You can’t read the label from inside the jar. Often my clients can’t effectively identify or solve their own problems because they are too close to them. My goal is to provide objective evaluations on the best possible strategy to solve my client's problem by using design.
The result of the “Design Audit”: I provide my client with multiple strategic plans on how we can achieve their business goals integrating design in their organization's process in the most effective way.
Based on the definition of my client's company's vision and business goals I provide them with an evaluation of their product in factors relevant to its market success:
User and customer feedback: how does the product perform with its users? What stops my client's buyers from buying the product?
User experience: does the product provide sufficient user guidance and how consistent is the experience?
Design system analysis: how scalable is the product's design system?
Brand recognition in the product: how strongly can my client's unique brand identity be perceived by users when using the product?
Differentiation from competition: does the product achieve a clear standing for my client on the market by offering unique functions, user experience or visual differentiation?
Based on this evaluation I provide design strategies that merit from proven design methods and industry best practices.
Innovation Consulting
I help my clients identify potentials, improvement opportunities and challenges of their upcoming digital product in co-creation sessions with their stakeholders.
We cover user journeys, competitive analysis, trend and technology research (to integrate valuable learnings from other industries and about future user expectations). I provide a product vision to define long-term development milestones and a UX & visual design vision to define design milestones of the project.
Design Management
My goal is to to enhance collaboration and synergy between design and business to improve design effectiveness. I can free my client's team from a substantial work load by structuring parts of the development process for them and help to achieve alignment in their team.
Depending on the orghanization’s needs my services can range from working closely with my client's project managers (supporting them with information and advice regarding the design to assist them making decisions about priorities and roadmap milestones) to helping them plan a design centered product development process.
UX Concept & Information Architecture
I help to keep the cognitive load of my client's users as low as possible, especially in stressful and safety-relevant work environments. The product I design will fullfill the functional and emotional needs of their users, with an outstanding usability.
As I put user needs in focus of my efforts user research is essential in our cooperation. I also conduct context analysis to count with the industry-specific challenges and potentials.
I provide my clients with a mental model as the basis of their product and a fit for purpose operating concept. My clients recieve a well structured and documented product information architecture.
I hand over detailed user flows and pay special attention to alarm concepts and device-specific operating elements.
Visual Design & Branded Interaction
I provide my clients with a visual design that contributes to the clarity, usefulness and usability of their product. Their users functional and emotional needs are my priority while I adapt the appearance to the industry-specific expectations and user groups. Since their users interact with your brand through your product, I give the product a unique and emotional look that fits their corporate design and with the values of their brand.
I create a consistent design language based on a set of rules and principles that govern all UI components and patterns that map the information hierarchy visually. My clients will recieve a style guide involving the grid system, use of colors, typography, iconography, interactions, animations.
I pay special attention to a color concept regarding accessibility, a signaling concept for alarm levels, and information, data and process visualization.
Design System & Style Guides
With a consistent design system, my clients can increase their team's productivity and the value they deliver to their users.
To create this one source of truth, I will document the product's design language so that my client's team can build a living system that is scalable and maintainable without long-term dependence on me or on other service providers. My goal is to provide my clients with a collection of reusable components that can be assembled into any number of applications.
Implementation Support & Quality Assurance
Depending on the needs of my client's development team I provide a detailed documentation of the design system in Figma, Sketch or InVison.
I am available for regular Q&As with developers and I provide quaility assurance rounds until the implementation is finished. If required I create improvements and complementary designs.
As exciting as it is to develop a new product, my clients are under pressure to create value and innovation. Long development times mean they might be worried about the return on their investment.
Using proven design methods, I can help my clients bring everyone to the table and facilitate conversation among stakeholders to create alignment. Whether we develop an embedded device interface, a web software for all touchpoints or a native mobile app I help my clients integrate design into their internal processes.
To save my clients resources in the development phase and ensure customer satisfaction upon product launch we test product ideas before my clients invest in them using low and high fidelity prototypes.
In the visual design phase, I make sure the product speaks the same language as their brand. I provide a design language that is timeless, clear and appropriate for my clients' context and their users. Regardless of the context I help them provide their users with an emotional user experience.
My clients recieve a modular and scalable design system, granting them independence in the further product development. I make sure the development team has everything they need until product launch and beyond.
In the product vision and UX design phases I invite my clients to co-create to harness their team's knowledge of the user, context, technological constraints, brand equity, regulations and their company's business goals.
I provide them with well-crafted user flows and information architecture that are based on a clear mental model.
This package is for when
- my client's product shows inconsistencies - my client is getting complaints from users
-or their product is simply not as good as it has the potential to be.
Whether structural or visual improvements it can be challenging to improve a complex running system.
My clients need to meet user expectations, and the sheer scope of the product can be overwhelming. It's also important to respect what exists to preserve the value the client team has created over the years.
To ensure a smooth and slightly less painful start, I recommend a diagnostic phase: the Design Audit. Together we determine a roadmap: the key improvements, the milestones we will achieve, and the value each stakeholder can deliver in the process.
We work on solutions that respect the existing value of my clients' product and improve the rest. I hand over a system that is consistent, easy to use regardless of complexity, visually coherent and has a high aesthetic value.
This package is for when
- my clients have a good design system in place with carefully crafted user experience but they would like to expend it
- my clients' prospective client needs a new feature to buy their product
- the user feedback shows that some functions are missing for an optimal user experience.
I help my clients to create the fitting solutions based on user feedback as well as to test variants in prototype form to save resources and ensure quality. I expend the product design on a way that the new parts integrate seamlessly in the running system.
I support the development team with a fit for purpose documentation and implementation support until product launch and beyond.
To get founding for an idea or a prototype product requires my clients to be able to make their idea tangible to their investors. I can help them to get their product in shape with a compelling design which communicates their vision and the value it carries.
I advise startups to the necessary steps making their product and corporate appereance speak the same language and leave a lasting impression.
If a startups is already past this stage they might want to look at Package 2 and 3.
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2022
Zorica Kosztelnik. All rights reserved.
