Clarifying Your UX Approach: Beyond the Steps

A few days after updating your portfolio, a message comes through your website.

They mention they came across your work and would like to learn more about your projects. No job offer. No project brief. Just genuine curiosity.

You’re not sure what to expect, but you respond and set up a quick 30-minute call. At the very least, it’s a chance to talk through your work with someone new.

When the call starts, the conversation is easy.

They ask about your recent projects. You walk through a few of them, explaining the challenges, the decisions you made, and how things evolved. It feels familiar and comfortable.

Then they ask, “How do you usually approach your projects?”

A knot forms in your stomach. It’s not that you don’t know how to do the work. Every flow, every test, every iteration was based on research, data, and careful decision-making. You weren’t guessing — you were following evidence and making intentional choices.

But putting that into words — articulating a clear, repeatable approach — feels harder than it should.

The call ends. Nothing uncomfortable, nothing negative. But afterward, the question lingers.

You know how to do the work. You know why your decisions are solid.

But you don’t yet know how to explain the method behind it.

That evening, you decide to take action.

You pull out resources on common UX approaches: Double Diamond, Lean UX, Sprints, and variations of agile processes. You review each one, noting the steps, the purpose, and the mindset behind them.

As you reflect, it becomes clear how your approach actually works in practice. One project followed a Lean Agile process from start to finish, but most of your work blends different methods, guided by what each project actually needs. The steps of any given framework are useful to reference, but what really drives your decisions are the facts and evidence in front of you — not a rigid sequence of steps.

The next time you practice explaining your process, it feels clear and confident. You can say: “I use a combination of approaches, but the most important thing is that the next step is guided by facts and evidence, not a rigid framework. Here’s how I apply that in my projects.”

It feels structured, confident, and honest — a reflection of how you actually work.

The lesson is clear: knowing the work is one thing. Being able to articulate how you decide what to do, based on validated frameworks and evidence, is what builds trust, confidence, and clarity with others.

If you know a designer who’s ever struggled to explain their process, or wants to get clearer on how they approach projects, feel free to share this post with them. It might help them articulate their work and gain confidence in how they present it.

Helping UX Designers bridge gaps and grow