As a big proponent of a user-centered, bottom-up digital design process, I believe the best results begin with a combination of thoughtful user research that funnels into simple sketches and low-fidelity wireframing. Once these are approved, they can be incrementally fleshed out into prototypes and mockups ready for final sign-off, at which point coding/development begins.

Below are examples of an approach I helped implement to address this issue. While the process has many moving parts, the primary goal was to swiftly move from low-fidelity sketching, to wireframe, to mockup, and then finally productionalized code. Once we had incorporated this into our system, our projects experienced an increase in user satisfaction, successful outcomes, at a higher velocity and lower costs.