UX Design – A Beginners Guide to UI/UX

Empathize, Design and Ideate

By Joseph Enoch
 Contents

UX Research ................................................................................................................................................. 4
Types of Research Based on the Time Carried Out .................................................................................. 4
Quality of a Good UX researcher ............................................................................................................. 4
User Research Methods. ........................................................................................................................... 5
Examples of User Research Methods. .................................................................................................. 6
Benefits and Drawbacks of Each Research Method ............................................................................. 7
Research Bias ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Empathize ................................................................................................................................................... 11
Empathy Map .......................................................................................................................................... 11
User Pain Points: ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Personas .................................................................................................................................................. 13
Benefits of Personas ............................................................................................................................ 13
User Stories ......................................................................................................................................... 14
User Journey ........................................................................................................................................... 15
Journey Map........................................................................................................................................ 15
Consider a11y When Researching .......................................................................................................... 19
How a11y Benefits us all .................................................................................................................... 19
Design ......................................................................................................................................................... 20
Problem statement................................................................................................................................... 20
Benefits of Using Problem Statement ................................................................................................. 20
Hypothesis statement .............................................................................................................................. 20
Psychology in Design ............................................................................................................................. 21
Common Human Factors That Inform Design.................................................................................... 21
Psychological Phenomena ...................................................................................................................... 22
Ideate ........................................................................................................................................................... 23
Ideation ................................................................................................................................................... 23
Competitive Audit................................................................................................................................... 24
What We Learn from Competitve Audit............................................................................................. 24
Benefits of Competitive Audits: ......................................................................................................... 24
Limitations of Competitive Audits ..................................................................................................... 24
Steps to Take When Conducting a Competitve Audit. ....................................................................... 25
Ideation Processes ................................................................................................................................... 25
How might We .................................................................................................................................... 25
Sketching - Crazy Eight ...................................................................................................................... 25
 UX Research

UX research focuses on understanding users' needs, behaviour and motivation through observation and
feedback. Here, we also ensure business needs are met. It appears before during and after phase 3 of the
product development lifecycle.

Types of Research Based on the Time Carried Out

Based on the time the research was carried out, UX research are of three types. These three are essential
and are key in ensuring user needs and business goals are met. They are Foundational or Strategic research,
Design or Tactical research and Post-launch research.
Foundational, strategic or general research is research done before anything. Foundational research helps
answer the questions:

• What should we build

• What are the user problems
• How can we solve them.

Research that takes place in phase 3 of the development life cycle is called design or tactical research.
Design research helps answer the question: How should we build it. The goal of design research is to reduce
the user problems when interacting with the fully functioning design.
Post-launch research occurs only after the product has been launched. It helps answer the question of how
well a feature is meeting the needs of users. Post-launch research helps answer the question: Did we
succeed.

Quality of a Good UX researcher

The following are important characteristics that a UX research is expected to have or as the case is, develop.
Each and everyone of these would make a UX designer stand out from a normal designer. They are:

• Empathy
• Pragmatism
• Collaboration And so much more

Empathy in simple terms simply means feeling or experiencing what someone else is experiencing to
understand the person pain and support them. It is different from pity and sympathy and should never be
used interchangeably with them. We will look at the proper definition and importance of Empathy in the
coming sub topics.
Pragmatism is simply being able to solve problems. It is the deliberate effort to solve real lif problems. It is
an essential attribute for UX designers because the designer’s goal is to solve the users problem in the best
way possible. If this isn’t achieved, then, the entire goal of the UX design is ultimately defeated. It is
necessary that UX designer build themselves to be problem solvers by looking at real life problems and
coming up with solutions to them. In doing so, the designer builds up problem solving as a skill that they
would use throughout the course of their careers. Now, look at real life problems and think about actual
solutions to these problems. Take some time to do this before moving on with this note/reading.
Collaboration is an important skill for UX designers. Not just as UX designers, but also as members of an
organization or the society. When working in an organization, we would most likely need to work with our
seniors and juniors (if either party exists) to achieve the business goals. Similarly as UX designers, we be
collaborating with individuals from different parts of the organization such as stakeholders, developers, to
understand and achieve the business goals. Also, to ensure that our design supports a11y and is equitable,
we would need to work with various individuals from different culture, gender, identities, religion and all.
This would mean interbiewing and interacting with people who would sometimes have beliefs and
standards that are directly opposing ours.
Hence, it is essential that we learn to collaborate with and accommodate different kinds of people. Here,
the designer is to develop interpersonal relationship skills, leadership skills, communication skills, and so
many. Asides these three (Empathy, Pragmatism and Collaboration), other skills and qualities exists that
would make you as a UX designer stand out. Some are, developing and maintaining an online presence,
ability to organize and communicate your thoughts and actions effectively, etc.

User Research Methods.

User Research Methods are categorized into two: based on who conducted the research and the type of data
collected. Based on who conducted the research and based on the type of data collected.

• Based on who conducted the research:

We have two types of research, primary and secondary research.
❖ Primary research: This is research you conduct yourself. Eg. interviews, surveys and usability
studies. They have their benefits and limitations. For instance, primary research helps us to
understand user pain points and how users use and feel about our product. However, most in
most cases, primary research is expensive and time consuming and can easily be misunderstood
or misinterpreted.
❖ Secondary research: This is research that uses information that someone else has put together.
Eg. from books, articles, journals. It is very important and in most cases, when starting a new
product or new feature, we must first do secondary research because of the available data. It is
often done by Product leads. And just like primary research, it has its numerous advantages,
but also has some limitations. An advantage is its availability and ease of use, however, we
cannot use secondary research to understand how our feels about and use our product.
 It is thus very important to understand when and how to use both of these methods as using one over
the other might reduce unnecessary cost but using it wrongly might cause errors in the research.

• Based on the type of data collected:

We have two types of research, quantitaive and qualitative research.
❖ Quantitative Research is data that is gathered by counting or measuring. here our goal is to
sample from a large population. Jusr like the name suggests, it is research that is done to receive
a large amount of data. It serves its purpose and should be used when needed. It answers
questions like how many and how much. For example, when we start designing a solution to a
problem, we might need to know HOW MANY people are affected by that problem and HOW
MANY people agree with our solution.
❖ Qualitative research focuses on observation. it is usually based on interviews, where we sample
a small number of users. Here, we focus on the quality of data and not the quantity. We would
need to get rich data. It helps answer questions like why?Quantitative give you the what and
Qualitative gives you the why
Quantitative research gives you the “what” and Quantitative research gives you the “why”.

Examples of User Research Methods.

We have three major examples of UX reseaech methods and they are:

• Interview
• Surveys
• Usability study
Interview:
Interview is a research method used to collect in-depth information on people’s opinions thoughts,
experiences and feelings. It involves an actual interviewing process and it is used to collect qualitative data.
It has its benefits and disadvantages. It is usually conducted in person where the research asks series of
open-ended questions about their experiences and feelings. We make use of interview when we require
adequate details.
The first one limits the user using a range constraint. That is, the user just gets to rate the app and not give
details about the reason for rating it that way. Whereas, the second one simply asks the user to give details
about their experience with the app. The first is close-ended and the second is open-ended.
Close-ended questions are questions that limits the answer the recepeint can give by certain constraints.
Whereas, a close ended question has no limits whatsoever. An example of an close-ended question is are
you in a good mood today, where an open-ended version of that question would be how are you feeling
today. In the first case, if the person is feeling good, the answer would be yesm otherwise, no. But in open-
ended version, the person could reply angry, nervous, enthusiastic but tired, hungry and so much more.
Both types of questions are very useful. We would use closed-ended question when we need specific
answers to specific questions and we would use open-ended questions when we need to know and
understand the user’s feelings.

Survey:
This is an activity where many people are asked the same questions in order to understand what most people
think about a product. We make use of questionnaires to get feedback from a large number of recipients in
order to understand how the user thinks and the to answer the question HOW MANY. Surveys include a
mix of qualitative and quatitative questions.

Usability Study:
This a technique used to evaluate a product by testing it on users. Here, we test either a prototype, a design
solution, a wireframe or even the final product on the user. It is essential to get accurate feedback about
how our user feels about our product. The goal of a usability study is to understand pain points that the user
might have when using several prototypes so that the issue can be fixed before final launching. Here, we
see how our end users interact with the new product or feature and afterward, you can interview them about
their experience. The data collected here, is then used to improve UX design. If the product is already
launched, then the post-launch usability data might include success metrics, KPIs.

NOTE: Read up KPIs

Benefits and Drawbacks of Each Research Method

Secondary Research:
• Benefit:
❖ It is very useful in Foundational research.
❖ Saves time and money
❖ Immediately accessible
❖ Back up Primary research

• Drawbacks:
❖ No first-hand user interaction
❖ No specific user feedback
Interviews:
• Benefits:
❖ Understand what users think and why
❖ Ask follow up questions

• Drawbacks
❖ Takes time and money
❖ Small sample size
Surveys:
• Benefis:
❖ Larger sample size
❖ Fast
❖ Inexpensive

• Drawbacks:
❖ No in-depth feedback
Usability Studies:
• Benefits:
❖ Firsthand user interaction
❖ Challenge our assumptions
❖ In-depth feedback

• Drawbacks:
❖ They only measure one things – how easy it is to use the product
❖ Expensive
❖ Difference in lab use vs real life

Research Bias

In UX research, bias is one of the biggest hinderances in solving the users problem. Firstly, what is bias?
According to the Oxford learners’ dictionary, bias is a strong feeling in favour of or against one group of
people, or one side in an argument, often not based on fair judgement. As UX designers, it is essential that
we put away our personal emotions and biases and build for the user. Imagine you have a stereotype against
a particular religion, gender, ethnic group or minority, you wouldn’t be able to represent their views and
perspective in the product adequately. Therefore, it is essential that we overcome our biases before building
as UX designers. In this sub topic, we’ll discuss various types of biases, what they are and how to overcome
them.
There are numerous types of bias. But the most notable among that affect UX designers are these:

• Confirmation bias
• False concencus bias
• Primacy bias
• Receny bias
• Implicit bias
 • Sunk-cost fallacy

Confirmation bias:
This occurs when you start looking for evidence to prove a hypothesis you have. Now this is a bias we all
have experienced. Think back to the time you had an argument with a colleague, then you had a quick
google search to back up your point. Now think about how you phrased the question. Because you think
you already know the answer, you ask questions that lead to the desired answer, and you’re drawn to
answers that prove your point.
Overcoming Confirmation bias:
• Ask open-ended questions
• Actively listening
• Include a large sample of users

False concensus bias:

This occurs when we overestimate the amount of people who will agree with us or our design which creates
a false concensus. It goes as far as believing anyone who doesn’t agree with is abnotmal. Now, take
sometime and think about times you’ve assumed that a lot of people would agree with you. It is a very big
bias in UX design and research.
Overcoming False concensus bias:
• Identifying and articulating your assumptions
• Survey large groups of people

Recency bias:
It is always easier to remember the most recent thing that has happened because it is very fresh in our
memory. In an interview, you’re more likely to remember things that the participant shared at the ending
of the interview, also, you might remember the most recent participant.
Overcoming Recency bias:
• Take detailed notes and recording
• Be consistent with your interviewing process.

Primacy bias:
This occurs when we remember the first or primary evnts in an interview. This is because the first always
makes a lasting impression. We even say, the first impression matters. However, in UX research, we want
to ensure that every detail of the interview is collected.
Overcoming Primacy bias:
• Take detailed notes and recording
• Be consistent with your interviewing process.
Implicit bias:
This is also known as unconscious bias. It refers to the collection of attitudes and stereotypes that we
associate with people without our concious knowledge. Implicit bias can cause serious damage as it might
make the UX researcher completely ignore a certain group or ask offensive questions during interviews.
Therefore, it is essential for the UX designer to try as much as possible to limit this bias and its effects.
Overcoming Implicit bias:
• Reflect on our own behaviors
• Ask others to point out implicit bias

Sunk cost fallacy:

This occurs when we believe that the deeper we get into a project we’ve invested in, the harder it is to
change course. This occurs in our everyday life too! Some students who hate the course they are studying
choose to remain in it because they have spent too much time and money on that course
Overcoming Sunk cost fallacy:
• Break down your project into smaller pieces
• Outline points where you can decide whether to stop or continue

NOTE: These are not all the biases in UX research, As a matter of fact, they are innumerable, it will
do you good to research about some other biases.
 Empathize

Empathy is immersing yourself into someone else's feelings and emotions, not just understanding it, but
experiencing it too. It is different from sympathy and pity. When we pity someone, we feel bad for them.
When we sympathizr with people, we understand their pain, but when we empathize with people, we
understand their pain and feel it! As earlier stated, the ability to empathize is a very useful skill for UX
designers. This is because we need to understand and feel the users’ pain in order to solve their problems
and represent their needs.
As we must remember, UX design isn’t about solving problems we ASSUME the users want solved. It’s
about solving the the problems that users ACTUALLY want solved. UX designers are normal human
beings and it is typical of human beings to make assumptions. However, as UX designers, it is essential
that we do not base our solutions on simply what we assume is right, but on what has been proven by the
users, to right.

Empathy Map

An empathy map is a chart that shows the four major categories when empathizing with a user.
They are what the user:

• Says
• Thinks
• Does
• Feels
In the first square, we document what the user says when using the app/during the interview. The does
square documents what the user does in the interview, We observe and document the user actions. In the
think square records what the user thinks. Of course this is not the easiest of the four. How do we know
what the user thinks. We document what we think the user thinks while using out product. We make use of
observation of facial expressions and other types of behavior to understand what the user thinks. In the last
square, we document what the user feels about the product. We do so by asking open ended questions and
documenting their expressed feelings.

User Pain Points:

These are issues that the user has while using a product. They are UX issues that frustrate the user and block
the user from getting what they need. It is essential that we identify the users’ pain points in order to build
useful products for them.
There are four categories of user pain points:

• Financial
• Product
• Process
• Support
NOTE: Read up the four categories of user pain points
 Personas

Personas are fictional characters whose goals and needs represents a large group of users. They are made
up characters that represent an entire user group. What is a user group then? A user group is a set of people
who have similar goals, interests and concerns. For example, in a savin platform, a user group could be
students and their goal is to save money at the beginning of the month to use towards the ending. Another
user group would be Business persons, they would most likely want to save to earn interests and reinvest.
Another user group would be almost retiring working class men, their goals would differ from the younger
ones because, now, they are saving for retirement.
When working with personas, we build personas for each user group. We give them real identities such as
a name, a short bio that includes their occupation, family, and so on.

Benefits of Personas

Building personas can be difficult, tasking and time consuming. However, its benefits overwhelm these
limitation. Below are some of the benefits of building personas:

• Build empathy
• Tell Stories
• Stress-test designs
 User Stories

The content in the yellow box in the diagram above is referred to as the user’s story. The user
story/scenario/user case is a fictional one-sentence story that is told to from a persona's pov to inspire and
inform deisgn decisions.
Advantages of User Stories:
• Priorotizes design goals
• Unite the team around a clear goal
• Inspire empathetic/ user-centric design decisions
• Personalize pitches to stakeholders

How to write User Story:

The formula of a user story is this: as a "type of user", I want to "action ", so that "benefit". In our example
of a saving platform, let’s assume Ada Terhemen is a persona that represent the user group of business
people, here is how her story would go: As a business person, I want to save money to reinvest in my
business

Happy Path
This is a user story with a happy ending. For this user, everything goes well and they reach their goal
without any issues. We always want users on the Happy path. This is the goal of UX research. However,
some unexpected issues that are out of the users control might occur. These are called Edge cases

Edge case
This is what happens when things go wrong that are beyond the user's control. For example, you have been
looking for an ecommerce store that sell things at a certain price. You finally found one and you’ve gotten
all you need, put in the cart and ready to deliver. However, the store only delivers to Europe and the
Americas, and when asked for a location for delivery, Nigeria doesn’t show up. This leaves the user
frustrated and the Happy path is cut short. As UX designers, we always ensure that we try to keep the user
on the Happy Path. Edge cases occur when something the UX designer didn’t plan for occurs and causes
the user to leave the Happy path.
Spotting & resolving edge cases:
Edge cases cannot be totally removed due tot the fact that there are so many undetermined variables.
However, our goal as UX designers is to reduce the occurrence of Edge cases and ensure most users stay
on the Happy path, and those that don’t would have their issues resolved. We spot and prevent the Edge
cases by:

• Create personas and user stories

• Thoroughly review the project before launch
• Use wireframes
 User Journey

User Journey is the series of experiences a user has as they interact with your product. They help you think
and feel like the user.

Journey Map

Is an illustration of what a user goes through to achieve their goal. It helps UX designers create obstacle
free paths for users. Imagine reading a book, if the Persona is the character, the user story is the plot and
the journey map is the story outline. A User journey map helps UX designers create obstacle free paths for
users.
Jamal comes from a town of five hundred people in rural Mississippi. He uses a wheel chair to get around,
and he’s visiting New York City for the very first time and he’s looking to go all the way to the top of the
empire state building. We need to identify the first task that the user needs to achieve, in this case, Jamal
needs to find a train that has wheel chair accessibility heading towards the empire state building. In this
cases, we will only consider the first task.

Creating a journey map:

• Highlight all the actions the user needs to take to take to arrive at their destination
• Add description for each action
• Add how the user feels or emotion as they move from tasks to tasks.
• Add opportunities for improvement
Benefits of User Journey Maps:
• It helps UX designers create obstacle free paths for users.
• Reduces the impact of designers bias
• It highlights new pain points
• Identify improvement opportunities.
 Consider a11y When Researching

Designing for accessibility can never be overstated in UX design. As a matter of fact, it is a key
responsibility for a UX designer to design for a11y. Designing for accessibility simply means designing
while being conscious of people who exists as a minority. Eg. people with disabilities. Even though they
are considered a minority, they still hold a large amount of population.
Deisgning for accessibilities for people with disabilities would mean designing for people with permenent,
temporary and situational disabilities. It is only proper to do this. As a UX designer, it is important that you
interact with people who use assistive technology, to better understand how they would use digital products.
You can also watch videos about how people with disabilities would use a product.

How a11y Benefits us all

The first curb cuts in the US was installed in 1945. A curb cut is a slope of the sidewalk that creates a ramp
with the adjoining street. It was created for people with walking disablilities to easily access and use the
sidewalks. Although it was designed for people with walking disabilities, it has and is still been used by
everyone. Imagine you’re walking and you’re focused on your phone, climbing the sidewalk without the
curb cut might make you trip.
The curb cut effect is a phenomenon in UX design that describes how products and policies designed for
people with disabilities often end up helping everyone. The curb cut has become a very popular example
of designing for a11y. A good example of the curb cut effect is the elevator. Now, think and look for designs
that were built for people with disabilities that end up helping us.
 Design

We’ve successfully moved from researching about the user, to empathizing and understanding the user.
Now, we will move to the second stage in UX design, which is the design phase. And contrary to what
might have popped up in your head, this isn’t where we come up with figma designs, that’s later on. Here,
we design and create the design problem
To start defining the design problem, we would need to synthesize everything we got from the empathize
stage.

Problem statement

A problem statement is a clear description of the user needs that should be addressed. They align the team
on which user problem to focus on. A good problem statement is:

• Human-centered
• Broad enough for creative freedom
• Narrow enough to be solved by a design

Problem statement can be created using this formula:

*user name* is a *user characteristics* who needs *user need* because *insight about the user*. For
example, with our saving app and our persona Ada Terhemen, a good problem statement would be: Ada
Terhemen is a Business Woman who needs to save because she is looking to reinvest in her business. When
create problem statements, we do so for each persona that exists.

Benefits of Using Problem Statement

• Establish goals
• Understand Constraints
• Define deliverables
• Create Benchmarks for success.

Hypothesis statement

This is the best educated guess on what we think the solution to the design problem might be. There is no
standard way of writing a hypothesis statement. In UX design, we write possible solutions to the problem
statement. Remember a hypothesis statement is an EDUCATED GUESS. That means to do it right, we
must have done some research to get educated and we must remember that it is a guess and might not be
what the user needs. There is no formula to writing a hypothesis statement, but, we make use of if-then
statements. If *action*, then *outcome*. A good hypothesis statement for our Persona - Ada Terhemen
would be if Ada downloads the App that helps her save, then she’ll be able to make investments and get
quick ROI. Another way would to write it like this: Ada needs an App that helps her save and gives her
quick and high ROI so that she can reinvest in her business.

Psychology in Design

In UX design, understanding Human behavior is essential. It is a very wide and deep field called UX
psychology. It involves understanding how users feel and react to various attributes of our design. A very
important part of UX psychology is the Human factor. This refers to the range of variables humans bring
to their product interaction.

Common Human Factors That Inform Design

The following are some human factors that helps us to understand what the user might be feeling while
using our product.

• Impatience,
• Limited Memory
• Making Errors
• Fears
• Misjudgement
• Needing motivation
• Needing analogies
• Limited concentration
• Changing in needs
A lot of these are negative emotios, however, the user can be overly motivated, enthusiastic and as a result,
make errors and end up frustrated. We must understand that some many things affects the user and as such,
we should design considering as many of these things.
An example of a how the human factor affects design: In most banking applications. It is common practice
to log the user out after some time of inactivity to promote security. However, the user might be in the
process of transferring assets or funds and waiting for the recipient to send their account details, he or she
could have just been distracted or suffer from some condition, all of these are human factors that are brought
in as the user interacts with our product.
In anticipation of this, the UX designer might think ahead and create some sort of alert to remind the user
that they would log out if they remain inactive for too long, in that case, the user knows to simply tap the
screen or move their mouse in order to remain logged in.
Although the human factor is very essential, it is often difficult to understand and design for. How are you
expected to know that the user had a bad day at work and because of that they are frustrated and have
limited concentration. Here are things that'll help us consider the human factor in our design:
 • Mental models are internal maps that helps humans predict how something will work.
• Feedback loop: the outcome the user gets at the end of a process
NOTE: Read up on these two.

Psychological Phenomena

Psychology phenomena are simply common things that are manifested in human behavior. For instance, a
research carried out on Olympic games shows that human beings prefer the color red over blue. For one-
on-one combat style competitions like boxing or wrestling, Olympic rules randomly gives one athlete the
red uniform and another the blue uniform. It was discovered that in most cases, the competitor in the red
uniform won over the other. The study then attributed their findings to the human tendency to associate
blue to calm and peace and red to violent and domineering.
Below are some psychological phenomena that are useful in UX design:

• The Von Restorff effect (Isolation Effect): this states that when similar objects are presents, the one
that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered.
• Serial Position Effect: When people are given a list of items, they tend to remember the first few
and last few items, while the rest tend to blur out.
• Hick's Law: The more options a user has, the longer it takes for them to take a decision

NOTE: Check out CTA

 Ideate

Ideate is the third phase of the UX design process. It involves coming up with feasible solutions to the user
problems. It feeds on output from the design phase and feeds its output to the prototype phase. The process
of coming up with ideas is known as ideation.

Ideation

Ideation is the process of generating a broad set of ideas on a given topic, with no attempt to judge or
evaluate them. Ideation is the phase where we come up with lots of ideas to solve a specific problem
statement. The goal here is to focus the number of ideas and not the quality of the ideas. We try as much as
possible to come up with numerous ideas, including those that seem obnoxious. We do not evaluate the
idea until the end of the ideation process. The truth about ideas and solving users problems is that the user
might not be aware of what they need. Take an instance, before smart phones were invented, people thought
they needed smaller phones, but smart phones were the exact opposite of that and see how people jumped
on the idea.

Things to consider during ideation:

• Brainstorm out loud

• Document all ideas
• Focus on quantity
• Do not allow evalutaion
• Gather a diverse team
• Question the obvious
• Evaluate the idea

How to evaluate ideas:

• Is it feasible
• Is it desirable: best idea for the user problem
• is it viable: Financially beneficial for the business

Why we come up with lots of ideas:

• List of ideas is narrowed based on constraints

• Need to focus on equity
• Let users test the ideas

As we ideate it is important to have the business identity included. Two apps for the same purpose would
look and feel different because of the tone and voice of the design.
 Competitive Audit

It is an overview of your competitors' strengths and weakness. Here, we look at other businesses that render
similar services to a similar set of users. The goal is to learn from their successes and failures and improve

What We Learn from Competitve Audit

The following are things we learn after a proper competitive audit

• Identifying your key competitors

• Reviewing the products that your competitors offers
• Understanding how your competitors position themselves in the market.
• Examining what your competition does well and what they could do better.
• Considering how your competitors talk about themselves.

We include direct and indirect competitors in competitive audits. Direct competitors offers similar products
and service to the same audience as you. Indirect competitors either have a similar set of offerings but focus
on a different audience or have a different set of offering but focus on the same audience. A clear example
of direct and indirect competitors is in a cereal company. If we own the Golden Morn cereal, then, any form
of cornflakes would be direct competition. This is because the service been offered is food and the end
users are children, but Kellogs fruit and fibers which was developed for adults is an indirect competition.

Benefits of Competitive Audits:

The following are benefits of competitive audits:

• Inform your design process

• Solve usability problems
• Reveal gaps in the market
• Provide reliable evidence

Limitations of Competitive Audits

Below are some limitations of competitive audits:

• It stifle's creativity
• Depend on how well interpret the findings
• Not all designs work in all use cases
 • Need to be done regularly

Steps to Take When Conducting a Competitve Audit.

• Outline the goals

• Create a spreadsheet with a list of your competitors
• Call out the specific features you want to compare
• Research each company
• Analyze your findings
• Summarize findings in a report

Ideation Processes

These refer to some activities that helps us to come up with lots of ideas. Here, we perform several activities
to look for lots of solutions before evaluating them. There are a lot of Ideation processes and there isn’t a
best one, however, based on preference and the job requirement, we might use one over the other. Two of
the most popular ideation processes are the How Might We excercie and Crazy Eight sketches,

How might We

How might we is a design thinkin activity that helps us translate problems into possible
benefits/opportunities. How means we explore a bunch of ideas. Might means that we know our ideas are
just possible solutions. We siginifies collaborative efforts. The question in the how might we must be
specific enough to solve the user needs, but broad enough to allow innovation.

Ways to create a How Might We phrase:

• Amp up the good.
• Explore the opposite.
• Change a status quo.
• Break the point-of-view into pieces.

Sketching - Crazy Eight

This is a sketching method that helps to come up with lots of design by sketching. We come uo with eight
designs in eight minutes. Each design taking a minute. Feedback is very important.

NOTE: Read up and practice both ideation processes and learn about some others.