Understand the problem
What is slow, manual or broken today, and what the current process really looks like from the inside.
Step 1 / 5 · When you bring the brief
Discovery
Every project starts with a conversation. A quick call or a written brief lets me understand the problem, the people it affects, and what success looks like before anything is designed.
- A clear problem statement
- Success criteria
- A list of constraints
What happens
In this step.
Meet the people who use it
The people who live with the problem know it best. On Rannikon the hour formulas changed several times as workers and payroll staff weighed in.
Note the real-world limits
Devices, connectivity and languages. Rannikon’s workers use cheap Android phones, in fields with poor signal, in languages other than English.
Define what success looks like
A shared, plain-language picture of the outcome, so everyone agrees when it is done.
Project references
See it in real projects.
Work where this step actually happened.
Examples
What that looks like.
Example 1
Mapping the old process
For Rannikon that meant understanding four paper payroll forms, notebooks at the farm gate and handwritten daily logs before designing a single screen.
RannikonExample 2
Listening before building
The calculation formula was refined repeatedly after feedback from farm workers and payroll staff. Getting it right meant understanding the paper forms they had used for years.
RannikonExample 3
Designing for the real context
Because the app runs on cheap Android phones with patchy signal, in five languages, every design decision had to account for it.
RannikonKeep exploring
The rest of the process.
Let’s talk about your project.
Brand partnerships, freelance projects, or just to talk shop.