Strategy · Deep dive 04
Experience Strategy
Before pixels or components, we decide how the product should feel to use. Customer journeys, the core flows that matter, the information architecture that keeps scale from becoming clutter.
The scope
A design-led engagement that sits between positioning and execution. We shape the experience spine — flows, states, and the interaction principles that keep later design decisions consistent without micromanagement.
Does this sound familiar?
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The product works, but every page feels like a different team designed it.
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New features get tacked on wherever there's empty screen space, not where the user expects them.
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Support tickets are dominated by 'I couldn't find where to…'
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Design reviews keep re-litigating the same five questions because there's no shared principle to resolve them.
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The onboarding works for the founders' demo path and falls apart for everyone else.
The customer payoff
What changes
What you feel once it’s running.
A documented experience spine that later design + engineering decisions can point at.
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Customer journeys from zero-knowledge to habitual use, with the friction points mapped.
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Interaction principles that turn design debates into 30-second resolutions.
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An information architecture that scales past the next 10 features without a rewrite.
Phases
⏱ 3–4 weeksHow Experience Strategy actually runs.
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01
Audit
We walk every core flow, from signup to habitual use, and note where the product fights the user. Friction points make the list.
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02
Shape
Journey maps + IA diagrams, co-created with product + engineering. The goal is a shared mental model, not a pretty Figma file nobody reads.
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03
Principle
5–7 interaction principles that resolve the most common design debates ahead of time. Memorable, testable, opinionated.
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04
Pilot
We apply the new principles + IA to one upcoming feature as a proof of concept. The pilot is how the team internalises the new grammar.
The hand-off
In the handover
What lands in your hands — every artefact, nothing hidden.
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Experience spine: mapped journeys, core flows, key states
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Information architecture diagram + taxonomy
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5–7 interaction principles with worked examples
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Friction inventory — ranked + tagged by where it occurs
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Pilot feature spec built against the new principles
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Before/after walkthrough for stakeholders + new hires
Straight questions
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Q·01 Is this a design-systems engagement?
No, but it sets the stage for one. Design systems answer 'how should this button look'. Experience strategy answers 'which buttons, where, and why' — the upstream questions.
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Q·02 Do we need an in-house designer to benefit?
Helpful but not required. If you have one, we work alongside them and leave them the documented spine. If you don't, the spine itself is the designer's contribution until you hire one."
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Q·03 Will we need to redesign the whole product?
Rarely. The output is usually a prioritised fix list — the 3–5 flows whose rework pays for the whole engagement — and a spine that future work snaps to.
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Q·04 How do you decide what's a principle vs a guideline?
Principles resolve tradeoffs. Guidelines describe defaults. We write principles. Guidelines come later from the design system built on top.
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Q·05 Can you run this remotely?
Yes — most engagements are. One in-person workshop day is ideal for the IA session but we ship fully remote if that's what the team needs.
Ready to start
Let's shape how it feels.
Three or four weeks to an experience spine your team can actually design against. Let's map your current flows first.
Start the shapingThe wider map
Every service page at a glance.
Each link below opens a dedicated page on that specific piece of one of our four service pillars. Jump sideways — different service, same way of working.
Digital Product Strategy
Service overview →- 01 Discovery & Market Fit
- 02 Vision & Positioning
- 03 Roadmap & Prioritisation
- 04 Experience Strategy — you’re here
- 05 Technology Advisory
- 06 CTO as a Service
- 07 COO as a Service