DESIGN ECOSYSTEM, THE RABBIT IN THE HAT FOR YOUR NEXT DIGITAL PROJECT

TLDR – Design Systems, the rabbit in the hat for your next digital project

Nowadays, users consume digital products within a complex environment. To accomplish their goals, they quickly hop from one device to another. Hence, they rely on multiple devices and a variety of connection types. How can product makers face such a challenge? How can organisations provide consistent experiences across multiple touchpoints? The adoption of an approach to define a design ecosystem can be the ultimate tool to unlock business value.

The product design process must account for how people and technologies interact in a broader context. The digital experience moves from one device to another, from user to user, from an app to a website, and from a website to an offline environment. Let’s put.

Let’s take the example of booking a flight:

• on her/his desktop device in the office (e.g. 27” monitor), the user browses some engines to find the cheapest flights, and she/he sets up an email notification to receive updates regarding the prices
• The user checks updates on her/his small mobile device on the train (e.g. tablet). Once she/he finds the best price, she/he starts the real booking process
• on her/his extra small mobile device at home (eg smartphone), the user receives the e-ticket, and she/he saves it on her/his cloud app to be ready to check in on the day of the flight. Alternatively, she/he can print out the ticket and use the paper to accomplish the task

Product teams have to develop a solid design ecosystem to predict and facilitate the majority of the user interactions. Applying “design ecosystem” thinking can support all these transitions and simplify users’ lives.

In my experience, I started to think about the design ecosystem approach following these three steps

• Observing users is mandatory to recognise and measure the cross-interactions
• Explore and evaluate how to provide a connection with other products/services
• Figure out the user journeys to predict the most used action for the most frequent contexts

As a designer, I firmly believe it is our responsibility to make our teammates sensitive about this topic. Leveraging our diverse design skills, we can support the shift in thinking within ecosystems as we develop digital products.

To start thinking about the design ecosystem(s)

• https://uxmag.com/articles/design-for-a-thriving-ux-ecosystem
• https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/user-experience-ecosystem-design-part-i

Caveats and feedback

Your feedback is precious to me!
Have you ever experienced something similar?

Image credits

PEDRO GOMES/REDFERNS