A presentation at Tech on Toast in in Nottingham, UK by Helen Joy
Hi! Editorial & magazine designer Graphic designer Web/digital designer UX/UI designer UX consultant User researcher
There are known knowns.
These are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns.
That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns.
There are things we don't know we don't know.
Simpsons' gif - Homer "Okay, now, let's not jump to conclusions, everyone."
Invention is not the same as innovation. – Tim Brown Change by design
Without user research, you won’t know what problems you’re trying to solve, what to build or if the service you create will work well for users.
Venn diagram: Organisation needs / UX / User needs
UX bridges the gap between organisation and user needs
“If your work doesn’t support the business, you have failed, no matter how good the design.”
GOV.UK identity guidelines • Start with user needs • Do the hard work to make it simple • Design with data • Iterate. Then iterate again • This is for everyone • Understand context • Make things open: it makes things better
User research is a team sport . https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2014/08/06/have-you-had-your-recommended-dose-of-research/
“In a multidisciplinary team each individual becomes an advocate for their own technical specialty… likely resulting in a grey compromise…
…in an interdisciplinary team there is collective ownership of ideas and everyone takes responsibility for them.”
Example post-its from a how might we session
If a research report sits on a server and no-one reads it, does it exist?
Users are not receptive to this idea.
“Don’t go there. Only an idiot would go down that thought process.”
GDS user research wall
GDS Trello board for recording research findings
Interactive Google map to show the locations of user research participants and the type of research conducted.
“Everyone is responsible for looking out for the user.”
Questions?
In tech we're familiar with the term ‘user’, we have user experience designers, user researchers, user stories. But what about the actual people using our products? It's easy to forget we're designing and building for real people. In this talk we look at how user research can be used to better communicate with stakeholders and teams who their users are and what they want from us.
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
GDS blog post about how user research is a team effort.
More information about the GDS (Government Digital Service) standards.
More detailed information on Google Venture's How Might We exercise from Sprint.
More information on the user research Trello board to record research findings.
Link to purchase Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
Link to purchase Change by Design by Tim Brown
Here’s what was said about this presentation on social media.
for free. You
can too.