This post describes the types of research I conduct and the kinds of deliverables I create from that research. I aim to provide a pragmatic and easily understandable approach to UX research, setting the stage for the next steps in project planning.

Every project is unique, with its own business goals and desired user interactions. As technology evolves rapidly, and users don’t always behave as expected, research is crucial for understanding human behavior and continuously testing your product as it evolves from an idea to something indispensable. This process requires time to strategize what to build, how to build it efficiently, and how to adapt to changes without wasting resources.

UX Research keeps you informed about industry trends and helps you understand customer needs. It’s essential for collaborating with customers to create features that deliver real value.

I strive to be empathetic to decision-makers and product teams. I provide insights that are easy to grasp, with straightforward statistics for busy stakeholders and detailed information for the team responsible for enhancing product usability and determining the roadmap.

The following examples illustrate the UX research deliverables from the work I've done. I hope they give you an idea of what to expect if we work together on your project.

An exemplar review analyzes the trends and interaction techniques used by similar websites or products. By evaluating the competitive landscape through site goals, personas, and user scenarios, this review identifies common features, content, and presentation strategies to address user problems.

Comprehensive insights on industry trends and techniques,

Identification of commonalities and gaps in features and presentation,

Actionable recommendations for enhancing user experience.

This analysis helps uncover opportunities for improvement, ensuring your product meets user needs effectively and stands out in the market. More info about this service.

An expert review uses established usability heuristics to evaluate key user scenarios, focusing on content, navigation, interaction design, visual aesthetics, accessibility, and responsiveness. This analysis considers site goals, user roles, and specific tasks.

Evaluation of the product against 10 usability heuristics,

Detailed observations on user experience and usability,

Actionable recommendations for improvement.

This approach helps enhance the overall usability of your product, ensuring it meets user expectations and industry standards.

User testing is crucial for transforming a concept into a successful, working product. Throughout the project lifecycle, various techniques ensure the product remains user-focused and meets user needs.

Early Collaborative Design: Use ideation paper testing, intercept testing, and co-design sessions to quickly iterate on new concepts and validate assumptions.

Feature Milestones: Conduct one-on-one user testing, intercept testing, and A/B testing using prototypes to assess specific features.

Continuous Improvement: Implement pop-up testing on live products to validate features and gather insights on real-life issues.

I provide deliverables tailored for decision-makers, with top-line summaries and detailed recommendations for team members. This approach ensures the product continuously aligns with user expectations and industry standards.

If you’re interested in learning more about other user testing techniques, feel free to reach out for a chat.

Service design provides a comprehensive view of the entire customer journey, ensuring alignment between user experiences and business objectives. This method involves in-depth discussions with various stakeholders to map out and understand the interactions across user and business touchpoints.

I have successfully implemented service design methods and delivered service design blueprints for:

Enterprise Organizations: Helping to create diverse services for a varied product portfolio.

Non-Profit Organizations: Assisting in exploring new revenue ideas while maintaining core principles and enhancing customer service.

If you’re interested in learning more about how service design can benefit your organization, feel free to reach out for a chat.

This project was undertaken for an enterprise media company looking to adapt to different media consumption habits across generations. The company aimed to better serve newspaper subscribers and explore engagement strategies for Millennials and Gen Z, who prefer social media and mobile news platforms.

The primary goal was to create a customer journey map for newspaper subscribers to understand the scope of customer services across the enterprise. Additionally, the research outcomes were used in future concepts for engaging younger audiences through social media.

Conducted qualitative and quantitative research activities,

Facilitated several co-design workshops with internal staff across New Zealand to document actions and processes for newspaper services,

Held co-design workshops with young people to understand their news consumption habits,

Analyzed data from customer care databases,

Conducted phone interviews with selected customers who agreed to be contacted for additional insights.

Role: UX Researcher,

Duration: 3 months,

Delivery: Customer Journey Map for Print, Customer Experience, and Digital Product areas,

Bonus: Initial Customer Framework for future projects that may involve digital product development beyond the service website.

The Bonus Deliverable focuses on creating a Customer Framework to ensure consistency and cohesion across products within the business ecosystem. It involves using standardized user stories to address similar solutions across products, streamlining the development process and enhancing the user experience. The framework supports seamless integration of new features and products, maintaining a unified user experience.

These examples share UX and UI design projects for social good, community focused products.

This redesign project focused on a service for circuit board hobbyists by a small business in the USA:

Conducting UX research and providing a roadmap of improvements aligned with their yearly budget,

Create pathways for novice and advanced users,

Clear descriptions of different fabrication services,

Content for onboarding new users and showcasing seasoned users,

A refreshed brand design that aligns with their brand colors,

Execution of ideas within a limited budget.

This redesign project with a University client in New Zealand:

A university website designed to help students learn sign language,

Collaboration with the Deaf Studies Research Unit at Victoria University of Wellington, NZ,

Conducting UX research and providing a roadmap of improvements aligned with their yearly budget,

Reorganizing the main navigation and revising the search feature to include advanced topics,

Aligning native mobile and web versions,

Incorporating artwork and movies from deaf students.