{"id":12699,"date":"2016-02-25T17:59:02","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T01:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/?p=12699"},"modified":"2020-04-22T06:37:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T13:37:08","slug":"guide-your-design-with-a-1-page-ux-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/blog\/guide-your-design-with-a-1-page-ux-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide Your Design With a 1-Page UX Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

User experience is a strategic exercise.<\/p>\n

As in, a planning<\/em> exercise. A strategy is a plan. You can\u2019t design<\/em> how a person reacts to a product, what baggage they bring along with them on a given day, their biases, but you can plan for what you\u2019d like to have happen.<\/p>\n

You can influence<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Doing even that much is no small art. It requires becoming a person who leads the process rather than one who does whatever the stakeholders demand. It requires doing your research. And then it requires developing a strategy (based on all the research you did at the beginning of the project). And making design decisions based on it. And making sure everyone sticks to it.<\/p>\n

The best way to get there is to document it.<\/p>\n

The 1-page strategy doc is the most useful tool of all time. If you\u2019re not taking the time to create them, odds are, you\u2019re having a tough time getting your best work out the door.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to create one, why you do so before you lay down a single pixel, and what you do with it when you\u2019re done.<\/p>\n

The Elements of UX Strategy<\/h2>\n

As explained in the free\u00a0Field Guide to UX Strategy<\/a>, the first step is to take out your notepad and pencil.<\/p>\n

Yes, a notepad, because the second you go digital, everyone\u2019s a critic. And yes, a pencil, because here will be multiple drafts.<\/p>\n

Also, writing by hand makes you think differently. It slows you down, makes the words matter more (because you don\u2019t want the effort of writing them to be wasted), and makes the things you write more memorable for you. And if you need anything during a design process, it\u2019s an intensely held view of your strategy.<\/p>\n

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But don\u2019t worry. You won\u2019t be writing much. Strategy docs should be concise. Hand over a 70-page strategy doc and you\u2019ll be the only person who ever reads it. Mine are rarely longer than what would fit on two sides of a single sheet of paper.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the sections you put on the paper.<\/p>\n

Vision<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s not a mission statement. It\u2019s a vision<\/em> statement. It\u2019s a few overarching sentences about what you want the product to be.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a modified version of a vision statement from a project I worked on recently:<\/p>\n

\u201cAcme teaches site visitors about health insurance, encourages them to provide the information we need to give them a quote, and then helps those users through the screening process. The website\u2019s goal is to not only get the attention of potential customers, but to also earn their trust. Once they apply, one of Acme\u2019s agents guides them through the process.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Note that this defines the scope and purpose of the product without getting specific about how the purpose will be achieved. This is what you want from a good vision statement. It describes the intent<\/em> rather than the execution.<\/p>\n

Circumstances of Use<\/h3>\n

Next up is the who, what, when, where, and why of the product.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been a fan of traditional personas because they\u2019re heavy on fluff and light on action. It doesn\u2019t matter so much who<\/em> the users are as what they\u2019re doing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A library staff, for example, can be composed of very different kinds of people at different levels of tech comfort, all of whom need to use the same information systems.<\/p>\n

Rather than tell a nice story about Jenny and her 2.5 kids and her nursing career, lay out on what circumstances hold true when a user encounters your product.<\/p>\n

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