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Apr 01 • 4 min read

my MVP UX process


Newsletter written by Chris


Read time: 1m 39s

It’s too easy, as a designer, to be fake busy.

You’ve been there.

Always in Figma.
Always "iterating."
Always complaining about stakeholders.

But if you’re working on a large team, 80% of problems aren't design problems.

They're process problems.

You're designing in chaos because you skipped the boring stuff.

I’m guilty of this too. I'd jump straight to wireframes because research felt slow. Stakeholders wanted to see "real designs" immediately.

And I ended up redesigning the same screen. Again and again. Because nobody agreed on what we were actually building.

But then something changed for me…

I stopped just taking in request. Instead, led the design process.

Process was the difference.

Not the theoretical bullshit they teach in bootcamps. The stuff that actually works when your PM is breathing down your neck and launch is next week.

The 7-step blueprint that saved my ass:

  1. Kickoff & workshop → Get everyone aligned (or they'll torpedo you later)
  2. Research + Audit → Talk to actual humans (shocking, I know)
  3. Requirements → Turn messy notes into clear problems
  4. Concept → Test your big idea before building it
  5. Framework → Structure first, pixels later
  6. Interface → Make it usable first
  7. Refinement → Polish and ship

I used to skip steps 1, 2, 4, 5, and jump straight into 6.

It was like trying to build IKEA furniture without the manual.

Technically possible.
Definitely painful.
Usually ends in tears.

Your process won't always be perfect.

Sometimes you'll skip research. Sometimes stakeholders will demand wireframes before you understand the problem. Sometimes you'll do user testing after launch because… startup life.

That's fine.

Process shouldn’t be rigid checklist. It's more of a compass.

When you know what your UX process looks like, you know when you're cutting corners and where to push back.

After 10 years building products, I can tell you:

Every minute spent on defining and executing my own UX process saves you hours in revisions.

Good news is your don’t have to start from zero. But don't take my word for it. Take it from the 1,000+ designers from 90+ countries who've used my frameworks.

Want my full breakdown?

Including the specific workshops I run, the research methods that work with zero budget, and how to handle stakeholders who think UX is "making things pretty"?

🤩 FEATURED

Designers broke marketing. Here's the receipts...

We obsess over micro-animations, pixel-perfect components, delightful onboarding flows.

And then completely ignore the cookie consent banner.

That copy-pasted, junior-handed-off, legal-checkbox nightmare that every user sees first.

When it's confusing, walls of legalese, hidden opt-ins, dark patterns, users dismiss it in one click.

One click, and the signal quality your entire marketing stack runs on?

Silently cooked.

Bad consent → bad data → bad decisions → marketing spends more to get less.

On a hamster wheel we designed.

Usercentrics treats the consent banner as a trust moment — a real design problem.

Done right, it maximizes opt-ins without manipulation, feeds clean data downstream, and compounds into lower acquisition costs over time.

Wild concept: design the thing properly, and the whole system works better.

Revolutionary. I know.

Want it see it done correctly?

🔥 HOT THIS WEEK

The goings ons

Happenings & shenanigans in the (design) world and beyond

I love pointless websites. Especially when they have KILLER transitions, scroll animations, and hover interactions.

And https://oryzo.ai/ is one of them. So silly. Yet so fun.

Studio Report 2025. Ever wonder how much other design studio's earn? How they operate? What life looks like for the team or founders?

smalltribe just made all this internal stuff available in their beautiful report. It's the most designery thing to do with year end reviews. Go be nosy!

How To Design Your Career Like A Product AMA, tonight's convo with Ran Liu, ex-Shopify, Webflow, Adobe, who spent years mentoring designers.

We're gonna speak about navigating the job market as a junior, amplifying your impact as a mid-level, stepping up and leading as a senior, and address of your questions.

Join us on YouTube and LinkedIn.

Did you like today's issue? Hit reply and let me know. I'll keep writing if you keep reading.

That's it for today.

Speak soon 💛

— Chris

I help UX designers go from Fuzziness to Focused, 3 types of designers I help:

1. Entry-level designer? Transition into UX by crafting an unforgettable portfolio

2. Mid-level or Senior designer? Step up and become a design leader

3. Lead or Manager? Get private 1 on 1 coaching to maximise your impact

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13,000+ designers in the room. Every week.


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