Evaluating Early Ideas in UX Design

As a UX designer, the journey from a blank canvas to a user-centered solution is a process of constant iteration and exploration. The creative process often swings between generating a flood of ideas (divergent thinking) and narrowing them down to a few gems (convergent thinking). How do we know when an idea is solid enough to move forward, and when it’s time to throw it back to the drawing board? That’s where early evaluation comes in. Let’s break down how to evaluate those early concepts and guide them toward a successful design solution.

Divergent vs. Convergent Thinking: Balancing Creativity and Focus

At the heart of evaluating early ideas are divergent and convergent thinking. These two mental modes shape the ideation process:

• Divergent thinking is all about exploration. It’s the phase where you brainstorm, generate many ideas, and think freely without boundaries. This is where creativity thrives — you’re not judging the ideas yet, just letting them flow.
• Convergent thinking is decision-making. After you’ve got a stack of ideas, you shift to narrowing them down, choosing the most viable, feasible, and desirable ones. This is where your analytical skills come in to determine which ideas align with the problem at hand.

Iterating Between the Two

Designers switch between these processes iteratively because it’s a natural progression of the design cycle. You explore options (divergence), evaluate them (convergence), and then repeat until the best idea surfaces. Each phase feeds the next, ensuring that the creative energy doesn’t lead to a dead end, and the critical eye doesn’t squash innovation too soon.

The Problem Lens: Why You Need to Understand the Problem First

Before diving headfirst into evaluation, a crucial step is to understand the problem you’re solving. This is more than just reading a brief or listening to a client — it’s about fully grasping the pain points, user needs, and project goals. The clearer the problem, the more focused your criteria for judging ideas.

Using the Problem Lens

Designers use the problem lens to filter through ideas. It’s like having a checklist that asks: Does this idea actually solve the core problem? Does it meet user needs? Is it aligned with business goals? Only once you have a thorough understanding of the problem can you start converging effectively.

Evaluating Viability, Desirability, and Feasibility

When you start to evaluate early ideas, it’s crucial to look at them through three lenses:

• Viability: Can this idea work from a business standpoint? Will it make sense financially, and is it sustainable long-term?
• Desirability: Does this idea solve a real user problem? Will people actually want to use it?
• Feasibility: Can it be built with the resources you have? Do you have the technical capability and timeframe to execute it?

Using convergent thinking, you can systematically evaluate whether your ideas meet these criteria. If an idea doesn’t check these boxes, it might need more work, or it could be discarded in favor of stronger concepts.

The Power of Early Testing with Low-Fidelity Prototypes

One of the best ways to evaluate ideas early is through low-fidelity prototypes. These can be as simple as sketches, wireframes, or basic click-throughs, but they give you enough to test your concepts without heavy investment.

Advantages of Early Testing

• Quick validation: Low-fi prototypes help you quickly test if your idea resonates with users. Early feedback is key to avoiding costly mistakes down the line.
• Fail fast, fail cheap: Testing early allows you to catch potential flaws in your design at a stage where changes are still easy to make.
• Iterative improvements: Early tests reveal insights that inform your next iteration, helping refine the design before you even touch a line of code.

Prototyping isn’t about perfecting the design from the start — it’s about learning, validating assumptions, and pushing the idea further with each iteration.

Tools for Early Evaluation

To make the process smoother, UX designers have access to fantastic tools for evaluation and prioritization. You can use platforms like Miro’s Prioritization Templates to help visualize which ideas stand out. Figma is also a powerhouse for prototyping and getting quick user feedback on low-fi designs.

Conclusion: Embrace Iteration

Evaluating early ideas isn’t about nailing the perfect solution in one go. It’s an iterative dance between divergent and convergent thinking, understanding the problem, and continually testing and refining. Remember, no idea is precious at this stage — the goal is to mold the concept that sticks into something that will resonate with users, solve the problem, and be feasible to build.

So, sketch it out, get feedback, and keep refining — great designs are made through thoughtful iteration!