👋🏼 I’m Richard, a Design Director blending design with business to create successful, user-centered products. With experience as Director of Design at SAP, I’m currently focused on making usage data management a seamless and enjoyable experience for B2B SaaS companies. My goal is to help businesses thrive through thoughtful, strategic design.

I’m driven by a passion for quality, tradition, and style in all aspects of life. I create content around Quality, Tech, Home & Lifestyle, sharing insights that inspire others to elevate their work and personal lives with intention and purpose.

Read before start!

This document is your ultimate, go-to checklist for leading B2B SaaS design projects, from startups to enterprises. Built on well over a decade of experience, it’s here to help you stay transparent, organized, align your team, and deliver amazing results — every time.

As a product design leader, it’s important to remember that flexibility is essential—this checklist is a guide, not a rulebook. The design process is not a one-size-fits-all solution, nor does it need to be followed rigidly to create exceptional results. You don’t have to complete every step in perfect order to design something great.

Instead, use this checklist as a toolkit: pick the steps and techniques that align with your specific project, team dynamics, business goals, and strategic needs. Skip what isn’t relevant or adapt steps to fit your unique context. Great design comes from solving problems creatively and collaboratively, not from checking boxes.

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✉️ For Business, contact via [email](mailto:[email protected]?subject=%F0%9F%91%8B%F0%9F%8F%BC%20Get%20in%20touch).

📋 Explore

Dive into research and discovery to understand user needs, define project goals, and explore potential solutions. Focus on gathering insights, aligning stakeholders, and setting the foundation for informed design decisions.

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1. Project Setup

Align on the big-picture goal for the project. Consolidate business needs, requirements, and strategic priorities. Prepare design documentation and set up a tool to track the project and progress. Laying a solid foundation by organizing resources, aligning goals, and defining scope. - Use the tool of your choice to collaborate with other teams. (Notion, Google Docs, Microsoft, …)

Pro Tip: Delegate as much as possible to your team. Keep your focus on the high level, ensuring team alignment, effective communication, and transparency.

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Tasks

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[ ] Gather Insights - Gather information and insights from Business and Product.
[ ] Create Design Documentation - Set up your “Design Diary” and summarize the business needs, requirements, and strategic priorities in this shared document, where you’ll record all project-related items.
[ ] Setup Project Management Tool - Delegate tasks, organize, track, and manage the design project and progress efficiently. (use Jira, Trello, Asana, Notion ...)
[ ] Setup Project Folder - In Figma or other design tool of your choice. In addition you can create a project folder for all project files using e.g., MS Teams, Google Drive, …
[ ] Define Success Metrics - Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the design’s effectiveness, such as task completion rates, error reduction, user satisfaction, or engagement levels.
[ ] Create Design Brief - Key reference point that consolidates all the insights and information collected during the project setup phase. </aside>

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2. Research

Gain a deep understanding of the users, their needs, pain points, and the broader market landscape. It lays the foundation for informed design decisions, ensuring the final product is both user-centered and aligned with business goals.

Pro Tip: Help your team connect with the right stakeholders to gather insights. Support them in arranging sessions and facilitating workshops.

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Tasks

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[ ] Collect Technical Background Info - Map out key technical details, including constraints, service blueprints, and data flow.
[ ] Check Internal Solutions - Review existing solutions and design patterns from your organization’s products.
[ ] Do Competitor Analysis - Analyze competitors and industry best practices to identify opportunities for differentiation and innovation.
[ ] Do User Research - Uncover user behaviors, needs, pain points, and expectations. Use methods such as interviews, surveys, and usability testing to gather insights.
[ ] Define User Personas - Create detailed user personas based on research findings, representing key user segments. — Use an already defined one if it exists and suits the project needs.
[ ] Define Design Principles - Establish clear design principles that will guide decision-making throughout the project. These principles should align with business goals, user needs, and brand values. - Use the already defined ones if they exist and suit the project needs. </aside>

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3. User Journey & Flows

Map out the steps users take to complete tasks within your product. It helps identify key touch-points, decision moments, and friction areas, ensuring the design aligns with user needs and goals.

Pro Tip: Take smaller steps — there’s no need to figure out the entire journey in one go. Collaborate, iterate, and validate along the way.

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Tasks

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[ ] Define Information Architecture - Structure and categorize objects / attributes / actions in a way that makes it easy for users to navigate and find what they need. Establish clear hierarchies.
[ ] Map User Journey - Conduct a high-level mapping exercise to outline the envisioned user experience for your product. Define key actions, touch-points, and potential pain points.
[ ] Map User Flows - Outline the detailed step-by-step paths users will take to accomplish specific tasks within the product. Focus on entry points, decision moments, and outcomes.
[ ] Link Flows to Personas - Match your user flows with specific personas to make sure the design meets their needs and solves their pain points.
[ ] Create your Backlog - Break down the user journey and flows into actionable tasks that can be prioritized and tracked. Make sure to involve product management & engineering to align on your product roadmap. </aside>

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4. Wireframing

Create low-fidelity layouts that define the structure and functionality of key screens. This phase is about outlining how the product will work without getting caught up in visual details. By focusing on layout, content hierarchy, and interactions, you can quickly iterate on ideas and collect feedback.

Pro Tip: Encourage your team to share rough wireframes early. — trust their expertise, give them freedom to create and focus on aligning everyone during feedback sessions.

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Tasks

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[ ] Define scope - Identify the key screens or flows to wireframe based on your backlog and roadmap. — Estimate and delegate to your team.
[ ] Craft Rough Sketches - Start with quick, low-fidelity sketches on paper or a whiteboard to visualize initial ideas. Arrange wireframing / ideation sessions with cross-functional teams.
[ ] Create Wireframes Digitally - Translate sketches into digital wireframes using tools like Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD. — Add notes / annotation to explain functionality.
[ ] Make Lo-Fi Prototypes - Simulate the user flows by connecting low-fidelity visuals to create a simple representation of how users will navigate and interact with the product.
[ ] Get Feedback - Test and gather feedback from stakeholders, team members to identify areas for improvement and ensure the design aligns with user needs, business goals, and technical constraints. — Try to test with real end users. </aside>