Everything we know as a product design studio about how to leverage user centered design for your startup
Why do some products make it, and others don’t?
Well, here’s a hard pill to swallow – too many founders obsess over their vision instead of relentlessly pursuing what their users really want and need.
And as human-first product designers, we’ve found a solution to this that we lean on for every single project: user-centered design.
Let’s talk about how you can use this approach to get product-market fit, and leverage it as a platform to listen to your people every step of the way – because understanding their needs can mean the difference between a product that thrives, and one that fails!
On a recent call, a client of ours told us that ‘Lumi’s wireframes and user mapping is kind of like magic. You saw the users’ problems and solved them months before we realized we even had them’.
→ We owe our client successes partly thanks to user-centered design.
User-centered design (UCD) is an iterative product development approach focused on understanding the user’s needs, behaviors, and motivations, and designing solutions based on that understanding.
Throughout every stage, designers collaborate closely with users, using research techniques like interviews and testing to make sure products are both accessible and highly usable.
Because, in the words of Frank Chimero, “People ignore design that ignores people.”
If you ask us, UCD is the key to getting product market-fit. It grounds your product in the real needs of its users – you listen to their frustrations, desires, and use cases, and you can then make a hugely more relevant product.
So, if you want better product-market fit, listen to your people.
→ When we worked with Orbiit, we set out to simplify the experience for their users. We conducted user interviews, then reorganized user flows based on what we learned. The result? A fourfold increase in average customer value. When you focus on solving user problems, your product becomes a whole lot more valuable.
User-centered design can take a lot of different forms, but it usually revolves around a few principles we like to keep in mind.
If you’re a founder, and you think you understand your users, UCD urges you to think again.
Our starting point is often writing down the different stages the user needs to go through, and analyzing what the best UX step is at every turn.
The key is to understand why users love your product, and where it falls short. Go back to the basics of understanding how a person using your product feels, what their motivation is, what they want to get out of it, and where they go from there.
How, you ask? We like to turn to the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) framework to dig deeper into users’ needs. It focuses on understanding the specific tasks or “jobs” your users are trying to accomplish and why they choose your product to do so.
With this framework, you shift the conversation from what features users want to why they are using your product in the first place. For example, instead of asking users what frustrates them about your product, ask what specific problem they are trying to solve with it. What underlying goal motivates them to “hire” your product for the job?
→ Ask the critical question – how would users feel if the app disappeared today? If >40% of users say they’d be very disappointed, you’re on the right track toward product-market fit.
Make sure you’re focusing on empathizing and solving real user problems, not just fixing surface-level issues and responding to feature requests. Stand in your users’ shoes, and you’ll see things from a whole different angle.
Once you’ve got that deep, holistic understanding of your users, you can define measurable goals that compromise between business objectives and user needs.
Make sure your goals reflect long-term value, not just short-term gains. Focus on outcomes that benefit the user experience and support business growth.
And if you need to choose, prioritize features and improvements that genuinely impact the user experience, helping to solve real problems and make users more satisfied.
With your first iteration in hand, ask yourself these questions:
Sometimes, UCD can be about a simple fix. Don’t hesitate to think outside the box. Leverage lots of tools like mockups, user journey maps, user flow diagrams, or prototypes to uncover those niggles.
Then comes the time to close the feedback loop* and test your improvements.
A powerful way of doing this is by carrying out usability tests to get feedback, to help you get a realistic idea of how usable and accessible your design is.
Usability tests are a way to evaluate how real users interact with your product. The idea is to observe users as they complete tasks, so you can identify pain points, confusion, or inefficiencies.
Observe how users interact with your product in their natural environment — test with diverse groups, A/B test different design decisions.
It’s okay if everything’s not perfect at the very start. Our advice is to aim for realistic improvement through organic, empathetic iteration.
*sorry, that isn’t entirely true. UCD never really stops – it follows your product’s growth and is there for you whenever you need to realign with your users’ needs.
Each time we go through UX exercises – thinking about long term goals, things that could go right, different priorities – each time we put everything on paper and try to organize it, and then distill the essence of where we want to be, it brings so much clarity, velocity and confidence to move forward.
Founders, take note: investing in UCD isn’t just a design exercise. It can be the difference between a product that fizzles and one that thrives.
Need an extra pair of design eyes? Talk to us, we’re always here to help!
