Solid research is the most important part of any project, but is all too often overlooked in the digital realm. Coming from a background in Psychology, I take research seriously, and work with you to build a strong foundation for design and development. Here I've outlined some of the techniques I use.
User Interviews
Talking to your users (or potential users) helps me to understand what problems they have and what they need from your product. I run one-to-one sessions, using semi-structured interviews with both qualitative and quantitative elements.
CASE STUDY
GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL IPP
Working with Zaang on the Great Ormond Street Hospital’s IPP site, I met parents of patients at the hospital. Hearing how they had experienced the website whilst they were still in the throws of an intense emotional experience was invaluable in informing the project plan.
See the full case study on Zaang's site
Prototype Research
Prototypes are a great tool for initial user research. Getting an early handle on user responses avoids spiralling project costs, allowing you to learn more about the user experience you're creating before a single line of code has been written.
Ethnography
Observing how users currently deal with the problem you’re trying to solve is hugely important. Context is often overlooked in design—where are your users when they’re using your product? What else are they doing?
CASE STUDY
THE KEYHOLDING COMPANY
When prototyping an app for The Keyholding Company’s security operatives, I accompanied drivers on their rounds whilst they worked on actual jobs. This ethnographic approach allowed me to understand a lot more about the challenges they faced.
Stakeholder Workshops
Collaborative workshops throughout a project help me to understand your business needs, and allow you to input on user research. We might work together to define the different user types you are targeting, or to plan an ideal user journey.
OUTCOMES
empathy mapping
Working together to think about your users might result in producing documents like this, that help inform the design process. I made the example shown here when thinking about this website.
Expert Reviews
Nothing can take the place of user research, but sometimes an expert review is good place to get started. I perform a comprehensive review of your product, looking at the pain points on key user journeys.
OUTCOMES
UX Issues report
I produce actionable reports outlining issues rated by severity that can be addressed with research and design, and ‘quick wins’ that you can implement right away.
Competitor UX Reviews
As with expert reviews of your own product, I look at what the competition offers to understand the experiences that people are used to and how they can be improved.
CASE STUDY
Userbrain
I work with Userbrain on various aspects of research and design. As an app development agency, they work with a wide range of clients in different sectors. I provide them with competitor UX reviews to inform client pitches and planning phases.