Research

See how others solve similar problems and try to not reinvent the wheel. Read more about Competitive Analysis: Understanding the Market Context

Do you have all the useful data you need? Try to have a look at funnels, clicks, page views, performances... Read more about Three Uses for Analytics in User-Experience Practice

Always speak with Customer Care team! Don't have one? Check your old surveys or videos, what your customer says? What do they actually do? Read more about An introduction to user research techniques

Plan

Have you done personas yet? If not DO IT NOW. Ok, now use them to write down user stories and scenarios. Read more about How to Tell the User’s Stor

Create your user's flow based on the scenarios you created, you can use it later to review the journey and create wireframes on top of each step. Read more about A shorthand for designing UI flows

Define red routes for your product and you’ll be able to identify, prioritise and eliminate any usability obstacles on key user journeys. Read more about How red routes can help you take charge of your product backlog

Explore

Find a war room, fill it with markers and drinks, get together and sketch, discuss, vote, disrupt, have fun! Read more about Gamestorming

Add some details and structure to your ideas, reuse patterns and create pages on top of your user flows so you'll not leave anything behind. Read more about The Guide to Wireframing

You can start creating paper prototypes and continuously iterate to more functional ones. Use sketches, HTML pages or static images, then just get some people and test. Read more about Prototyping Tools

Communicate

Understand your users, your data structure and your channels. How can you organise your navigation and content in a clear and consistent way? Read more about The Discipline of Content Strategy

Follow your brand personality, keep in mind users' culture and language, the context of your product and make sure they understand you. Read more about Translation is UX

You don’t need to add extra functionality or to duplicate any content. The key is simply to assess the requirements of those with different skills and limited devices. Read more about GOV.UK Accessibility

Help the planet by reducing the resources you use, reinforce greener behaviours and promote sustainability best practices. Yes, your product can do that! Read more about Product Design for Sustainability

Move fast and break things! What about slow down and make sure your product is secure, private, honest? Be considerate when you design and follow good ethics. Read more about The State of Ethics in Design

Remember that everything you design is skewed by your own view and background. Be sure to open your design process to remove your biases and design for everyone. Read more about How design can help with inclusion

Create

Reuse elements and patterns. Follow your style guidelines. Don't have any? Create your guidelines. Start small, then create pages. Read more about styleguides.io

So you have a swipe slider? Tell me more about pinch, drag, zoom, rotate, shake, six-inch smartphones, left-handed people, mouseover, kinect, motion detection... Read more about Beyond The Button: Embracing The Gesture-Driven Interface

Can I see it on my mobile? Oh wait, what about my smart-watch which works as a remote for my 50" TV. Bonus: remember cross device experience. Read more about Create a Better Responsive User Experience

Give feedback

If your users have to wait ages for the page to load, at least show them a loader. If take longer why don't you try something more entertaining? Read more about 3 Tips To Make Your Application Feel Faster

Be clear and specific on what and where user's error is. I mean, your error, because if it's your fault you should say it. Read more about Failing Gracefully

Give immediate and clear feedback of successful user's actions. Do not always wait for server response, trust your server once in a while! Read more about Performing Actions Optimistically

Finalise

It's time to let your design shine, make it in the right way, don't stop with the first solution, always ask "is this the best you can do?" Read more about Visual Design Basics

Use of icons and images is strongly influenced by context, culture and layout that you use. Like icons, test your images, small changes can bring huge improvements. Read more about Icon Usability

Use colours and font sizes properly, try to follow your guidelines and keep it simple. The best visual hierarchies lead users to take the action confidently. Read more about Visual hierarchy

Delight

Every word is important, and a bit of personality will help your brand. Read more about The Personality Layer

Trigger, rules, feedback, loop. Details make the product. Bonus: Ever heard about easter eggs? Read more about What is a microinteraction

Motion shouldn't be only beautiful, it should build meaning about the spatial relationships, functionality, and intention of the system. Read more about Material Design Authentic motion

Analyse

What you want to achieve? What are your goals? Write down how you define success and failure and check if you have everything you need to collect the data. Read more about How to Choose the Right UX Metrics for Your Product

Plan your AB test ahead and, if you can, plan a short roadmap of improvements. Your goal is not just improving KPIs, but learning something. Read more about Craig Sullivan, an industry expert on conversion optimisation

UX lab, survey, sessions recording... test, observe and fix, test, observe and fix... Read more about When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods