Gantt Chart Template for UX Design Projects
UX design projects have a visibility problem. Unlike engineering sprints, which produce commits and deploy logs, design work is largely invisible to stakeholders until a prototype is ready to review. Product managers schedule engineering kickoffs without knowing where design stands. Developers wait for handoff files that are still in progress. Engineers start building on early wireframes because the final designs "look ready" before they actually are.
A Gantt chart makes the UX process visible to everyone on the product team. Stakeholders can see which phase design is in, when prototypes will be ready for testing, and when the developer handoff is scheduled — without pinging the designer for an update.
This template is free to use in gantt-chart.io with no account required.
What to Include in a UX Design Gantt Chart
Full UX Project Timeline (from Discovery to Handoff)
| Phase | Key Deliverables | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Research plan, stakeholder interviews, competitive analysis | 1–2 weeks |
| Synthesis | Affinity mapping, personas, problem statement, journey maps | 1 week |
| Information architecture | Site map, user flow diagrams, content inventory | 3–5 days |
| Wireframes | Low-fidelity wireframes, internal design review | 1–2 weeks |
| Prototype | Clickable prototype in Figma, internal QA | 3–5 days |
| Usability testing | Participant recruitment, session facilitation, analysis | 1–2 weeks |
| Design iteration | Address testing findings, revision rounds with product | 3–7 days |
| High-fidelity design | Pixel-perfect screens, component documentation | 1–2 weeks |
| Developer handoff | Figma annotations, design tokens, asset export, Zeplin or Storybook | 3–5 days |
| QA with engineering | Design QA against built UI, issue log, final sign-off | 3–5 days |
Agile UX Timeline (Design Sprints Alongside Engineering Sprints)
For teams running 2-week engineering sprints, UX typically runs one sprint ahead:
| Sprint | UX work | Engineering work |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint 0 | Discovery, wireframes for Feature A | — |
| Sprint 1 | Prototype + usability testing for Feature A; Wireframes for Feature B | Build Feature A from wireframes |
| Sprint 2 | High-fi design + handoff for Feature A; Testing Feature B | Build Feature B from wireframes |
| Sprint 3 | Design QA for Feature A; Wireframes for Feature C | Implement hi-fi designs for Feature A |
Showing this stagger in a Gantt chart makes it clear to engineering why design is always "working on the next thing" rather than the current sprint.
How to Use This Template in gantt-chart.io
Step 1: Open gantt-chart.io. No account needed.
Step 2: Add each UX phase as a row group (Discovery, Wireframes, Prototype, Testing, Hi-Fi Design, Handoff). Add individual tasks within each phase.
Step 3: Set the developer handoff date as a milestone. Work backward from that date to determine when usability testing needs to conclude and when high-fidelity design needs to start. This is the constraint that drives the entire schedule.
Step 4: Mark stakeholder review cycles as milestones. Add "PM review — wireframes" and "Product review — prototype" as diamond milestones. Reviews that do not have a deadline in the chart tend to drift indefinitely.
Step 5: Share the chart with the product manager, engineering lead, and any research participants scheduling coordinator. Paste the link into the Figma project, the Linear issue, or the Jira epic so anyone working on the feature can see the design timeline without asking.
UX-Specific Tips
1. Show usability testing recruiting time as a separate task. Recruiting five participants for a moderated usability test often takes 5–10 days. Designers who do not plan for recruitment time schedule testing immediately after prototyping and then discover they cannot start for another week. Add "Recruit participants" as a task before "Run sessions."
2. Add a "Design freeze" milestone before handoff. Mark the point after which no new design changes are accepted before handoff. This gives engineering a stable target and prevents last-minute design changes from invalidating work that is already in progress.
3. Separate "wireframes" from "prototype" clearly in the chart. Stakeholders often assume a wireframe is the same as a prototype. Having them as distinct phases with distinct dates sets the correct expectation about what is ready for review at each stage.
4. Track Figma file readiness, not just task completion. A task marked "Done" in the chart should mean the Figma file is annotated, components are organized, and the handoff notes are written — not just that the screens look done. Build "Handoff prep" as its own task with a half-day or full-day buffer before the official handoff milestone.
5. Coordinate research scheduling with the PM at the start of the project. Usability testing requires scheduling flexibility. If the PM or engineering lead has a code freeze or major release during the proposed testing window, move testing before you recruit participants. The Gantt chart helps surface this conflict early.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I show design iterations in a Gantt chart without creating an endless loop of revision rows?
Allocate a fixed number of revision rounds as tasks (e.g., "Revision round 1 — 3 days," "Revision round 2 — 2 days") and stop there. Any additional revisions require a scope conversation. This sets expectations with stakeholders at the beginning of the project.
Q: Should design QA with engineering be the designer's task or the engineer's task?
Both. Show "Design QA — designer review of build" and "Engineering QA sign-off" as sequential tasks. The designer reviews the implemented screens against the Figma designs, logs issues, and marks them resolved before the engineer closes the QA task.
Q: How do I manage a UX project that spans multiple features running in parallel?
Give each feature its own row group. Use the same phase names within each group so the chart is easy to scan. This structure also makes capacity problems visible — if three features all need prototype review in the same week, the chart shows the bottleneck.
Q: What is the right way to handle a stakeholder who wants to see design earlier than planned?
Open the chart and show them which upstream tasks need to compress to move the prototype review forward. Usually this means cutting research synthesis or compressing the wireframe review window. Once they see the tradeoff, most stakeholders accept the original timeline.
Q: How does this template work for design sprints (the Google Ventures 5-day format)?
A Google Ventures design sprint is short enough that a Gantt chart adds little value — a simple checklist works better. This template is designed for multi-week UX projects, not single-week workshops. For workshops, use a day-by-day schedule doc instead.
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