1. Strategise
Begin with a thought.
Although it seems easy enough to jump straight into the design phase, it's important to first consider why.
Without knowing the why, the project can drag on for months with no clear direction of where it's headed.
WHO AM I?
A Designer for the Future.
Making Interactions Simpler.
I'm Liam Barr; an interactive, future thinking designer and developer. My aim is to build products that could be picked up, used, and maintained by my grandparents AND future grandchildren.
I’m all for going a little nuts in design - who doesn’t enjoy experimenting? - but at the end of the day, there's no point building a product that only one person can maintain after hours of training.
I ensure that users know how to interact with my designs. I adhere to a four-stage process on every project I work on, regardless of the time constraints or budget. I take this approach to every stage of my development:
Simplicity. As much of it as possible.
HOW I WORK
My Process
My end goal is to simplify any project I work on. Rather ironically, that means my process can actually seem quite complex.
2. Design
Time to solve.
I consider this stage the fun one, as this is where I begin to answer the what.
What will the project look like, feel like. What will the user experience when using the product.
3. Development
Bringing it together.
This is usually the stage where I'm drinking countless coffee and staying up until 5am to work out the how.
The most challenging part, figuring out how to piece the design together in a way that works simply and flawlessly.
4. Iterate
Where'd it break?
To keep with the 5W1H (5 W's & 1 H) analogy, this stage represents the where.
This phase aims to work out where the project isn't working and where we ought to pivot.