11 Test, validate, iterate

If we go back to chapter 4 on research in the user experience stage, we discussed how the design process is iterative. The chapter focused on the iterative process within the early stages of a design before mock-ups are refined into the pixel-perfect designs that you, as a developer, will turn into a live website. You were focused on working out the different user flows to complete tasks. This early testing is important and can be done with lower-fidelity designs.

However, early in the design process isn’t the only time to conduct testing. Testing after designs are pixel perfect or nearly complete is just as important. What you should focus on with later testing depends on where you are in the iterative design process and what you’re trying to achieve from your test results.

11.1 The cycle of design

Like the entire project cycle, testing the design process should involve designers, developers, and your product manager, who will define what analytics need to be tracked to draw customer insights. If you are working solo throughout the entire design and development process, you’ll want to implement analytics on the pages users are visiting and actions in their user flows to figure out how they are using your product.

11.1.1 Replacing an existing design

11.1.2 Minimum viable product

11.1.3 When is a design good enough to start testing?

11.2 Types of testing

11.2.1 Customer interviews

11.2.2 Testing in a production environment

11.2.3 A/B testing

11.2.4 Staged rollouts

11.2.5 Initial user research methods

11.3 Applying the results of testing

Summary