At Ellevation, on the Strategies product, we’ve created a lightweight, adaptable framework that flexes to meet the unique needs of each project. While it follows the shape of the well-known Double Diamond process, we’ve adapted it to better reflect how product development works at Ellevation: every project is a little different, and our process needs to be just as flexible. This framework is meant to be a dynamic, living tool, something we can return to and orient around as teams, timelines, and priorities shift.
The opportunity to introduce a tool like this presented itself when several new folks joined a scrum team. By sharing this tool and anchoring our conversations in the right part of the process, it helps us ask better questions, give clearer feedback, and ship with greater confidence by naming where we are, why it matters, and what comes next.
At Ellevation when we talk about UX, we’re referring to the entire end-to-end journey a user has with our product. To make that more actionable, we break it into two parts: Experience Architecture and UI Design.
Experience Architecture is the non-visual foundation: understanding user needs, mapping journeys, defining flows, and shaping how the product behaves. UI Design brings that structure to life visually.
User Interface is an inseparable part of the experience, but by starting with structure rather than surface, we’re better equipped to explore the user problem and business goals before diving into details like button placement or colors.
At the start of any design check-in, we can point to this framework like a pin on a map and say, “Here’s where we are.” That small move does two important things:
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It grounds the conversation in time and context — Are we still shaping the big-picture experience, or refining the final details before transitioning to build?
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It sets the tone for the kind of feedback that’s most helpful — Are we questioning the overall flow, or just the button placement?
A Lightweight Framework for Focusing on the UX and UI
Our framework breaks design into clear, focused stages—starting with the underlying experience, then layering in interface and execution. It doesn’t enforce a rigid process, but it gives us shared touchpoints: moments to zoom out, invite the right voices, and align before moving forward.
1. “Focus on the UX”
This is where Experience Architecture lives. You’re shaping the product’s behavior and structure based on what users need and the outcomes the business cares about.
- Activities: product strategy, research, journey mapping, flow design
- Feedback Loops: user research, internal reviews
- Support: early accessibility and leadership check-ins
- Goal: a validated direction grounded in user and business needs
- Checkpoints: weekly product discovery with Product Manager, Eng lead, and Content Writer, bi-monthly design check-ins with eng team
✅ Solve the right problem before solving it beautifully.
2. “Focus on the UI”
With structure in place, now comes UI Design—making sure the interface supports and enhances the experience.
- Activities: visual design, feasibility scoping, design polish
- Inputs: scoped timeline, effort vs. value tradeoffs, brand consistency
- Checkpoint: design review with product and engineering
- Goal: visuals that are feasible, aligned, and ready to build
✅ Clarity, not just creativity.
3. Build & Finalize
With a solid UX and UI foundation, build can move forward cleanly, with minimal surprises.
- Activities: dev build, QA, UI tweaks
- Reviews: final design and accessibility sign-offs
- Goal: build what was approved—with polish, not pivots
✅ Small tweaks, not big rewrites.
4. Ship 🚀
You’ve made the decisions, addressed the feedback, and delivered something people can use.
Why This Matters
This framework helps us zoom in and out with intention. It allows us to:
- Center the conversation on experience before interface
- Set expectations around timing, roles, and reviews
- Avoid late-stage rework by aligning early and often
- Encourage inclusive, accessible, business-aware design
- Build faster—and better—with fewer detours
In Summary
By anchoring our conversations in the right part of the process, we can ask better questions, give better feedback, and ship with greater confidence. This framework gets us there by naming where we are, why it matters, and what comes next.
