze usage, run customer satisfaction surveys, conduct follow up sessions with customers, and fix defects and bugs.
  • Continue work on the product's next phases and releases, extend features and capabilities based on input from all of the above activities and ongoing feeds from the market.