Richard C. Davis founded Act8 Design in 2016 to pursue consulting projects and experiment with new product ideas. The company no longer exists, but the web site remains as a portfolio for his publicly-visible work. This page is a modified version of Act8's home page.
The best designs come through a process of continuous improvement, with each iteration comprising requirements gathering, brainstorming, prototyping, and evaluation. This is sometimes called design thinking.
Getting to know your users’ perspective can be difficult, but it is essential. Without it, you won’t have the empathy you need to design a good experience for them.
Personas and scenarios can capture this perspective.
To get good ideas, you need a lot of ideas. Many teams get fixated on their first idea and need help to unlock their creative potential.
To make good design decisions, you must make your ideas concrete. Many prototyping methods have evolved to make this easier, but choosing the wrong method can waste precious time.
It’s best to evaluate with real users, but how should you recruit them? What will they do, and what data will you collect? How should you interpret that data to make a decision? Again, choosing poorly wastes time and money.
This ideal process can be hard to implement. We understand that each team is unique and each product is unique. We can help you decide how to invest the resources you have to give your users the most pleasing experience possible.
