How to Present UX Design Ideas

A critical success factor in our work is how much confidence we can gain from stakeholders, so that could be those developers, product managers, peers, executives.

The key to this is really presenting ideas in an articulated, tangible format. Unique stories helped tremendously when we’re presenting new ideas because they transcend all of that expertize and bias, they enable everyone to understand the common goal. Create a story around your idea next time you present it, help your audience understand and empathize with the user. Start by setting the stage just like any good movie. Give background. Who is your user? What are they trying to accomplish? Focus on those user task goals, expectations. And then just like that movie, we’re going to build tension. What is the current problem they’re solving? What is that as a scenario? Where are they experiencing the pain and frustration? What effects does their pain have? And that’s when we present our solution. You want to show your audience tangible way as possible. Why are frames prototype any kind of visual mockup that really help our audience understand? We want to highlight the positive change, but this new solution is going to bring our user. And then this fourth step is key. You want to conclude by identifying questions and obstacles in implementation, answer their questions before they can even ask them. Aside from your user now having a solution, what human need has it solved? What intangible has your user gained tie in those insights gained from research? If you can predict the specific reasons for possible apprehension, try by addressing them, by using a forced ranking or prioritization. It may even be helpful to share other avenues you pursued and why those options don’t stack up to the one you showed. This story can even become a tangible artifact that can be distributed or referred to even if you aren’t there. That means your presentation deck should stand on its own. A favorite tactic of mine is to actually show that user story right alongside those wire frames and then the audience can read them in tandem. Presenting ideas is ultimately about just knowing your audience and how to engage them.

Be sure you consider their awareness about the context of your work. Finding a way to present your idea can help facilitate conversation around implementation rather than approval, which is what we want.

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