Even a small amount of design research has the power to transform your project and lay a foundation for success. This quick primer will give you the tools and understanding needed to get started today.

1. UX Research
The most powerful tool in your kit?
Mary Wharmby
UX Design Director, Spring Studio
!
@marywharmby
www.marywharmby.com
Presented to Tradecraft
September 30, 2014

2. You must
UNDERSTAND
a problem before
you can solve it.

3. Who are we designing for?
What do they
want?
What do they love?
What do they they hate?
Who are they with?
When, where, how do
they engage?
Where are the hand
offs?
What is the scenario?
How can we help?

4. How do we know?

5. Research.

6. Top three goals of
research
understanding
empathy
insight

7. On that foundation
generate opportunities
prioritize features
inform strategy and tactics

8. But it doesn’t have to be
really big or expensive

9. Research can be as simple as “people watching”
Listening
Having a meaningful conversation

10. Two major purposes
Generative
Conducted before
beginning design. Helps
identify user goals,
needs, behaviors,
attitudes,and mental
models. Used to generate
ideas for design
solutions.
Evaluative
Conducted once there
are designs to test with
users. This can be a
completed design,
wireframes or even
concept sketches. Used to
determine the success of
the design.

11. Ideas
Generative Prototype Evaluative
Insights
Opportunities
Effectiveness
Improvements
Usefulness
Understanding Usability

12. Two broad approaches
Qualitative
Gain an understanding
of underlying reasons
and motivations.
Provide insights into
setting, touch points
and relationships.
Quantitative
Quantify data and
generalize results from a
sample.
Measure the incidence of
various views and
opinions in a chosen
sample.

13. Mix and match
Qualitative Quantitative
Evaluative Generative
Interviews
Usability
Testing
Surveys
Analytics

14. Regardless of purpose
or approach, research
usually has three
phases

15. Before, during and after
Planning Execution Analysis
Strategize
Hypothesize
Script
Prepare
Facilitate
Observe
Listen
Collect
Group
Synthesize
Map
Understand

16. Time budgeting
Time for planning and analysis is usually
underestimated
Loose rule of thumb
Planning : Execution : Analysis
1 : 1 : 1 (at least)

17. PLANNING

18. Start broad
!
What problem are you
trying to solve?

19. Then go narrow
!
What specific questions
will provide insights?

20. What triggered the journey/encounter?
What were the expectations?
What did he or she think, feel, do at different
points in time?
What touch points did he or she interact with?
What people were involved?
What tech (screens, devices, etc.) were involved?
How was the experience?

21. How can we find out?

22. Choose a method
Stakeholder/SME
Interviews
Competitor Reviews
Observation
Contextual Inquiry
Usability Testing
Focus Groups
Surveys
Remote Testing
Card Sorting
Diary Studies

23. But which method when?
Focus Groups
Interviews
Surveys
Card Sorting
Cognitive Walkthrough
Usability Testing
User Needs Concept
x
x
x
Validation
Usability
!
x
!
x
x
!
x
!
!
x
x

24. Choose participants
Who are you designing for?
Choose participants that closely match your target audience.
Where can you find them?
Its usually best to observe them in the wild.
How can you get them to participate?
Many people are interested in helping. Or, compensate.

25. Formulate a plan
Research goal
Schedule and budget
Problem / hypotheses
Recruitment profile/screener (persona hypotheses)
Research method
Task list
Testing environment and/or equipment
Facilitator script / discussion guide
Evaluation criteria

26. Prepare your materials
Discussion guide
Post-Its or index cards
Sharpies
Prototype
Visual aids
Camera
Recorder
Notetaker/observer

27. EXECUTION

28. Be ready and nimble
The better your research is planned and executed,
the more valid and useful the results.
Let participants react to your designs
and not to the test itself.
Pivot when necessary.

29. Warm it up
Put your participant at ease - make them welcome and relaxed
Establish rapport
Thank them for participating!
Give them their overall objective
Give them an idea what to expect
Make sure they understand we are NOT testing them
Explain that you may not be able to answer questions
Ask them to think out-loud as they go through tasks

30. Lead and follow
Start wide and narrow as you go
Ask open questions
Articulate a scenario so the user can orient themselves
Don’t ask leading questions
Keep the wording of tasks simple
Don’t give away the answer in the task description
Ask what they are thinking and feeling as well as doing
Observe what they do (not necessarily what they say)

31. React smoothly
Answer a question with a question (what do YOU think that
button should do?)
Be patient!
Their are no wrong answers
Take criticism with grace
At the end answer any questions that came up
Thank the participant

32. Capture everything
Video the interview/encounter
Sketchnote the interview
Use sticky notes to record observations and ideas
Take photos of setting and artifacts

33. ANALYSIS

34. What does it mean?
!
How can you make the information most
accessible and actionable to team
members, stakeholders and yourself?

35. Create tools
(design research artifacts)
!
Mind maps, personas and
journey maps are my top three

36. Discover connections
with mind maps
Start with one story then build out
Group ideas and draw connections
Look for surprises, trends
and opportunities

37. References
Issues
Link to Source/
File & Inline/
URL
Description
of problem, how
to fix and
examples
Correlated
Issues
Advice/
Recommend
ations
Comment
History
Explanation/
Examples
Status
(Issue Age)
Not Fixed
History
Fixed
(gone)
No
Attempts
Attempt
Fail
Maps
HP Defined
Priority
Kingdoms
PCI
OWASP
Other
Other
Other
15 Others
High
Critical
Medium
Low
First
Appearance
(new)
Which scans
has it show
in
Category
(~550)

38. Understand users
with personas
Capture:
Attitudes and mindsets
Goals
Behaviors
Opportunities
Who is the user?
What do they care about?
What do they love/hate?
How do they interact?
How can we help?

40. Model context
with journey maps
Illuminate the complete experience a person may have with
your product or service.
Visually describe how an experience unfolds over a period of
time and through different touch points and channels.
Enable deep understanding of the user’s entire experience.
Highlight design opportunities.

41. Customer STAGES
Journey
Research & Planning Shopping Booking Post-Booking, Pre-Travel Travel Post Travel
EUROPE
THINKING
EXPERIENCE
Enter trips Confirm
Wait for paper tickets to arrive Research destinations, routes and products
Kayak,
compare
airfare
Google
searches
Research
hotels
Talk with
friends
Enjoyability
Relevance of Rail Europe
Helpfulness of Rail Europe
Paper tickets
arrive in mail
• I’m excited to go to Europe!
• Will I be able to see everything I can?
• What if I can’t afford this?
• I don’t want to make the wrong choice.
• It’s hard to trust Trip Advisor. Everyone is
so negative.
• Keeping track of all the different products
is confusing.
• Am I sure this is the trip I want to take?
• Website experience is easy and friendly!
• Frustrated to not know sooner about which
tickets are eTickets and which are paper tickets.
Not sure my tickets will arrive in time.
• Stressed that I’m about to leave the country
and Rail Europe won’t answer the phone.
• Frustrated that Rail Europe won’t ship tickets
to Europe.
• Happy to receive my tickets in the mail!
• I am feeling vulnerable to be in an unknown place in
the middle of the night.
• Stressed that the train won’t arrive on time for my
connection.
• Meeting people who want to show us around is fun,
serendipitous, and special.
Follow-up on refunds for booking changes
• Excited to share my vacation story with
my friends.
• A bit annoyed to be dealing with ticket issues when I just got home.
View
maps
Arrange
travel
Blogs &
Travel sites
Plan with
interactive map
Review fares
Select pass(es)
itinerary
Delivery
options
Payment
options
Review &
confirm
Map itinerary
(finding pass)
Destination
pages
May call if
difficulties
occur
E-ticket Print
at Station
Web
raileurope.com
Live chat for
questions
Activities, unexpected changes
Change
plans
Check ticket
status
Print e-tickets
at home
web/apps
Look up
timetables
Plan/
confirm
activities
Web
Share
photos
Share
experience
(reviews)
Request
refunds
Share experience
Buy additional
tickets
Look up
time tables
Opportunities
• What is the easiest way to get around Europe?
• Where do I want to go?
• How much time should I/we spend in each
place for site seeing and activities?
• I want to get the best price, but I’m willing to pay a
little more for first class.
• How much will my whole trip cost me? What are my
trade-offs?
• Are there other activities I can add to my plan?
• Do I have all the tickets, passes and reservations
I need in this booking so I don’t pay more
shipping?
• Rail Europe is not answering the phone. How
else can I get my question answered?
• Do I have everything I need?
• Rail Europe website was easy and friendly, but
when an issue came up, I couldn’t get help.
• What will I do if my tickets don’t arrive in time?
• I just figured we could grab a train but there are
not more trains. What can we do now?
• Am I on the right train? If not, what next?
• I want to make more travel plans. How do I
do that?
• Trying to return ticket I was not able to sure if I’ll get a refund or not.
• People are going to love these photos!
• Next time, we will explore routes and availability
more carefully.
Communicate a clear value
proposition.
visit
Arm Enjoyability
customers with information
for making decisions.
STAGES: Shopping, Booking
Enjoyability
Improve the paper ticket
experience.
STAGES: Post-Booking, Travel, Post-Travel
Enjoyability
Support people in creating their
own solutions.
STAGES: Global
Enjoyability
Visualize the trip for planning
and booking.
STAGES: Planning, Shopping
Enjoyability
Enable people to plan over time.
STAGES: Planning, Shopping
Accommodate planning and
booking in Europe too.
STAGE: Traveling
Help people get the help they
need.
STAGES: Global
PLANNING, SHOPPING, BOOKING POST-BOOK, TRAVEL, POST-TRAVEL
Relevance of Rail Europe
Helpfulness of Rail Europe
Relevance of Rail Europe
Helpfulness of Rail Europe
Relevance of Rail Europe
Helpfulness of Rail Europe
Relevance of Rail Europe
Helpfulness of Rail Europe
Relevance of Rail Europe
Helpfulness of Rail Europe
Mail tickets
for refund
Get stamp
for refund

42. OK, BUT THEN WHAT?

43. Make use of your artifacts
Define and rank opportunities
Inform strategy and tactics
Share understanding
within and across teams

44. And keep using them
Create living documents that are continuously
updated
Gut check designs along the way
Maintain the overall vision
Keep your audience at the center of your thinking

45. DON’T FORGET

46. You must
UNDERSTAND
a problem before
you can solve it.

47. Research can be the
MOST POWERFUL TOOL
in your kit!

48. Methods will vary from
project-to-project
!
Scope and cost
will vary (widely)

49. But, some research
is always better than
none.

50. Thank you!
Mary Wharmby
UX Design Director, Spring Studio
!
@marywharmby
www.marywharmby.com

51. Photo Credits
Men talking: https://flic.kr/p/zkGwh
Chess: https://flic.kr/p/e62U9Z
Lab: https://flic.kr/p/cW3F6C
Journey Map: Adaptive Path
Road: https://flic.kr/p/4Bo5g
Brain: https://flic.kr/p/5kpAF6