{"id":24218,"date":"2021-04-07T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/?p=24218"},"modified":"2024-06-04T22:21:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T05:21:05","slug":"collaborative-design-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/blog\/collaborative-design-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Encourage collaborative design to build better products"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"What<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Design is a process. An intimate collaboration between engineers, designers, and clients,” <\/em>\u2014 Henry Dreyfuss<\/em><\/a>, design pioneer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaborative design has helped people make some of the greatest products in modern history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Gates and Paul Allen collaborated to build Microsoft, the world\u2019s largest software company and Windows innovator. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak needed each other\u2019s collective talents to found and grow Apple. Ben and Jerry made some of the world\u2019s best ice cream by sharing ideas and working side-by-side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the MacBook to cookie dough ice cream, collaborative design has proven itself a successful approach to product development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can build better products by encouraging collaboration that draws from your team\u2019s collective talents and refines decent concepts into excellent designs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some UX\/UI designers prefer working alone, so they don\u2019t want to participate in cross-teams collaboration until they have concrete concepts that they love. Despite reluctance from some team members, a culture of collaboration results in better product outcomes. Minds mesh, ideas flow, and designers share a common goal: excellent, intuitive designs that make users feel comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some tips to help you add a collaborative design process to your team\u2019s workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1. Set shared goals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UX design involves multiple processes, from brainstorming to testing, requiring various team members at all times. But not all these team members agree or share the same common goal. UX designers often work in silos \u2014 researchers research, designers design, and testers test. This segmented approach prevents a collaborative design process and blocks communication between people who can build on each other\u2019s ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Setting shared goals helps solve this issue by making more people aware of the individual tasks and overall purpose of the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting shared goals \u2014 and communicating these goals properly \u2014 gives team members a clear focus and direction. Everyone knows who’s doing what, how, and when. Team members know what you want to achieve, and you know what they expect you to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shared goals don\u2019t always demolish silos, but they do add windows that let team members see the bigger picture. While communicating these shared goals it\u2019s also best to let members of other parts of the product team have a seat at the table to improve the communication flow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2. Invest in collaborative tools<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Team members often work in isolation because they use different tools. Design processes become fragmented, resulting in poor design. Imagine if you could centralize your entire UX\/UI project with one tool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UXPin Merge lets everyone collaborate on the same project, designing from one source of truth<\/a>. Create design systems with pattern libraries, style guides, and libraries that give everyone access to approved assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing a collaborative tool like UXPin with Merge technology<\/a> also helps prevent software bloat that can contribute to inconsistencies in design and functionality. Merge lets your team approach projects from design and code-ba<\/a>sed perspectives to give you a straightforward, uncluttered way to create responsive prototypes that are almost production-ready! It\u2019s possible thanks to using coded components that cut down the whole product development process including designing and coding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collaborative design process becomes much easier when everyone from designers to developers can use the same tool to reach a common goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3. Communicate better<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UX\/UI teams underestimate the power of communication, especially with larger teams. Not articulating design thoughts, ideas, and processes could render an entire project useless from the start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Communication failures in UX\/UI manifest themselves in various ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A developer who receives the wireframes may assemble detailed feedback on missing functionality, not knowing that the functionality is beyond the scope of the deliverable,” says the User Experience Professionals Association<\/a>. “The result is frustration about a seemingly incompetent usability professional who doesn\u2019t understand what the system is about, and additional frustration when the developer learns that the feedback was in vain because it was way too early for scrutinizing wireframes on that level.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you improve communication in a way that encourages collaborative design? Try:<\/p>\n\n\n\n