Moving into the Pilot Phase and building upon research and strategy, I look deeper and collectively at the visible and invisible processes, structures, technologies and people which help drive and deliver an overall brand and product experience.

I identify these via mapping consumer journeys, crafting value flows, defining the service blueprint, mapping and evolving a brand’s ecosystem. Next, I expand upon the opportunity spaces initially identified.

I use the service blueprint to identify and map all enabling data, technologies, partners, people and processes required to bring a future product or service vision to life. This is a high-level visual overview which seeks to identify dependencies and connect all touchpoints to track the (product) MVP.

Beyond identifying key services within the brand ecosystem, I work to expand upon the opportunities areas as well.

Collectively these processes and deliverables help me to shift into more of a systems thinker, aligning consumer needs with business goals. They help me resolve challenges, operational inefficiencies and clarify a meaningful and ultimately a profitable way forward.

Continuing along the Pilot Phase and building off Service Design, I leverage experience design to define and build digital experiences, upon the strategy and service design insights gleaned. This is the aspect of my work which is more concerned with physical and interactive experiences.

In this function I am particularly responsible for advocating for the solution as well as understanding problems and needs from the lens of the consumer. This consumer is initially identified in the Research Phase and typically evolves into a key persona or archetype.

Next I audit the existing product experience. For this I map the current (web, app or embedded product) state to gain a comprehensive overview. This helps inform the design, structure and opportunities of a possible future version(s) which I explore in the product design phase.

And when looking further and planning for the scale phase, I socialize the RoX (or Return on Experience) topic. This involves planning and development of a robust analytics foundation within a web, app or product experience. One which allows me to continually cluster consumer data in meaningful ways.

I use this data to identify key levers which enable me to methodically and efficiently evolve the experience. The goal is to accurately reach the clients’ targets while simultaneously measuring the impact of every investment; thereby allowing me to connect investment with growth.

Staying in the Pilot Phase and building off of the knowledge acquired through the service and experience design work, I drive product design.

My initial concerns of connecting the digital and physical experiences (mentioned in the experience design phase) now go much deeper. Here I really dig into the design details. I work to visualize the core experience while also defining how the potential solution scales across various web, app and product applications.

To drive the product design phase I start initially with wireframe development, supported by user-testing. Wireframes and testing inform the interactive prototypes which I use for further testing and feedback.

Once the core or base design solution is established and stabilized, I adapt it to each platform required. This process of adaptation also informs the development of a universal design library. And to be mindful not to design in a silo, I seek feedback from engineering. This helps me to ground the solution(s) I propose in reality. Lean documentation, UX QA, and A/B testing help to further ensure product design success. Ultimately this sets us up for success in the Scale Phase.