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Design Challenge Cheat Sheet

Hello and thank you for downloading the design challenge cheat sheet!

I created this cheat sheet to help you jump right in to doing a design challenge, so you have no excuses
not to start today!

That said, it doesn’t mean that this process will work for every user experience problem out there. It’s a
system that I’ve built from different schools of product thinking that have worked for me and my own
experience working as an UX designer over the years.

I hope it can help you discover and evolve your own design process, and have a ton of fun while getting
better as a designer!

Cheers,

Yachin

Example Challenge:

Have you ever tried to take a short nap on the train only to wake up and find yourself at
the end of the line? How can you help passengers wake up just before the train arrives at
their station?

Specify End User

1
Read the brief and identify the end user. If the end user definition is too broad in
the brief, narrow it down with demographic information (ex. age range,
employment status, education … etc.) or psychographic information (ex. activities
and interests, preferred lifestyle, social class … etc.)

Passengers

Commuters who take the metro to and from work

Create Job Story

2
Create a job story based on Jobs To Be Done Job Story formula. Fill in the blank
with what we know from the brief and the end user.

When I want to So I can

Situation Motivation Expected Outcome

When I take a nap on the train during my commute, I want to

wake up when my stop is arriving, so I can get to work or go
home on time.

Create Quick Proto-Persona

3
Create a quick proto-persona based on what you know about this type of user.
Include demographic, goal and behaviors.

Stacey
34, Marketing manager in corporation, has 2 young kids

Goal
Take a power nap while commuting so she has more
energy for work or after work activities.

Behaviors
Busy, tech savvy, staying up late sometimes

Risk: the persona information is unvalidated. It is okay to use for the

short, 45-minute design challenge session for quick brainstorming
purposes. For the 8-hour challenge session, do online research or
guerrilla user testing to find out more about the users and their
behaviors.

List and Rate Desired Outcomes

4
List the desired outcomes that the end user would like to have if there was a
solution that helps.

Wake up on time at the right stop

Wake up on time when there’s a delay or other metro issues

Wake up without disturbing other riders

Solution is easy to set up

Solution can work underground, when there’s no connection

Solution automatically turns on during commute

Rate the importance of each outcome on a scale of 1-10 .

Importance (1-10)

10 Wake up on time at the right stop

10 Wake up on time when there’s a delay or other metro issues

7 Wake up without disturbing other riders

8 Solution is easy to set up

10 Solution can work underground, when there’s no connection

6 Solution automatically turns on during commute

Rate the satisfaction of the outcome with an existing solution on a scale of 1-10 .
For example, we’re supposing that Stacey is currently using a standard alarm on
her phone to wake her up.

Importance (1-10) Current Satisfaction (1-10)

10 Wake up on time at the right stop 8

10 Wake up on time when there’s a delay or other metro issues 2

7 Wake up without disturbing other riders 10

8 Solution is easy to set up 8

10 Solution can work underground, when there’s no connection 10

6 Solution automatically turns on during commute 1

Calculate the Opportunity Score by subtracting Importance score with current

Satisfaction score.

Importance - Current Satisfaction = Opportunity

Opportunity

2 Wake up on time at the right stop

8 Wake up on time when there’s a delay or other metro issues

3 Wake up without disturbing other riders

0 Solution is easy to set up

0 Solution can work underground, when there’s no connection

5 Solution automatically turns on during commute

Our design solution should strive to achieve the outcomes that have a high
opportunity score so to outperform current solutions.

The outcomes that are highly important but are already satisfied are baseline
outcomes that users would expect from our solution.

Opportunity Baseline

Wake up on time at the right stop

Wake up on time when there’s a delay or other metro issues

Wake up without disturbing other riders

Solution is easy to set up

Solution can work underground, when there’s no connection

Solution automatically turns on during commute

Risk: the importance score and current satisfaction scores are

unvalidated. It is okay to use for the short, 45-minute design
challenge session for quick brainstorming purposes. For the 8-hour
challenge session, do competitive research and user interviews to
find out more about their pain points and needs.

Brainstorm Design Solutions

5
Brainstorm design solutions that would produce the outcomes that the users
desire. Prioritize the opportunities while keeping the baseline functionalities in
mind.

Consider different kinds of interfaces that the user may benefit from, such as
voice, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, chatbot, wearables etc.

Metro Alarm App

Wake up user when their destination is arriving

Syncs with the metro system

Commute detection

Runs in background

Works offline

Easily set up work, home and other destinations

Success Metrics
6
Besides conventional digital product metrics, we can also measure the success of
this product by how well it achieves the user’s desired outcomes.

Number of successful wake up calls (alarm trigger coordinated with GPS

location and metro data)

User reviews of the app

App user engagement such as installs, active usage and uninstalls

Amount of time it takes from install to set up

Storyboard
7
Quickly visualize the story of how the persona uses the product. Use rough
sketches to convey overall concepts for the 45-minute challenge session. For an 8-
hour challenge session, you can go back and refine your sketches.

User Flow
8
Using the storyboard as a reference, sketch or write down the key flow that the
user goes through when using the product.

Allow GPS Select metro Select work &

Start tracking system home
destinations

Triggers when
View map destination is
near

Sketches
9
Using the user flow as a reference, quickly visualize core features of the product
with sketches.

Wireframes
10
Using the sketches as a reference, illustrate the interface on different screens with
more details using pen and paper. For an 8-hour challenge session, you can jump
into your preferred design tool and make the wireframes more polished.

Visual Design
11
There is usually not enough time to work on visual design during a 45-minute
challenge session. For an 8-hour session, use a design tool of your choice to
produce high fidelity visual designs for your design solution. Make sure to take
into account branding, typography, iconography, colors and other visual elements
that impact user experience.

Prototype
12
Simulate the interactions and micro-interactions of your design solution by
creating a prototype. It’s always exciting to see a clickable prototype or an
animation at the end of a case study.

Risk: will your idea survive in the real world? It may feel like you’ve got
a perfect solution and your job is done, but in fact, it just got started!
Reach out to real users and test your prototype, or develop a
minimal viable product (MVP) and launch it into the world. This
demonstrates initiative, truth finding and product thinking that employers
love to see when they’re hiring designers.

Need help with any of these?

Just email me! [email protected]
uxchallenge.co