Preparing for UX research: observation, hypothesis, data collection. Target audience research is the key to good conversions Why audience research and what is UX? Ux research

In an industry dedicated to the people who use our products, services, and applications, research is paramount. We ask questions. We take note. We will learn everything we can about target audience and then iteratively review our work throughout the design process.

UX research, or design research as it is sometimes called, serves many purposes in the design process. It helps us identify and confirm or disprove our assumptions, find commonalities in members of our target audience, recognize their needs, goals and mental models. Overall, research inspires our work, improves our understanding, and validates our decisions.

In this guide, we'll cover many elements of design research, from interviews and observations, to usability testing and A / B testing. Readers will gain a basic understanding of how to use these design research methods in their work and also improve the experience for all users.

• What is UX research
• General methodologies
• Craft tools
• Associations and conferences
• UX Research Books

WhatUXstudy

UX research encompasses many research methods used to add context and understanding to the design process. Unlike other areas of UX, research did not evolve from any other area. It was simply brought from other forms of research. In other words, UX people have borrowed many techniques from academics, academics, marketers, and others. However, there are still types of research that are quite unique to the UX world.

The main goal of design research is to animate the design process from the point of view of the end user. It is research that prevents us from creating anything for ourselves. Almost everyone agrees that the goal of UX is end-user-centered design, the exploration that tells us who that person is, in what context they will use that product or service, and what they need from us.

Research has two parts: collecting the data, and synthesizing it, which will improve usability. At the start of the project, design research focuses on the study of who and what needs from the project, as well as the study of the needs and goals of end users. Researchers will conduct surveys, collect research, monitor potential or current users, and browse literature, data, or analytics. Then, iteratively, during the design process, the focus of research will shift towards practicality and sensibility. Researchers can run usability tests or A / B tests, interview users about the process, and most importantly, test assumptions that will improve the design.

We can also divide UX research methods into two camps: quantitative and qualitative.

• Quantitative research is any study that can be measured numerically. It answers questions such as "how many people clicked here?" or "what percentage of users are able to find a call to action?" It is important for understanding statistical probabilities and what is happening on a site or application.
• Qualitative research sometimes referred to as "soft" research. It helps us understand why people do what they do and often takes the form of an interview or conversation. Usually, questions are asked, such as "why don't people see the call to action" and "what else do people notice on the page?"

While researchers may specialize in specific types of interviews or tests, most are proficient in many techniques. All researchers collect valuable information which allows us to design in an animated, contextual, user-centered manner.

General methodologies

The different types of UX research range from face-to-face interviews to unmoderated A / B tests, although they are all similar in that they all stem from the same key techniques: observation, understanding, and analysis.

Observation

To take the first step in conducting research, one must learn to see the world around us. Like budding photographers, budding explorers must first learn to see. They should notice nervous tics, which may indicate that their interlocutors are stressed or insecure, and pick up on seemingly minor references that may reflect deep-rooted beliefs or thoughts that should be tested further.

Observing may seem like a simple skill to you, but it can be clouded by the unconscious biases that everyone has. Design researchers train themselves to observe and take notes so that they can later find patterns in seemingly different groups of people.

Understanding

Like observation, understanding, this is something we do all the time in our Everyday life... We strive to understand our colleagues, family members and our friends, often trying to understand the essence of a dispute or unfamiliar concept. But for UX researchers, understanding has more to do with mental models than discord.

A mental model is an image that appears in your head when you think about a specific phrase or situation. For example, the mental model of a “car,” a person who owns an SUV, is likely to differ from the mental model of a smart car owner. The mental model shapes the decisions we make; in the case of car owners, when asked “how long will it take to get to Winnipeg,” the answers will vary depending on the amount of fuel the car uses, among other things.

Analysis

Research on its own can be valuable, but in order to use ideas to animate a design, it must be analyzed and ultimately presented to a large team. Analysis is the process by which a researcher identifies patterns in research, suggests possible rationales or solutions, and makes recommendations.

Some analysis techniques involve creating personality or scenarios that describe mental models, or providing graphs and charts that represent statistics and user behavior. While the methods described here are predominantly research-oriented, it is important to remember that research is only valuable if shared. There is no point in locking it in a closet, or forgetting about it in the design process.

Daily tasks and results

UX projects are different from each other, and the tasks that the researcher undertakes will be different from those that are appropriate in other settings. Some of the more popular forms of research are interviews, polls and questionnaires, card sorting, usability tests, tree tests, and A / B tests.

Interview

Face-to-face interviews are a proven and reliable way of communication between the researcher and the user or one of the interested parties. There are three main types of interviews, each of which is used in a different context and for different purposes.

Directed interviews the most common type. This is a typical question-and-answer interview in which the researcher asks specific questions. It can be useful when interviewing a large number of users, or when comparing and contrasting responses from different users.

Undirected interview The best way learn about hypersensitive subjects, where users or stakeholders may be deterred by direct questions. When conducting an undirected interview, the interviewer sets some rough boundaries and starts a conversation with the interviewee. The interviewer will mainly listen during this "conversation", and speak only to ask the user or interested person to provide Additional information or explain his point of view.

Ethnographic interviews is to observe what people are doing, how they spend their everyday life in their "natural habitat". In this type of interview, the user shows the researcher how he performs certain tasks, immersing the interviewer in the culture of his home or work. This can help the researcher understand the difference between what people actually do and what they say they do. It can also shed light on what users do when they feel most comfortable.

Polls and questionnaires

Surveys and surveys are an easy way to collect a large amount of information about a group, spending a minimum amount of time. It is a great choice for researching projects that have a large and varied user group or a group that cares about anonymity. A researcher can create a survey using tools such as Wufoo or Google docs, send them via e-mail, and receive hundreds of responses in a matter of minutes.

Although there are negative aspects of surveys and questionnaires. The researcher cannot directly interact with the respondent, and therefore cannot help with the interpretation of the questions, if the wording is not quite perfect, and they usually have limited opportunities for follow-up. Research is much more likely to be responded to if it does not require registration information or contact information, and this anonymity makes it impossible to ask for clarification or additional information.

Sorting Cards

Sorting cards is sometimes done as part of either interviews or usability testing. In it, the user is presented with a set of terms and asked to classify them. In closed sorting, the user is also given the names of the categories; in an open sort, the user creates his categories.

The purpose of card sorting is to study the relationships between content and to understand hierarchies as perceived by the user. Many content strategists and information architects rely on this test to test hierarchical theories, or to get started with a sitemap.

Usability testing

Usability testing is about asking a potential or current user product or service perform a set of tasks, and by observing their behavior, determine the usability of the product or service. This can be done using a live website or app, a prototype, or even using interactive layouts or paper and pencil.

Moderated usability testing are the most traditional type of such test. They can be done in person, or through ScreenShare and video. All usability labs are covered with one-way mirrors so that interested parties can observe the tests being carried out. In a moderated test, an unbiased mediator engages in a conversation with the user by reading the assignment aloud and asks the user to talk aloud about the flow of their thinking during the assignment. The role of the interviewer is to act as a mediator between stakeholders and the user, formulating questions to gauge the effectiveness of the design and test assumptions, helping the user feel comfortable.

Unmoderated usability testing Also known as asynchronous exploration, it is conducted on the Internet for the convenience of the user. Problems and instructions are delivered via video or recorded audio, and the user must click on a button to start the test and record their video and audio. Just like in a moderated test, users are asked to express their thoughts out loud, but in this case there is no intermediary to ask additional questions... Unmoderated testing is available through numerous Internet sites, and can be significantly cheaper than moderated testing.

Guerrilla testing is a modern, lightweight take on traditional tests. Rather than renting a laboratory, guerrilla research is usually carried out in the community; users are found in a cafe or metro station and asked to complete simple tasks, with a website or service, in exchange for a few dollars, coffee, or just out of the goodness of your heart. And while guerrilla testing is a great option, especially on a budget, it is best used only for products or services with a large user base.

Tree tests

Just as card sorting is a great way to gather information before the architecture of a website was built, tree tests are useful in validating that architecture. In a tree test, users receive a task and are shown top level site maps. Then, just like in a usability test, they are asked to describe how they will proceed to complete the task. However, unlike usability testing, the user does not see the screen when he selects a section of the site. Instead, they will see the next level of architecture. The goal is to determine if the information is categorized correctly and if the nomenclature correctly reflects the sections of the site.

A / B Testing

A / B testing is another way to find out what actions the user is taking. The A / B test is usually chosen as an appropriate form of research when designers are trying to choose between two competing elements. Whether it's two content styles, a button vs a link, or two approaches to the home screen, an A / B test assumes that each variation is randomly shown to an equal number of users, and then it analyzes which variation works best to achieve that goal. A / B testing is especially useful when comparing a revised screen with a newer version, or collecting data to prove a hypothesis.

People to follow

Jennifer Romano Bergstorm

As a UX researcher at Facebook, Jennifer spends her time improving Facebook's privacy and UX options in emerging markets. She specializes in eye tracking, usability testing, design research and UX for seniors. Jennifer is the President of UXPA International, and is the co-author and editor of Eye Tracking in UX Design. You can find it at http://www.romanocog.com/

Greg Bernstein

Greg is a user and product researcher. He has built a research practice at MailChimp, and is currently a Senior Fellow at Vox Media. Greg talks about his work at conferences and for companies such as Etsy, EA Games, and Fullstory. He previously taught design, branding, and typography at Georgia State University and the Savannah College of Art and Design, and currently lectures there occasionally.

Nate Bolt

Nate Bolt has held numerous positions, often with an emphasis on remote sensing. He ran the research and development firm Bolt | Peters, which focused on remote work and was acquired by Facebook. Nate then became manager of design research for Facebook and Instagram and now works for Ethnio, a project started at Bolt | Peters, which became the first moderated remote user research software. Nate maintains an online blog, Boltron, and in 2010 was the author of Remote Research: Real Users, Real Time, Real Research.

Dana Chisnell

As the owner of Usability Works, Dana Chisnall has helped hundreds of people make better design decisions by equipping them with the skills to gain knowledge about users. Dana also runs Civic Design, where she researches and publishes ways to improve the usability and design of voting ballots. She also co-authored "Handbook of Usability Testing, Second Edition" with Jeff Rubin, and blogs at her site usabilityworks.net.

Erica Hall

In 2001, Erica co-founded Mule Design Studio with Mike Monteiro, where she leads research, interaction design and strategy application. She speaks at conferences and writes for Medium about interdisciplinary collaboration and the importance of natural language in user interfaces. Erica is the author of Just Enough Research and the creator of Unsuck-It, a site dedicated to eradicating and replacing useless jargon.

Steve Krug

When it comes time for usability testing, people only think of one name - Steve Krug. Steve has worked as a usability consultant for over 20 years, starting even before most people considered user experience or usability to be useful. What makes Steve's work outstanding is the way he conquered UX practice and low-tech usability testing in his books Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability and Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems ”.

Steve Portuguese

Steve Portuguese is a speaker, author and consultant in UX design and development. His book "Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights" is one of the most understandable books, relevant topics who learns to truly listen to users. He also produces a monthly podcast called Dollars to Donuts, where he interacts with user researchers in various organizations and also maintains a regular blog.

Kylie Sousi

Kylie has spent the last 15 years researching and developing user-friendly interfaces for various projects. She is the founder of Usable Interface, writes for trade magazines, and has spoken at Big Design, CHI, IA Summit, SxSW, UXPA, WritersUA, and the Web 2.0 Expo and other conferences. Kylie is the Founder and Past President of the New Hampshire Chapter of the User Experience Professionals' Association (NH UXPA), she served as Chairman of PhillyCHI, the Philadelphia Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI). she served as a User Experience Network (UXnet) ambassador in New Hampshire.

Jared Spool

Jared Spool is the founder of User Interface Engineering, which he opened in 1988. He has over 20 years of experience in evaluating the usability of various products and is also an expert in low fidelity prototyping techniques. Jared is the author of Web Usability: A Designer’s Guide and co-author of Web Anatomy: Interaction Design Frameworks that Work with Robert Hawkman, Jr. He is a recognized authority on user interface design and human factors and also sets the tone for the annual UIE's UI Conference and UX Immersion Conference.

Indie Young

In 2001, Indy Young co-founded the Adaptive Path UX agency, which plays a leading role in UX and strategic design. She currently teaches Rosenfeld Media, with a focus on problem space exploration. Indies are constantly finding new ways to understand customers and employees in order to better support them. She is the author of Practical Empathy and blogs at www.indiyoung.com

Craft tools

User research has the potential to be a significant undertaking, sometimes to the point where budgeting and planning starts to scare people away. Fortunately, today we often see a more casual, familiar approach. Basically, the tools at our disposal are responsible for such a positive shift.

Ethnio

Ethnio was the first moderated remote research software, and is still on the ground. Ethnio locates users who are currently using the site or app and (with their permission) allows interviewers to ask them questions about their user experience. It automates many of the elements of a typical face-to-face test, including real-time notifications, and pays participants with an Amazon gift card. Ethnio has a fourteen day free trial version as well as four price options.

Optimal Workshop

Optimal Workshop has it all! Full version is a set of four research instruments, each of which is also sold separately (and at a very affordable price). Treejack is great for testing information architecture remotely, or for verifying nomenclature or hierarchies themselves. Optimal Sort provides an online card sorting test to see how users prefer to organize their content. Chalkmark offers click-through template maps for websites, and Reframer is a note-taking tool and easy theme definition. These are all highly recommended.

SurveyMonkey

Surveys and questionnaires are great ways to gather information, but they are most useful when hundreds of responses can be seen at once. Meet SurveyMonkey, an online survey creation and reporting tool that allows people to customize and tag their own surveys and then submit them via social media, embed them in websites, or integrate with bulk mailings. SurveyMonkey also makes it easy to analyze and report when results come in. It is available as a free basic version, or as a monthly payment with additional features.

UserTesting

When there is no way to schedule a real-time test with users, UserTesting is a great way to see how people are using the site. Researchers can create a series of problems and then receive videos from participants that were either pre-selected or randomly selected. Researchers can watch a video of a participant on the site and speak out loud to explain what they are doing. UserTesting is offered in Basic and Pro editions at different prices.

UserZoom

UserZoom has everything you need. Usability testing, moderated and unmoderated, remote testing for mobile devices and desktop, benchmarking, card sorting, tree testing, reviews and ratings. The only bad thing is that, like any product that occupies all niches on the market, it is very difficult to learn and expensive. However, for organizations on a good budget, UserZoom is a solid, effective choice.

Associations and conferences

In a sense, all usability conferences are design research conferences. While other areas of UX tend to hold conferences on their own specific topics, researchers are by nature generalists looking for ways to learn more about people and usability. Therefore, we recommend that you go everywhere as much as possible to stay in the know.

UI conference

World Usability Conference

At the World Usability Conference, communication encompasses all areas of usability, user experience and customer experience management. People come from all over the world, from all industries, to understand where we have more similarities than differences. Also, at the conference, one project will be awarded the World Award Experience!

Design + Research + Society

The DRS conference, held in Brighton, England, answers the questions of how design research can highlight and eliminate the social problems we face; how design research can be a creative and proactive force for rethinking design ideas; and how design research can transform our lives in a more responsible, constructive and open way. By focusing on how design research affects people in modern society, it illuminates the human side of our designs.

UXPA

The UX Professionals Association is open to anyone working in UX. They provide connectivity and opportunities professional development for UX practitioners around the world, through local chapters. If you live in a city, there's a good chance it has a UXPA branch! Local chapters often host conferences, sponsor events, and create a network for local UX professionals.

Books onUX research

There are many books out there that cover interviews, usability testing, A / B testing, and other areas of design research. Here are a handful of books that cover the big picture.

Observing user experience

Our users are not always who we think they are. In this book, the authors explain not only the differences, but why it matters, and how to find real users. And as soon as we understand who our users really are, we will be able to create designs just for them.

Design Research Practice: From the Lab, Field, and Demonstration Room

Lipo Koskinen, John Zimmerman, Thomas Binder, Johan Redstrom, and Stefan Wenswin

Constructive design research is modern style research that comes from industrial design and interaction design. The book collects information from a variety of scientific experts: experts in the traditional science lab, social science, art, industrial design, UX, and HCI, and provides methods for design researchers.

The best thing about Rocket Surgery Made Easy is not that you can read it on a short trip. These are not comics, or easy-to-follow advice (although they are great). These are resources! The book contains a six-page example of a usability test script that walks the tester through a hypothetical user test and a usability test checklist that explains what to do in the weeks, days, and hours leading up to guerrilla usability tests.

Katie Baxter, Katherine Carage, Kelly Kane

We first recommended this book back in 2010, but now there is a new, revised second edition, and we are happy to recommend it again! "Understanding Your Users" shows real examples as well as correct methods of collecting information from users. It's great for newcomers to UX and for professionals looking for a fresh perspective.

Tomer Sharon

We all want to quickly and efficiently find out what the user is thinking, but that seems like an impossible task. Tomer Sharon proves this is not the case in his book, which is essentially a combination of theory, explanation and practical advice for product managers and developers who want to test their products with real users.

What is UX design? Currently, the user interface industry is growing at a fast pace, but UX design still represents a whole new world for most executives and managers. This area aims to increase user satisfaction with a product, improve usability, accessibility and interaction. It combines the traditional design of human-computer interaction and considers all aspects of user interaction with a product or service.

UX designers take the lead in improving the basic needs of the end user and try to create a product that makes the audience happy. This, in turn, leads to healthy investment returns and helps support a growing business or organization.

What does a UX Designer do?

UX designers study and evaluate how users feel about a system by looking at things like ease of use, perceived value of the system, usefulness, efficiency in completing tasks.

UX designers also consider subsystems and processes within a system. For example, they can examine the checkout process on the website ecommerce to find out how easy and accessible it is to complete the process of buying products from the site. They can delve deeper into the components of the subsystem, for example, see how effective and enjoyable the user experience is when filling out input fields on a web form.

What is UX design? Technology concept

An important concept in UX design is the process by which users shape the experience. When a consumer first encounters a product, an instant impression is formed that changes over time. In this process, perception, action, motivation and cognition combine to form a user experience. This process triggers emotional responses that largely determine whether the experience is positive or negative.

UX designers strive to create factors that influence the process on purpose. To do this, the UX designer considers three categories of questions: what, why, and how.

Why- implies the motivation of users to accept the product and the desire to own it.

What- concerns what people can do with the product and its functionality.

How- refers to design functionality in an accessible and aesthetically pleasing way.

UX design starts with a “why” category, then defines “what” and finally “how” to create products with which users can have a meaningful experience.

Historical retrospective

Compared to many other disciplines, especially web systems, UX design is relatively new. The term “user experience” was coined by Dr. Donald Norman, a cognitive science researcher who was also the first to describe the importance of user-centered design - the notion that design decisions should be based on consumer needs. From publication of this concept the history of UX design began.

Whether working for a startup or a large corporation, the UX designer is directly involved in the process to make the product useful and enjoyable to use for the company's target market. The product creation process contains several important steps:

consumer research;

product design;

testing;

implementation.

Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Consumer research: where to start as an aspiring designer?

Analyzing the consumer audience and identifying needs involves communicating with real users in the target market. If the subject of research exists only hypothetically and has not yet been created, similar products of competing firms, their advantages and disadvantages, become the subject of discussion. If the product already exists, consumers are asked questions about how people feel when navigating a site with the current design, whether it is easy to find the information they need, how structured the pages are. The quality of the written and graphic content and the overall visual impression of the site are assessed separately. The following methods can be used for this part of the process:

questionnaires;

focus group discussions;

online surveys;

analysis of tasks.

It is important to note that if a product is the product of design thought and has nothing to do with user experience and feedback in its development and implementation, it is not the product of UX design.

Design

Developing a design hypothesis involves thinking about how a new product or service can adapt to how the customer is already behaving (as revealed by user research). Product design is focused on functionality and usability, not how it looks. At this stage, the following are used:

information architecture;

• prototyping.

Testing

Testing involves checking that the changes made during the design phase are working properly and are appropriate for their task. This is a great way to get rid of problems or user difficulties that were not visible at the design stage before starting work at the implementation stage. There are various:

a / b testing;

usability;

remote user testing.

Implementation

Implementation involves working closely with web developers to achieve the ultimate goal. Web developers are working to turn design ideas into a real website. It is important that developers work as a team throughout the entire process to make this final phase more efficient and optimal.



What is user experience?

Websites and apps are getting more sophisticated as technology advances. What used to be a one-way static environment has evolved into a broad interactive experience today.

But no matter how much the manufacturing process has changed, the success of a website still depends on one thing: how users perceive it. “Is this site giving me value? Is it easy to use? Is it pleasant to be here? " - these are the questions that users ask themselves when they interact with the company's products, and it is on the basis of this experience that, as a rule, they make a purchase decision.

User interface (abbreviated as UX) in design is how a person feels when interacting with a system. The system can be a website, web application, or desktop software. In a modern context, this is often referred to as human-computer interaction.

User experience covers all aspects of the end consumer's interaction with the company, its services and products. It is important to differentiate the overall design of a project from the user interface, although User experience is an extremely important part of the design.

It is also necessary to distinguish between UX and usability: in accordance with the definition, the attribute of quality of the user interface, which encompasses ease of learning, efficiency of use, pleasantness, visual acceptability, aesthetics of design.



Professional competence

The UX designer is responsible for all of the above process steps and their execution. There are a number of professional competencies that are of great importance when training a designer:

leadership;

• project management;

  effective interaction with the team.

Data professional characteristics are very important to successful work.

What's the difference between UX and UI design?

User interface (UI) designers focus on the layout and actual design of each element that a user interacts with, while User Experience (UX) designers focus on the user's interactions with that element, as well as an integrated product experience. UI and UX designers often work together, as well as in team with web developers, to create a product that is visually appealing and enjoyable to use.

What does a UX designer actually do?

UX designers perform different functionality depending on the project and development stage. In the early stages of a project, experts conduct preliminary user experience research, and then plan interactions through wireframe and prototyping of their projects, which are then tested using various heuristic techniques.

During development, testing and development of the user interface continues to improve the product and customer experience.

Once a project is launched, a UX designer can analyze user metrics to track their progress, go back and iterate to improve design weaknesses.



Tasks and methods

UX designers perform different tasks at different points in the process. Below is a basic list:

Assessment of the current system. If the system already exists, the UX professional will holistically evaluate it. Current state... Issues are identified and corrections suggested based on analysis of research data.

A / B TESTING. The professional can design a study to compare the effectiveness and quality of the experiences of different user interfaces... This is done by putting forward a hypothesis (for example, "the green button is more attractive than the red"). Several design revisions are then proposed and the “best experience” is determined in order of testing (for example, “the green button is better because users clicked on it more often.”).

Polls. The UX designer conducts a survey of existing and potential users of the system to get an idea of ​​what was the most effective design solution. Since the experience of a single user is subjective, the best way to get first-hand information is by exploring and interacting with group opinion.

Wireframes and prototypes. Based on their findings, UX professionals can design wireframes of various layouts and higher-fidelity prototypes.

Custom streams. Designing how users should navigate the system is another popular tool.

Design patterns

Templates provide consistency and a way to find the most effective "tool" for the job. For example, when designing user interface templates, choosing the right elements (e.g., module tabs, slideshows) for specific tasks based on their effectiveness leads to a better solution. UX developers not only offer design patterns that are used on other websites, but also design their own patterns for the current project.

Programs

There are several popular and readily available UX design software for work and study. The tools aren't just for UX designers. Programmers and webmasters use them as well.

UX design courses use prototyping tools that can be done initially with pen and paper. This inexpensive, accessible, hands-on designer training tool allows you to quickly prototype and move on to design.

Some software to create wireframes and prototypes:




Teaching the basics of UX design uses A / B testing, also known as split or multivariate testing. This tool compares different versions pages. Testing can be performed using any of several programs.

Mostly software for testing, A / B splits website traffic into two equal segments. One group sees version A and the other sees version B. Statistics such as conversion rate and bounce rate are tracked for each version. Split testing determines which version is better, and this decision is based on statistics. One of the most popular A / B testing apps is Google's Website Optimizer.

Content management

When teaching UX design from scratch, a variety of content inventory techniques are used. Usage server application in-place (which you will need access to a web server for) is best for production sites. Closer to the source than third-party software, these applications are more accurate and efficient. For this purpose, a simple Excel tool for creating and managing a content inventory can be used, such as the GetUXIndex () template).

Websites built with content management systems like WordPress and Drupal tend to have built-in tools that show a map of an existing website.

Polls and feedback

User polling is another popular UX design challenge. The most efficient and cost effective way to do this is with a survey app and feedback or testing a remote user.

Common survey tools like PollDaddy provide flexible solutions that can be used for other tasks as well. There are usability feedback tools such as Usability and remote user testing services such as a usability hub that administer the testing system.

Examples of

An example of UX design - what is it? User interface design is the process of creating products that provide meaningful and experimental experiences. This presupposes careful design and usability of the product, aesthetic enjoyment of use and extensive functionality.

Thus, products that provide a great user experience (for example, the iPhone is the best example UX design) are not only for consuming or using a product, but for the entire acquisition, ownership, and even troubleshooting process.

Translation of the article How To Conduct User Experience Research Like A Professional

Translation: Ksenia Kuzminykh

Introduction

“UX research provides insight into how a product or service will perform in the real world for real people... You discover new user needs (or validate your hypotheses). They should form the basis of your product design "

Chris Mears, UXr

Designmodo, a major information portal for designers and developers, calls UX research “the process of studying how a user behaves, what their needs are, how they feel about a product. To do this, use the observation method and various tools to collect feedback. "

One of the benefits of UX research is that it allows you to understand how people live and how to respond to their queries with design solutions.

Amateurs vs. Professionals

In UX design, it is very easy to tell the amateur from the professional: the amateur excludes the end user from the development process. At the beginning of my career, I thought I could test an app, website, or product myself, and I gave up the opportunity to communicate with the end user.

Over time, I adopted a more professional approach: When designing a study, you need to start by getting to know the opinions of users. UX research allows us to get rid of narrow-mindedness, and the users of our products are still different from us.

“Insights taken directly from user experience are like muscle memory: the more you do research, the more efficiently you pump your competencies. But, just like with muscle memory, it takes a lot of work to enjoy the result. It's tempting to outsource research to a dedicated research team (and sometimes it's just inevitable). But try to immerse yourself at least a little in the research process: then you will develop the received insights yourself, and not just appropriate what was obtained by someone else later. "

UX Designer Ali Rushdan Tariq, ARTariq

5 stages of UX research

Erin Sanders proposed a 5-step research model called the Research Learning Spiral. In the first two steps, you form questions and hypotheses, and in the next steps, you collect information using specific methods:

1. Goals. What we don't know about users?
2. Hypotheses. What do we - seem to - know?
3. Methods. What methods will we use given the time and resources we have at our disposal?
4. Data collection. We collect information using the selected methods.
5. Synthesis. We fill knowledge gaps, confirm or refute our hypotheses, and open up design opportunities.

Also read: “»
Planning a major overhaul of your website? Check out tips from a seasoned practitioner to help you get around the pitfalls of restarting.

The Role of Research in UX Design

UX research is the starting point for any project. It helps to understand users, their behavior, goals, needs and motivation. It also shows how people navigate the site, where they have problems and, most importantly, how they feel from interacting with the product.

When creating a design, start with UX research, otherwise all work will be based only on your personal experience and subjective assumptions.

The value of UX research

The real value of UX research is that it reduces the uncertainty about what users want and need. The product itself, the business, and the users benefit from this.

Product benefits

UX research gives you data about the end user, how and when the user will use the product, and what problems the product can solve. It is also useful when a team is struggling to choose between multiple design options.

Business Benefits

UX research is very important to business. Understanding the end customer and considering design requirements early on can speed product development, reduce redesign costs, and increase user satisfaction.

Benefits for the user

One of the main features of UX research is the direct appeal of user feedback. In simple terms, it speaks to the thoughts of users without any influence from external authorities, and also serves as a link between the manufacturer and the user.

UX research methods

To choose the right research method, you need to understand the merits and demerits of each of them. There are 5 types of UX research in total: focus groups, usability testing, interviews, online polls, and character creation. While each can be used on its own, it is usually more effective to combine them. Next, we will analyze each method in more detail.

UX Research Method: Focus Groups

Focus groups are a series of structured interviews with the target audience that quickly and cost-effectively identify desires, opinions and experience of using the product. Quite a useful method if the company needs a lot of insights in a short time. It is best to conduct focus groups at the very beginning of the study.

Why are focus groups needed?

Focus groups can help your company better understand:

1. How do users perceive the product?
2. What are the main features of the product in the opinion of users?
3. What problems do people face when using the product?
4. Where does the product fail to meet their expectations?

Group interviews can also be used to generate ideas for the future of a product.

What people say doesn't always match what they do, so focus group results don't always accurately characterize user behavior. And the influence of participants on the opinions and preferences of each other becomes the reason for inaccurate data.

1. Ask only quality questions. Make sure your question is simply phrased, leads to a long answer, and focuses on a given topic.
2. Choose multiple topics. Schedule a discussion with 3-5 topics in 90 minutes.
3. Invite a specific number of people to participate. In a good focus group there are 3 to 6 respondents. This amount is enough to discuss several points of view and give everyone the opportunity to speak.

How to Conduct Research Using the Focus Group Method

The research process can be broken down into several stages:

According to usabiliy.gov, usability testing means "an assessment through testing by typical users of a product or service."

During the test, participants are presented with various tasks while one or more observers watch, listen and take notes of what is happening. The main purpose of this method is to find usability problems, collect quality data and determine the overall level of satisfaction of the participants with the product / service.

Why do we need usability testing?

This method allows you to identify problems before they are written in the code. When product development problems are identified early, they are less costly to fix.

Usability testing also shows how satisfied users are with a product and what changes need to be made to improve their score.

This method also has disadvantages. For example, usability testing does not 100% reflect real life scenarios of interaction with a product. And also, data of a qualitative (not quantitative) nature does not allow covering a large sample of respondents, unlike a survey. On the plus side, quality data can be more accurate and useful for generating insights.

1. Test on five users. This is enough to understand the main problems of your design.
2. Get your team involved in testing. Anyone interested in fast and quality problem solving should be present at the sessions. The team will include managers, as well as leading developers and designers.
3. Keep the report concise and get rid of the irrelevant, leaving only the key remarks of the respondents. Include 3 major positive and 3 major negative comments in your report. Thus, a full report should contain up to 50 comments and be less than 30 pages in length.

How to Conduct Research Using the Usability Testing Method

Usability testing can be broken down into several stages:

1. Determine what exactly needs to be tested and why ( new project, a new part in the project, etc.)
2. Determine the target audience (or users you would like to receive).
3. Create a list of assignments for participants.
4. Find respondents to test.
5. Involve people on your team who are interested in the result to test.
6. Apply what you learn from respondents in your design.

UX Research Method: Interview

Another popular UX research method is interviews. It is designed to reveal the user's attitude towards the product, his beliefs, as well as the past experience of current and potential users. This method assumes that 1 interviewer speaks with 1 respondent for 30 to 60 minutes. Interviews can be conducted live, over the phone, or via webcam.

Why interviews?

Of all UX research methods, interviews are usually conducted at the very beginning of the development cycle when identifying product goals. Since interviews are conducted face-to-face, all emerging problems can be promptly considered and eliminated.

Personal interviews also allow you to "capture" the respondent's verbal and non-verbal signals: facial expressions and gestures, emotional reactions that can reflect interest in the product or dissatisfaction with the issue.

When choosing a UX research methodology, keep in mind that interviews complement online surveys perfectly. An “intelligence” interview will help you clarify the wording of future questions in the questionnaire. And conducting an interview after the survey allows you to get more detailed explanations of the answers in the questionnaire.

However, this method has several disadvantages. First, the interview requires a team of interviewers, which is costly.

Second, the sample in this method also limited and depends on the number of interviewers.

1. Hire an experienced interviewer. A good specialist always asks questions in neutral formulations, listens carefully, “defuses” the situation and knows where and when to “dig” deeper.
2. Write a guide. For each interviewer, define an interview script. It should consist of the questions to be asked, their order and structure.
3. Get consent to record. Before conducting an interview, it is necessary to confirm that the respondent agrees to the recording of the conversation. It's also a good idea to have one or two notepads handy for taking notes.

How to Conduct Research Using the Interview Method

The interview can be broken down into several stages.

The survey includes a series of questions to understand the preferences and opinions of users on a given topic. Today, surveys are generally conducted online and vary in format and length. Online survey data is collected automatically, and the survey tool (platform) itself already presupposes primary analytics, the data of which can be used for further development product.

“It is very important to avoid leading questions. This is a common mistake. For example, the wording of the question: "What do you dislike about Uber?" suggests that the user has a negative attitude. An example of a more neutral wording: “Tell us more about your experience of getting around the city.” This question elicits a more natural response from the user. "

A note from the UX Beginner website

Why are online surveys needed?

Unlike traditional surveys, online surveys allow businesses to quickly collect data from a wide and sometimes hard-to-reach audience for free or at low cost. Polls also help you understand who your users are, what goals they are pursuing, and what information they are looking for.

Unfortunately, as with focus groups, what users say is sometimes at odds with what they are doing, so polls can give inaccurate results. Poorly worded questions can also negatively affect respondents' answers. The length of the survey can also be an issue - many people hate long surveys. This is why it is important to create short questionnaires so that users are more likely to complete them and are ready to participate in future research.

1. Keep your survey short. Especially if the remuneration for the participants is minimal or not provided at all. Focus only on what really matters.
2. Simplify your survey. Make sure your questions are easy to understand: ambiguity or complex wording can harm the quality of the data collected.
3. Make your survey interesting. Include closed (multiple choice) and open-ended questions.

How to Conduct Research Using the Online Survey Method

You can conduct an online survey in several stages:

1. Determine the goals and objectives of the study.
2. Formulate the questions in the questionnaire. Note: Try to collect information on how satisfied the user is with your product, what the user likes / dislikes, and what changes they might suggest.
3. Choose a survey tool (e.g. Survey Monkey, Qualtrics, etc.)
4. Find respondents
5. Conduct a survey
6. Analyze the results and prepare a report

UX Research Method: Character Creation

A character is a fictional image of an ideal client. A character is usually based on preliminary research and has goals, needs, and observable behaviors as a representative of your target audience.

Why are characters needed?

If you create mobile app or website with adaptive layout, you will need to understand who will use the product. Understanding your audience can influence some of the design elements and functions, making your product more useful. The character clarifies the portrait of your audience by answering the following questions:

• Who is my ideal client?
• What are the current patterns of behavior for my users?
• What are the needs and goals of my users?

Understanding the user's needs is vital when developing a product. A well-defined character will allow you to identify the user's needs and interact with them.

Unfortunately, character creation can be very expensive, depending on how deeply you are willing to research users. The character creation method is also not scientific, which makes some question it.

1. Create a character. It should consist of 4 elements: name, demographic characteristics, goals and behavior scenario.
2. Describe the character briefly and succinctly. Do not overuse unnecessary details that will not affect the final design.
3. Make your character realistic. Avoid caricatures, collect enough details so that the image is not out of touch with real life.

How to do research with the character creation method

Character creation can be broken down into several steps:

1. As a result of conversations with stakeholders (UX designers, marketing department, product manager), identify your target audience.
2. Conduct a survey and / or interview with real users to collect demographic information, « pain points » and preferences.
3. Squeeze out the research findings and identify target audiences.
4. Convert the resulting target groups to characters.
5. Test your characters.

Next Steps: Which Method to Choose for Your Research?

Now that you know more about UX research methods, it is time to choose the one that best suits your goals.

Behavioral research vs. Attitude research

As mentioned earlier, there is a big difference between what people say and what people do. Attitude research is about evaluating opinions, while behavioral research is about how people behave. For example, usability testing is the study of behavior. Focus groups, polls, interviews, and character creation are used to study people's attitudes towards a product.

Quality vs. Quantitative research

Qualitative methods (usability testing, focus groups, interviews) are more suitable for answering questions that start with the words "why" and "how." Quantitative methods (online surveys) are suitable for answering questions starting with "how much."

Conclusion

To summarize, the goal of UX research is simple: to discover patterns, preferences, and insights from the people who use your product. These things provide the foundation for your product design. Research also helps us fight the practice of designing for ourselves or for interested company employees, and allows the user to return to the focus of attention again.

Expert opinion

Ksenia Kuzminykh
Web analyst
i-Media

A UX designer, psychologist, and sociologist have a lot in common. The goal for all three is to understand the opinions, motives and preferences of different categories of people. They achieve this goal using the same methods.

The author of this article is Raven Veal, a behavioral psychologist and mentor for the online UX design course at CareerFoundry. She brings her knowledge of research from academia to business and explains how the research benefits the product, customer and user.

The article introduces the methods of UX research. It examines both “classic” social science methods (survey, interviews and focus group) and specific UX methods (character creation, usability testing).

Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. The task of a professional is to choose the appropriate method for specific purposes and "squeeze" the maximum of useful information out of it.

Raven Veal talks about the benefits of addressing the user at the interface design stage. As a sociologist working in web analytics, I advocate a general “humanization” of data in the digital environment. Users are not just numbers about sessions and page views, not just spots on the heatmap. These are living people who have opinions.

That is why now at i-Media, we have begun to use online surveys as an important source of information to increase website conversions. Most often, we turn to surveys when we need to understand how users rate the usability of the site now and what should be changed / supplemented. This is information that cannot be extracted from Google analytics and Yandex.Metrica. It is a wonderful living addition to generalized behavioral data.

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There is a lot of misunderstanding among designers and developers. There are also a lot of stupid UX and UI-related questions for newbies. Often, simply due to the fact that people do not know the essence of the concept of UX / UI and, not knowing what they are talking about, do not call things by their proper names.

I want to put an end to it once and for all and simple understandable language explain what UX / UI design means.

Various types of blade sharpening interfaces.

Whether you push buttons on the adding machine, twist the handle of a sharpening stone, or swipe across your smartphone screen, these are the interfaces through which you interact with mechanisms. In this case, the interface does not have to be digital at all. It's just that the very word "interface" was borrowed from English quite recently and has come down to us in only the digital age.

The goal of a UI / UX designer is to bring the user to some logical point in the interface. Make the user achieve their goal.

What is UX / UI, in plain text

(this section will contain banal phrases)

UX- this is User Experience(literally: "user experience"). That is, this is what experience / impression the user gets from working with your interface. Does he manage to achieve the goal and how easy or difficult it is to do it.

A UI- this is User interface(literally "user interface") - how the interface looks and what physical characteristics it acquires. Determines what color your "product" will be, whether it will be convenient for a person to hit the buttons with his finger, whether the text will be readable and the like ...

UX / UI design- is the design of any user interface in which usability is as important as appearance.

What is UX and UI design, in other words

The direct responsibility of a UX / UI designer is, for example, to “sell” a product or service through an interface. It is on the basis of the work of the UX / UI designer that the user makes a decision: "To be or not to be?" Like it or not. Buy or not buy.

In fact, the goals of a designer can be different. It is not necessary to "sell" something. But I deliberately don't want to use phrases that are too abstract for beginners to understand; so that the style of presentation does not turn into a reader on the programming language of the 90s.

UX / UI design isn't just about smartphones and websites. Moreover, the profession of UX / UI designer has existed since time immemorial. It's just that it wasn't called that before. More precisely, before it was not called at all, but was part of other professions.

Here's the first example: when Wilhelm Schickard invented the adding machine in 1623, he was already a UX / UI designer.

Because it was he who came up with which tumblers and in what sequence a person should turn in order to get the result of the calculations. And he also figured out in what logical order they would be located. Anyway, I figured out how all these pens would look. He created an interface for interacting with the machine.

Another more ancient and primitive example is a whetstone (wheel). Even in the early Middle Ages, there were many varieties and mechanisms of such a wheel:

• it could be turned by hand with the handle
• the wheel could be turned by another person
• or it could be spun even without hands by pressing the pedal with your foot
• other...

They were all different types interfaces.

So, when the inventor of the next whetstone thought:

• will he sit and press the pedal himself
• or he will simplify the mechanism, but put a slave who will spin the wheel with his hand,

then at that moment he was UX designer.

And the person who thought what size the stone would be, what color to choose a tree for the stand and how to fasten the wooden poles (nails or leather bundles?) And how long the handle would be, was UI designer.

And the way you sharpen your sword would be called interface.

Difference between UX and UI is that the UX designer plans how you will interact with the interface and what steps you need to take to do something. And the UI designer comes up with how each of these steps will look like. As you can see from the examples above, UX and UI are so closely related that sometimes the line is blurred. Therefore, both UX and UI are usually dealt with by one designer and his profession is written with /.

Recently, the popularization of the UX / UI designer profession is more associated with the development digital technologies... But that "boom" (when we began to see the term "UX / UI" in every second job posting) is associated with the name itself, which someone came up with quite recently.

UI / UX design is now one of the most in-demand professions in the digital industry. How long it will be in demand depends on the development of this industry. And, apparently, it is only gaining momentum.

UX and UI are not trends. Technologists are developing. The demand for websites is growing. Digital apps are mushrooming. And the design and development tools are simplified so much that almost anyone without programming knowledge can make a business card site on their knees. But this site has to look somehow. And not just like an abstract wireframe of text and buttons. This is where programmers need help from a UX / UI designer.

The division into web designers and UX / UI designers came about with the development of the Internet. Over time, narrower specialists were needed who would make interfaces specifically for websites.
Yes, UI / UX design is a broader concept than web design.

P.S. Some people write UI / UX, but I prefer writing UX / UI. And this is only because in the workflow, the UX is done first, and then the UI. But it doesn't matter - write whatever you want. The main thing is not to confuse this order during the workflow itself. Because many novice designers first start thinking about what cool buttons and chips will be in their interface. But they do not think about how the user will generally move from one step to another.

Already existing, we are constantly faced with similar descriptions of the target audience from business owners.

An even more neglected situation in business is when the owner wants to create one website for both wholesale and retail clients.

Fragment from the website development brief:

The reason for such situations is a banal lack of interest in their clients. The owners of such a business have very little idea of ​​their clients, their problems and needs. The output is something like this, the eyes of site visitors "scatter" in search of the necessary information:

By neglecting target audience research, not working on UX (user experience), in our age, business owners risk being left without clients at all. Before deciding to redesign your old site (since it’s not cheap!), It’s worth doing your research to find out what users want. Otherwise, you will get a "beautiful" site that does not meet the expectations of customers, is inconvenient for them. After all, you are doing a redesign for users, and not for your loved ones? The redesign won't make it any easier for a business if the site becomes beautiful, but still inconvenient for your customers. For example, on the new website, parents who want to send their children to study in the Czech Republic cannot find the information they need in the same way as on the old one due to the complex structure and overly modern design:

Now in the world of web development there are 2 "whales" of the interface: UX and UI design. UX is about who your users are and how they interact with your product (website). You can't make good UX design without researching users. In briefs, everyone likes to write like this:

But intuitively clear interface does exactly UX design. And this interface should not be clear for everyone, but for your target audience. UX design includes audience research, product design and testing. And UI design is already familiar to everyone graphic design.

To keep up with the times and not go broke, you need to clearly understand the target audience and never stop researching it.

What methods are there?

There are a great variety of research methods, here are the most popular:

Method	How to apply
Marketing research	an article about how to understand who your current audience is if there is no money for full-fledged marketing research.
Analysis of the experience of managers / technical support	Ask managers who communicate with customers what customers are complaining about and what they are dissatisfied with.
Market and competitor analysis	article about competitive analysis. This analysis is very important for business and should be done periodically.
Expert review	You can conduct an audit of the usability of the current site yourself. Helps to identify common errors in interfaces.
User interviews	Make up questions, select several users from the target audience groups and just ask. A very valuable method, but for some reason business owners do not use it.
Enabled surveillance	Observe how users work with the site, ask them questions along the way. Opens your eyes to the fact that your site is not so user-friendly.
Characters and scenarios	Portraits of potential customers and scenarios of their interaction with the site. You can also build a CJM. Helps to understand who your users are, to identify their characteristics.
Survey	Oral, written, online, by phone. Even a small online survey in google forms is better than ignorance. An example of a survey about a 1PS personal account. Helps to get answers to your questions.
Usability testing	You create tasks for testing the interface (buy pizza on a food delivery website, buy a phone, etc.). Invite respondents. They carry out these tasks before your eyes, you are the moderator, watching the process. The method opens your eyes to how people actually interact with your site. Sometimes it's shocking =)
A / B testing	Point changes to test hypotheses. Helps you choose one of the available options.

The application of the methods depends on at what stage the project is.

When you just create a website, it is very useful to apply the methods:

• market and competitor analysis;
• characters and scripts;
• interviews with potential users;
• marketing research.

When you have there is already a website and you need to find problems in the interface and check the changes made, then you can use the methods:

• expert review;
• survey;
• interviews with users;
• usability testing;
• A / B testing;
• analysis of the experience of managers / technical support.

When do you want develop the site, bring it to new level , then the following methods are useful:

• interviews with users;
• included surveillance;
• characters and scripts;
• analysis of the experience of managers / technical support;
• market and competitor analysis.

What are the most budgetary studies?

The main thing is to understand irreplaceable business value of research and start carrying them out. It is necessary to observe and communicate with people if you want to make a useful website for them, and not a spherical horse in a vacuum.

Why research is needed:

• understand what people want from your product (site).
• you will be able to give people what they want (and not what YOU think they want).

You can also try remote usability testing using specialized services: Fabuza, AskUsers, UXCrowd.

In services, usability testing is carried out by users-testers, selected according to the parameters you need: geography, gender, age, occupation, experience in any field. You write the test questions yourself, UXCrowd has a guide on this topic. There shouldn't be too many questions so that the user doesn't get tired of taking your test.

At Fabuza, usability experts help you correctly formulate test questions. Self-testing is available and work with usability experts who will prepare a report on the results of your test and give advice on improving the interface.

In the test, it is possible to send a tester to the site to complete the task, record a video session of the response. Sample test for 1PS website. In the Fabuza interface, the test results look like this:

Through usability testing, you will see how people from your target audience actually interact with the site, what problems they have. It's time to take off your rose-colored glasses!

Are you ripe for research?

If we conveyed to you the need to research your site, then write, we will help you organize it. We conduct user interviews and surveys, remote usability testing and A / B tests.