3 Design Processes for High Usability: Iterative Design, Parallel Design, and Competitive Testing

Summary: 3 methods for increasing UX quality by exploring and testing diverse design ideas work even better when you use them together.

This is an updated version of an article written by Jakob Nielsen in 2011 .

There's no one perfect user-interface design, and you can't get good usability by simply shipping your one best idea. You have to try (and test) multiple design ideas . Iterative design, parallel design, and competitive testing are three different ways to consider design alternatives. While each of them independently can improve a design’s usability, combining them enables you to explore the best ideas at a lower cost than sticking to a single approach.

Iterative Design

An “iteration” is an intentional repetition of a step in the design process with the goal of improving the design at that stage. For each version of the design, you conduct a usability evaluation (such as user testing or heuristic evaluation ) and revise the next version based on the usability findings.