1. User research
Before any design is made, we need knowledge about the users. We start our process by meeting the users and learning about their thinking and behavior through user research. This can be interviews, questionnaires, user observations, or we test the existing system to see how the current experience is. This leads to the creation of personas, which is typical user types described as real people with personal motivation, goals, preferences, and skills. The processes are documented in key scenarios, which describe the typical behavior from the users perspective. 

2. Ideas & sketches
When the knowledge about the users and the processes is in place, we start generating ideas for the design. We do brainstorm sessions involving the product team and other stakeholders. Innovation comes out of thinking about the product in new ways, that might seem silly and impossible at first, so we try to come up with as many ideas as possible. The best ideas are identified and further explored and we end up with an idea catalog to be in the design phase. 

3. Interaction design
For each key scenario we create one or more designs that shows the user experience for each step in the process - we call this storyboarding. We discuss the design with the product team, management, and users, and figure out what works and what doesn’t. For each step we ask ourselves how the personas would understand this, and if it fits their needs and qualifications. Then we do storyboarding again, and we continue to iterate until we have the right design in place. A design process typically consists of 3 to 5 iterations. In the end, the visual design is created.

4. Usability testing

Usability testing can be done at any step in the user-centered design process, and should be done as early as possible. If we wait to the design is almost done, it is difficult to change anything but superficial details. We use the classic usability test method, also known as the “think-aloud test”, where a user is asked to perform a series of tasks using a prototype without getting any help from the facilitator. The test is documented in a report, and after each test it is decided which parts of the design that needs to be reworked.

5. Specification
The final design is documented in detail, so the development team can start building it. We deliver a complete design specification containing a visual representation of all screens, a style guide, as well as a description of the interaction design and user interface guidelines.