6 Important Questions Before Designing

Asking the appropriate questions before starting a design is key and it will lead to a better understanding of the fundamental needs for the direction you want your design to take. That said, I will list out my 6 go-to questions below.

1. What is the main goal?

Establish the purpose of the product.

• What are we trying to achieve here?
• What is the main benefit for the users and why would they use it?

2. What problem are we solving?

A problem well stated, is a problem half solved.

• What’s the problem and what are the main pain points?
• What external/internal factors are affecting the problem?
• What competitors are solving the same kind of problem and what can we learn from them?

3. Who are we designing for?

Create personas, and build something for them.

• How do they discover information?
• What motivates them to take action?
• What are their desires and troubles when using the product?

*Persona: A fictional character created to represent a user type that might use a site, brand, or product on a similar way.

4. What will they be expecting?

Know why they are opening your product.

Once a user arrives on your site, or starts using your product:

• What are they hoping to find?
• What information are they looking for and what do they want to accomplish with it?

5. What is the experience?

Identify the kind of experience you’re designing.

We are always designing experiences, so create a hypothetical scenario with 4 main elements:

• Who is the character?
• What problems he has?
• What are his goals?
• When does he plan to use our product?

6. What does a successful product look like?

Understand what you are aiming for.

• What are the business goals?
• What is the ideal scenario?
• What are the short/long term goals?
• How will you measure success qualitatively and quantitatively?