I've been a UX designer for 10 years. I just realized I was starting at the wrong step.

Hi PH

For most of my career, my process started the same way: open Figma, sketch the flow, refine the IA, then hand it off. I was proud of how clean my wireframes were.

Then I shipped a feature I'd spent three weeks on. Zero clicks. Not because the design was bad because nobody needed the feature in the first place.

That broke something in my thinking.

I realized I had been designing the how before anyone had validated the what.

The wireframes were beautiful. The assumption underneath them was wrong.

So I started going further upstream. Market data first. Then strategy.

Then PRD. Then only after I actually knew what needed to exist IA structure and wireframes.

Same thinking, completely different order.

It felt backwards at first. Designers are trained to reach for the canvas early. Sitting with data and information architecture before touching a single component felt like delayed creativity.

But it turned out to be the opposite. When you know exactly what you're building and why, the design decisions basically make themselves.

Question for the designers here: has your starting point in the process shifted recently?

Or do you still reach for the canvas first?