UX Proposals
As part of this module, one of my deliverables is to design a UX proposal document for my own business idea. But what is a UX proposal?
A UX proposal is a document that is written to answer two questions: what are the project goals and what are the proposed solution approaches to meet these goals?
The purpose of writing a UX proposal is to show the client what you propose for their project, how you will implement it, and why you can meet their needs. It’s important that your proposal is customized to the specific needs of the client. It’s not unlike a written version of a pitch where you are presenting your idea and how you’re the person for this job who can make this idea happen.
While there are many templates for proposals available online, they may not be suitable for my particular business idea. When this happens, it’s best to custom write one tailored specifically for my own project.
In summary, UX Proposals are important documents that contain the design and research proposals for a user experience project. A UX Proposal can be used to sell a design concept, or it can be used as a working document to track progress of the project. UX Proposals are usually written by UX designers, but they may also be written by researchers or anyone else involved in the project.
“A proposal also allows you to define terms that protect both sides in the event that something changes. If the client does not provide you with timely access to their resources, your timeline may slip; you need to make them aware of their obligations to the project’s success.” (Unger and Chandler, 2012)
Ultimately, a proposal is written to a client or a company to initiate a project. The proposal should include the following:
- The purpose of the proposal
- The scope of the project – what will be done and what needs to be done
- How will this project benefit the client?
- The person who will manage the project, and his or her contact information.
- An estimate on how much it will cost, both in terms of time and money, for this project.
- A timeline for when you expect this project to start and end.
- Services you can offer as part of this proposal
In order to create a good UX proposal, one needs to know the project background, the goals of the project and what stage it’s at. A UX proprosal outlines a plan for how your design will be used to achieve these goals.
- – Background: What is the context behind this business idea?
- – What stage is this project at?
- – Who are the stakeholders in this project?
- – Goals: Which goal or objective should be achieved by implementing this design?
After some research into what a UX proposal is and the basic things it should include for the client, I started to create this proposal in InDesign.
InDesign can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines etc. and has more features than Word for example. I had some issues using this software for the first time, but after getting used to the interface and looking at some online tutorials, I gained a better understanding of the main features available and how to use them.
Title Page
This is my title page. It’s a simple page that introduces the UX proposal. It includes my name, project title, and the version of the proposal document. I established my overall colour scheme and design choices with this first page, using mostly yellow and black across my document to maintain consistency. The heading is big and bold, creating impact. The typography here is sans serif giving off a feeling of being casual, informal, and relatable.
The two mockups I included showcase what Speedpop may look like as the finished product – with the outer packaging of the popcorn box. The design in front of the box is purely for decoration, however it livens up the page. These two designs were created in Photoshop.
This is the contents page, simply showing the client what is included and what to expect in the proposal document. If they want to skip ahead to the project cost section for example, they know exactly what page to go to.
Here I established the footer which is maintained across all pages in the proposal. This is a simple geometric design, with the page number being bold and visible, and the description of the document ‘speedpop design proposal’ being displayed in a much smaller font than the rest of the page. By the heading ‘Contents’ is a simple icon of my Speedpop brand – a popcorn delivery van. I created this small icon in Illustrator and resized it accordingly on the page. This icon simply reinforces my brand and makes the page more visually interesting.
Project overview
This section briefly explains the description of my business idea – Speedpop. In this section I include a description of the project to the client, why this project is needed and my overall vision of the end result. This section should be relatively short, so as not to overwhelm the client with reams of text. I split the page into two columns so it would appear neater and more organised. An image of a concession area at a cinema is included at the top of the page, helping to reinforce the text below.
This page is titled ‘Why work with me?’ and basically explains to the client why I’m the right person to help implement Speedpop. ‘My skills’ and ‘Previous experience’ is split into two columns with bulletpoints for each listing. Below that are beveled textboxes with vector icons reinforcing each skill.
The scope of services page highlights my design process through each phase: Empathise, Define and ideate, and Prototyping. This page indicates each stage of work that I will complete for this project.
This is the second scope of servies page, highlighting Phase 2 and 3 of my design process.
This page includes assumptions made for this project. These are things I expect to be true for this project. For example – I expect at least 5 users will be made available for user testing, however if the client has no users available for testing, this is something the client and I can discuss before the user testing stage, avoiding any miscommunication issues.
“In general, the assumptions are an expectation of resources and assets, as well as timely (translation: prompt, immediate) access to both of these.” (Unger and Chandler, 2012)
The project timeline indicates when each design phase will be completed and each individual deliverable within those design phases.
A clean and simple project cost table highlights the cost of each design phase. £1250.00 may not be an accurate cost for this scale of project, however it’s in the right ballpark considering how long it would take me to actually complete each design phase.
The last page includes an area for the client to sign off and agree to the project so that it can begin.
References
Unger, R. and Chandler, C., 2012. A Project Guide to UX Design. 2nd ed. Pearson Education Inc, p.70.
Unger, R. and Chandler, C., 2012. A Project Guide to UX Design. 2nd ed. Pearson Education Inc, p.77.