Interface Design Process

Jennifer Tidwell's Designing Interfaces states the basic process steps for interface design as follows:

• Field research, to find out what the intended users are like and what they already do
• Goal and task analysis, to describe and clarify what users will do with what you're building
• Design models, such as personas (models of users), scenarios (models of common tasks and situations), and prototypes (models of the interface itself)
• Empirical testing of the design at various points during development, like usability testing and in situ observations of the design used by real users
• Enough time to iterate over several versions of the design, because you won't get it right the first time

These steps will overlap and shuffle as a project develops, for example goal and task analysis can change after personas and scenarios are developed and everything can change after empirical testing shows your ideas are flawed. Where are you at in this process?

I love it when someone other than me stresses iteration!