At Brightscout, we know that UI sprints are an extremely valuable tool for evaluating your current application and finding opportunities to improve your user experience. UI sprints, also known as User Interface sprints, are a design and development process that involves rapidly creating and iterating on the user interface (UI) of a digital product, such as a website or mobile app, in a short period of time. They are typically associated with Agile and Lean methodologies and are an important part of the broader concept of design sprints.
This guide covers everything you need to know from stylescapes to wireframes, final design, and handoff.
It starts off relatively simple, we begin by evaluating what we have and what we’ll need. The goal is to review all the information sent by the client in order to evaluate what the next steps are.
To Do’s
- Define the client's objectives with the website that they want to design/redesign
- See how the client is positioned in the competitive landscape.
- Analyze and review if the content provided is ideal according to the objectives that the client has.
- Review all the content that’s going to be used on the website. Do we have everything we need?
Next up, a one-day workshop to work on content and communication strategy. The work we produce during this workshop will provide us with the right content to use for the website.
To Do’s
- Collaboratively create a document with the content that the website will have according to the pages to be designed.
- Establish the best communication strategy according to the company's objectives and goals.
- Create a structure that’s aligned with the narrative and the content we have.
Step three is where we lay out the lo/mid-fidelity designs to see the information structure and general content. The goal is to focus on space allocation and prioritization of content, functionalities available, and intended behaviors.
To Do’s
- Arrange the content according to navigation structures and improved user flows.
- Define the layout and content hierarchy.
The stylescape is a tool for clients who have established brands and need to translate their brand smoothly to the web. This resource is ideal for those projects where the visual ID is not strong enough, so we create new visual assets to improve the UI experience, look and feel.
To Do’s
- Gather as much information as possible from the current visual Identity.
- Create style alternatives for the UI based on the visual ID.
- Develop new visual assets than we can use and apply in UI elements.
Step five is really where the magic comes in. We create a user interface that makes it easy, efficient, and enjoyable for users to interact with the product.
To Do’s
- We take the wireframes and start applying visuals to it.
- We create components and style guides to make the developers’ work easier.
- We create any collateral needed for the website (animations or illustrations)
- We create different viewports and resolutions.
- We create prototypes to showcase and test progress.
Last but not least, we compile and arrange all files needed for development.
To Do’s
- Gather all design files for desktop, tab and mobile versions.
- Arrange the different viewports in an understandable way
- Sync with developers to go over all interactions and behaviors of the website.
- Create the favicon, open graph image, styles and components in the design file.
- Provide access to all necessary accounts (Figma, Webflow, 3rd party apps, integrations, Analytics, etc.)
In summary, UI sprints are an invaluable tool in the UX design arsenal when conducted correctly. They're a great way to get familiar with your product and start thinking about how to improve it before you spend too much time going off in the wrong direction.
By using these tips to streamline your next UI sprint, you'll be able to assess your app with ease, and accuracy and leave with actionable information for future releases. If you’re looking for a team to run a UI sprint and need a team of experts we’re happy to help! Contact us now and let's explore possibilities together!
