UX Deliverables

User experience (UX) deliverables are documents, drafts and other artifacts that serve as the tangible byproducts of an entire UX design process. They contain vital information about a project, provide a basis for design decisions and function as communication tools to convey decisions to stakeholders. 

Watch this video to see how deliverables fit into the design process.  

UX Deliverables are Vital Parts of a Design Process

UX deliverables play an extremely vital part in a team’s design process—and they guide the whole project's trajectory. They’re particularly important because they: 

Inform Design Decisions

UX deliverables—especially research deliverables—bring on data-driven insights that can both inform and validate design decisions. And when they’re armed with a wealth of knowledge about their users' needs and behaviors, teams can move forward to create designs that aren’t just aesthetically pleasing but functional and intuitive, too. What’s more, deliverables like wireframes and prototypes can help teams spot potential roadblocks and challenges in their design process. Team members can proactively address these and make sure that there’s a smooth transition from design to development. 

Facilitate Communication

Deliverables serve as a common language for designers, stakeholders and developers—and they enable team members to discuss and understand the project in effective ways. When they’ve got such a tangible reference point, all the team members can move forward from a concrete foundation. This helps clarify expectations, get visions aligned and minimize misunderstandings—and the chances of misunderstandings. It also permits more effective feedback and revisions. Stakeholders can provide specific comments on well-defined deliverables, instead of vague or general feedback. 

Provide Documentation

Deliverables also function as a record of the design process. They allow convenient future reference and iteration. Design teams who have concrete deliverables at given stages of their design process can build upon or revisit features more easily. This documentation is also shareable with new team members or stakeholders. It makes sure everyone is on the same page—and serves as a bridge between members in project management, the development team and others. What’s more, deliverables can act as a portfolio—to showcase a team's design process, design solutions and capabilities to potential clients. 

Promote User-Centric Design

Another thing that deliverables do is help to make sure that a design remains truly user-centric. Teams can keep track of their work and refer back to the project history—and so they’re able to make sure that everyone’s on the same page, and aligned towards a common goal. This doesn’t just keep brands on point with their target users' or potential users' needs at the forefront of all design decisions—it prevents unnecessary waste and questionable results such as feature creep as well. And this focus on the user helps make for a more intuitive, user-friendly and enjoyable product. 

Types of UX Deliverables

Whatever design process a design team uses, the deliverables are the crafts, currency and progress indicators of the project. They include representations of user data, design ideas and much more. All stakeholders need a unified vision of where a given project is heading. So, designers and project managers must ensure they accurately represent data and insights through all design stages.  

UX deliverables generally fall into two main categories—UX research deliverables and UX design deliverables—and include several subcategories. 

UX Research Deliverables

​​These are the outputs of user research activities. They encapsulate user behavior, needs and attitudes, and so inform the design process. Examples include product objectives deliverables, such as personas and storyboards.​(These appear in detail in the next section.)​​ 

UX Design Deliverables

These are the outputs of the design process that represent the functionality and aesthetics of what will be the final product. Examples include user flows, sitemaps, wireframes and prototypes. 

Watch this video to see what the elements of user experience are and what actions they require in the design process: 

A List of the Most Common UX Deliverables

The scope of UX deliverables is vast, ranging from initial research findings to final design representations. Below is a list of the most common deliverables, based on different activities in the design process. 

User Needs and Product Objectives

These deliverables include personas, storyboards and customer journey maps. Designers create these to understand user behavior, needs and motivations. These insights will enable them to start work on designs that are intuitive and user-friendly—designs that will really meet the needs of the target audience. What’s more, they help identify potential challenges and opportunities for improvement in the design process. Such deliverables include: 

Personas

​​​These are fictional characters which designers create to represent typical users, including​​​​ ​​these users’​​ motivations, skills, and frustrations. The purpose is for designers to empathize with their prospective users as much as possible. Then they can get fully behind these users’ needs and more as they progress with design ideas. Designers might create ​​several ​​different personas per project to portray the widest section of a target audience. ​​     ​​​​​ 
 
Human-computer interaction expert Professor Alan Dix explains how personas are especially helpful in design: 
​​ ​​

Storyboards

​​​These are visual representations, like comic strips, that outline users’ actions and the context in which they perform these. Designers create these to gain insight into what users do and such vital factors as the users’ environment and scenario.​​ 

Customer Journey Maps

These are diagrams representing the steps users take to meet a particular goal. These maps reveal all the different touchpoints and the users’ emotional state throughout their journey with the product. Stakeholders from across different teams collaboratively build this map and set the steps along a timeline so they can understand differences in the users’ contexts. They will also be able to notice any evolving factors such as changing motivations and arising problems. These maps help designers spot areas where a potential product or service might address problems users experience on the way to their goals. 

Competitive Analytics

Unless a proposed solution is a truly generative design (i.e., completely innovative as a market pioneer), a brand will have competitors. A competitive analysis is a critical step in the UX design process. Designers identify and evaluate competitors' strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to their own (proposed) product or service. When a design team does an analysis that’s thorough, they can get valuable insights into what’s going on in the market. What’s more, they can understand customer needs—and spot and define chances for what to innovate. This deliverable is something that helps set clear design goals. Plus, it establishes a good design direction—one that differentiates a product from its competitors' products. 

Features and Content Requirements

This is the branch of deliverables that revolve around a potential solution’s features and requirements. 

Brainstorming

Here, designers generate ideas on how to move forward from the user research phase. Volume is vital so that a design team has as many ideas as possible to choose from. These many angles can include bad ideas. Teams might use sticky notes, paper cards or digital whiteboards to document the ideas during brainstorming. The deliverable might be a photograph on the wall, or a document summarizing the ideas. 

Content Strategy

A design team ensures that they produce, edit and archive content at the right time and for the right audience. Such deliverables include marketing communication. While designers may not be directly responsible for content strategy, they should ideally work closely with personnel who are. 

Information Architecture and Interaction Design

These areas of deliverables are where designers structure and organize content and data to present how information appears. They produce these to show design team members and stakeholders how the information will display, how to navigate, and more. These deliverables include:  

Sitemaps

Sitemaps give a really high-level view of the site's content and hierarchy. Designers create these to show navigation structure. For example, a mobile app project’s sitemap can have logical sections showing how users move from one part of a design to another.  

Taxonomies

Taxonomies categorize and label data to improve findability and usability. These deliverables are crucial items—in terms of how they work towards creating a user interface that’s both coherent and intuitive.  

User Flow Diagrams

These are basic charts that outline which steps users must take with a design team’s proposed solution to meet a goal. They can evaluate—and swiftly—how efficient a process is to achieve user goals. They can also help identify how to execute good ideas found during brainstorming.

A subtle difference to note is between these and task flows. Task flows tend to be more linear and focus on an individual task to be completed. As a result, they don’t usually factor in the complexity of the user, such as decision points. 

Interface Design

These deliverables are the first user interface (UI) “goods” designers create to represent proposed solutions for their design project. They include: 

Wireframes

These are typically the first UI-oriented deliverables in a design process. Designers create wireframes typically to show early drafts of proposed solutions or ideas. It is a skill to craft lean layouts for stakeholders and team members to see whether an idea is worth pursuing. Wireframes are therefore usually grayscale and primitive, with designers building from user flows, sitemaps and such.  

Prototypes

These deliverables range from low-fidelity sketches to high-fidelity interactive prototypes, simulating the final product for testing and validation.  

Low-fidelity prototypes are cost-efficient deliverables such as cut-outs. They can help work out—early on—what might or mightn’t work in a design.  

High-fidelity prototypes are more detailed and interactive—and they allow for comprehensive usability testing and feedback. A realistic representation of the final product is what they deliver—and that’s something that lets the design team find and fix any issues before the development stage comes into play. This makes sure that the final product isn’t just visually appealing but that it’s user-friendly and efficient, too. 

Information Design

Designers use information design deliverables to guide their users and help them achieve their goals. Text as well as audio-visual elements can represent this information. 

UX Writing / Microcopy

UX writing is a vital part of the conversation between digital products and their users. Microcopy is all the text—including headings, button labels, navigation menu items and error messages. These serve as vital cues for users to enjoy positive user experiences. 

Visual Design

These deliverables—like pixel-perfect mockups and design systems—represent the final visual design of the product. They also include elements such as color palettes, typography and iconography. Visual design deliverables don’t just represent the brand’s identity and aesthetic in the product, but augment its functionality and usability as well. They make sure that there’s consistency in the visual elements across different platforms and devices—and so give the overall user experience a boost. 

Mockups

Designers make these refined images to mimic how a real product (e.g., an app) will look. They’re purely visual representations—and they’ve got no actual code behind them. 

Design Systems

Design systems are invaluable items that provide a library of reusable components and guidelines. For design teams, they're especially important because they help them keep consistency going in the design process and keep things efficient, too. They serve as a single source of truth—and help make sure that all team members are on the same page, and lower the risk of design inconsistencies as well. What’s more, they streamline the design process by eliminating the need to recreate elements—a bonus that saves time and resources. 

Evaluation Deliverables

This is where designers examine their peers’ work—to make sure they’re serving their users and brand best​​​​.

Usability Testing

These deliverables—namely usability test reports—provide insights into the product’s usability and user satisfaction. They’re especially valuable for product design or service design as they give a direct measure of how well the design meets user needs and expectations. They offer a principally qualitative assessment of the product’s performance. What’s more, they identify areas where the design excels and where it falls short. This feedback is vital—and designers can refine the design, make necessary adjustments and make sure the final product is something that’s both functional and enjoyable for the user. 

Of the many ways they can evaluate a design, designers summarize their findings in a usability report. Depending on the roles of the team members who read it, designers will include more or less technical detail. Nevertheless, a well-structured usability report typically contains a background summary, methodology, test results, and findings and recommendations​.​​

Analytics Data

After a product release, the brand can present data collected from website traffic, user interactions, and other measurable events to help identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement. Designers can use the data from an analytics report to find helpful insights to improve usability. For example, they might find an app’s users aren’t completing a call to action (CTA). They might use this insight and investigate further—perhaps through a usability test—to determine that users don’t notice that CTA available. Designers need to structure these reports so likely explanations and recommendations complement the facts they expose and interpret.  

Navigating UX Deliverables in Different Design Styles: Waterfall and Agile

The creation and use of UX deliverables can vary greatly depending on the design style that a team adopts. In a Waterfall process, team members finish the design phase before they hand over their work to the ​developers ​to work on the project. There, UX deliverables often ​include​ detailed documentation—and could include in-depth user research reports, extensive wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes. 

​​On the other hand, in an Agile design process, stages often overlap—and involve iteration. There, UX deliverables tend to be leaner and more flexible. This could include quick user personas, low-fidelity sketches, and interactive prototypes that team members can quickly test and iterate upon.​

​​​​Laura Klein, UX designer and author of Build Better Products and UX Design for Lean Startups, explains the iterative nature of Agile teams. 

Best Practices to Create and Progress with UX Deliverables

It takes a series of collaborative activities among the UX team and stakeholders to make the best deliverables. A simplified process is to: 

1. Identify the Needs

Designers start by identifying the needs of the project and the stakeholders. They determine what information they need to inform their design decisions, and what their stakeholders need to understand and approve those decisions.  

2. Choose the Deliverables

Based on these needs, designers choose the most appropriate deliverables. Every project is unique—and not all deliverables are necessary for every project. For example, designers in a design thinking process might choose deliverables like empathy maps, user personas and prototypes. These tools can help them empathize with their users, ideate solutions and test their assumptions. However, ​for some projects, the team might favor a ​more data-driven approac​​h, and they might prefer other deliverables to guide their design decisions. For example, they might choose user flow diagrams, data visualizations or A/B test results. 

3. Create the Deliverables

Designers use their UX skills and tools to create the deliverables. They could conduct user research, create wireframes or craft prototypes, for example. In the case of user research, ​they​ have a variety of quantitative research and qualitative research methods to choose from​. ​​F​or example, ​they can use interviews ​and usability testing as qualitative methods, and A/B tests and surveys as quantitative methods.​  ​  

For wireframing, they can use pencil sketches or digital tools like Sketch, Figma, or Adobe XD to create a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of their product. When they craft prototypes, they can choose low-fidelity prototypes for initial testing or high-fidelity prototypes for more detailed and interactive testing later. 

4. Present and Discuss

Designers present the deliverables to stakeholders and discuss their findings and decisions. It’s an opportunity for feedback and iteration. Design itself is communication, so it’s important to make deliverables that clearly show findings or intentions. Stakeholders can give their insights and perspectives. The team can then work these into the next iteration of the deliverables. This iterative process is something that makes sure that the final product is ultimately not just user-centric but that it aligns with the business objectives and stakeholder expectations, too. 

5. Agree and Handover

Once all parties agree on the design decisions, it’s time to hand over the deliverables. This is a pivotal time. Design team members therefore must be clear on who is responsible for continuing with which deliverable and what the time frame is for the next stage. Sprints mark this in an Agile process. 

Here, Hype4 co-founder Szymon Adamiak discusses the importance of communication and handovers as part of a good design process. 

The Importance of User Testing in Revising and Refining UX Deliverables

Remember, the role that user testing plays in revising and refining UX deliverables is a truly vital one. It gives direct feedback on the design from the end-users—and it lets designers spot and address issues well. For instance, usability testing can reveal navigation issues in a wireframe. Meanwhile, A/B testing can help optimize a prototype’s interface. And when they incorporate user testing into the design process, designers can make sure that their deliverables aren’t just user-centric but user-validated, too.  

It’s impossible to overstate how important testing is—especially when it comes to deliverables. UX deliverables are the tangible proof of the design process. They showcase the thought, effort and expertise that go into creating a user-centric design. They serve as a roadmap—and so guide the design team towards the final product. Meanwhile, they make sure that the team keeps user needs and business objectives top of mind. Without thorough testing and iterative refining, these deliverables will almost certainly not accurately reflect user needs or project goals. They’ll represent wasted resources from a team with squandered talent. 

CEO of Experience Dynamics, Frank Spillers explains why​ ​​​usability testing is so important. 

Points of Concern with UX Deliverables

Design teams have to take care not to design the wrong thing. Likewise, they’ve also got to pay close attention to the effectiveness and accuracy of the UX deliverables they work on. Many things can go wrong if a team has overlooked certain points or a product manager has misinterpreted the user research data. For example, if a team doesn’t accurately interpret user feedback, they might end up designing an unwanted feature—one that actually hinders the product functionality. Similarly, if the product manager doesn’t clearly communicate business objectives, the design team might focus on the wrong aspects of the product. So, it’s essential for teams to make sure that clear communication and accurate interpretation of data are realities whenever they’re working with UX deliverables. 

Another risk is that clients can sometimes assume that a mockup means a design is close to its release date. Designers can prevent this if they clearly state what such deliverables indicate regarding the stage of the design process.  

Among other potential pitfalls is that teams often create prototypes in high-fidelity in later stages of design. When prototypes are in high-fidelity, design teams already invest a lot of time and effort and may be unwilling to make changes or accept feedback.  Changes will become more expensive to implement in any case. 

It’s also vital to keep storytelling in sight throughout the process. Storytelling is a particularly powerful driving force in UX deliverables. It really empowers designers to visualize and communicate the user’s journey through the product. This makes sure of a human-centered, user-centric design effort. 

Finally, the size of the UX team will be a deciding factor in who does what. For example, larger teams may have specialist information architects. In smaller teams, one or two designers might need to assume many roles, including the information architect, interaction designer, UX writer and visual designer.  

Overall, it takes careful planning, research and effective communication to produce the best deliverables. Prominent brands—such as Airbnb and Google—invest in and produce fine deliverables to further their products. No matter how large or small an organization or client is, UX design teams have got to remember to always align deliverables with business goals and user needs—at every stage. It’s also important for them to leverage a variety of deliverables—so they make sure they create products that truly resonate with their users, time and time again.