Raxxid-ux Plan a Design Project (Beginner)
Design projects feel overwhelming when they're one giant undefined task ("design the app"). Breaking it into phases with a clear order fixes that — each phase has a clear job, and you always know what "done" looks like for that stage before moving on.
The default phase structure
[ ] Week 1: Research — understand the users, the problem, and any competitors
[ ] Week 2: Core design — wireframes or key screens, the main structure
[ ] Week 3: Identity/system — colors, type, components, the visual language
[ ] Week 4: Application — apply the system across all screens or materials
[ ] Week 5: Guidelines/documentation — write it down so it's usable and consistent later
This is a starting template, not a rigid law — a very small project might compress this into 2-3 weeks, and a larger one might need more time per phase. But keep the order the same: research always comes before design, design always comes before system, system always comes before full application.
Why the order matters
If you skip research and jump to design, you're designing based on assumptions instead of evidence — which usually means rework later once you find out the assumptions were wrong. If you skip the system phase and just apply styles ad hoc, you end up with inconsistent screens that don't feel like one product.
How to use this structure
- Identify which phase you're currently in — don't restart from Week 1 if you're already partway through a project.
- For your current phase, list 3-5 concrete tasks. Don't try to plan the whole project's tasks at once — that's overwhelming and most of it will change anyway once you're deeper in.
- Pick just one task to do first, today, from that list.
Common mistakes
- Trying to plan every single week's tasks in full detail upfront — plans change once you're in the work, so this effort mostly gets wasted.
- Skipping the research phase because it feels slower than "just designing something."
- Jumping into visual polish before the layout/structure is settled in the core design phase.
- Skipping documentation because the project feels "done" — but without it, the next person (or future you) has to rediscover all the decisions from scratch.
Checklist
[ ] Current phase identified
[ ] 3-5 concrete tasks listed for this phase only
[ ] One task picked to start today
[ ] Order respected: research before design before system before application