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Review what shipped against what you meant

Every screen is designed once in the design file, then again by everything that ships after it. Reviewing the shipped version against what you meant catches what the file never showed.

Design

What changes between the file and the product

  • Real data: a long name, an empty list, a price with four digits.
  • States the file never drew: loading, the moment after success, the error, the second click.
  • Copy edited in a pull request, a component swapped for one that looked close enough, a step added for an edge case.
  • How people move through it: the back button, a slow connection, a keyboard instead of a mouse, a screen reader instead of eyes.

None of these is a mistake on its own. Together they mean the screen people use is a second design that nobody reviewed.

Write what you meant, screen by screen

One sentence per screen, about what the person should understand or be able to do, not how it looks. “The admin knows the invitation was sent, and to whom.” An intent like that survives a restyle, and it’s what you’ll compare against.

Walk the task on the shipped product

Start where a real person starts, and capture every state on the way, including the brief ones. A message that appears for three seconds is a state, and often the one that matters. Do it on staging before a release, or on the live product after one.

Mark where it differs

Mark up the shipped screen the way you would a design file. Each mark says four things:

  • Where: the screen, and the element on it.
  • What you meant: the intent you wrote.
  • What they met: what the screen did instead.
  • Who it stops: everyone, or someone in particular.

For example, the admin should know the invitation was sent. Instead, the confirmation disappears after three seconds, and screen readers never announce it. It stops anyone who looked away, and every screen reader user.

Decide each mark

Fix it, check it with people, or keep it as intended. Write down why in each case. A difference you keep on purpose is a design decision, and the next reviewer should be able to find it instead of raising it again.

Look again after the change

Walk the same task from the same start, and record whether you saw what you meant. “Seen” and “not seen” are facts you can show a teammate. “Fixed” is a conclusion; the screens are the evidence for it.

See it on a product