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Understanding the user is one of the most important aspects of product design. Empathetic research is a process informed by deep qualitative data rather than statistical data. It focuses on people rather than technology, and it requires understanding and empathizing with them.
Design Project: Synthesize insights from researching Craigslist customers and create insight statements.
Access the project files in the downloads
tab
Research Methods:
- A Process for Empathetic Product Design by Jon Kolko
- When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods by Christopher Rohrer
- Asking the right questions during user research, interviews and testing by Fabricio Teixeira
- 3 questions you should never ask in a user interview by Andrew Coyle
- 10 Tips For Conducting Better Mobile User Interviews by Proto.io
- A Guide to Personas by Ben Ralph
- Learn UX Research Methods with GIFs by Ksenia Sternina
Tools:
[MUSIC]
0:00
Every good design begins
with good research.
0:04
Whether you're a designer,
a product manager, or
0:08
an engineer, the first step in creating
a product is to understand the user and
0:10
define the problem you're trying to solve.
0:15
A good and successful product
solves a problem for people.
0:17
Once you've done the research
around your users and
0:21
defined the problem, then you can explore
all the possible solutions to the problem.
0:23
The first stage of designing
a product is called discovery.
0:28
Understanding the user
is one of the first and
0:32
most important things you'll
need to do as a designer.
0:34
You may have heard the term
empathic research,
0:38
which is all about understanding and
empathizing with users.
0:40
As designers, we need to better understand
who it is that we're designing for
0:44
by observing people, how they behave,
and how they think or feel, so
0:48
that we can help solve a problem or
a need.
0:53
There is a wide range of
research methods out there,
0:56
especially at the early
stages of a product.
0:59
There are research methods such as field
studies, focus groups, interviewing, or
1:01
surveys that will help you better
understand the opportunity or
1:06
the problem you're trying to
solve by talking to users.
1:09
Creating personas is also
a great way to build empathy.
1:13
Personas help you and your team to keep
your users in mind with every decision.
1:16
Whether you're a designer,
a product manager, or a developer,
1:22
it's important that every person on
the team is thinking about the user, and
1:25
that everyone works
together to keep the user
1:29
at the forefront at every stage of
the product development process.
1:31
For our project, I want you to go and
1:36
talk to at least ten people who have
used Craigslist at least once recently.
1:38
You can choose to interview
them in person, or
1:43
you can also send out a quick survey email
to your friends, family, or colleagues.
1:45
During this exercise, ask them about their
experience with using the product and
1:51
gather any insights.
1:55
Here's a list of questions
to help you get started.
1:57
When was the last time
you used Craigslist?
2:00
What was it for?
2:03
What types of things do
you do on Craigslist?
2:04
And what do you like
most about Craigslist?
2:07
What do you like least about Craigslist?
2:09
Tell me about the last time you tried
to sell something on Craigslist.
2:12
And tell me about the last time you
bought something on Craigslist.
2:16
How often do you use Craigslist?
2:20
What would make you want
to use Craigslist more?
2:22
For more tips on how to
conduct interviews or
2:25
create interview scripts,
refer to the teacher's notes.
2:27
After you've done your research,
2:31
you may be wondering what
to do with all that data.
2:33
First, take all the data from
your interviews or survey and
2:36
organize them into one
place like a spreadsheet.
2:39
You can use the sample spreadsheet
provided in the project files as
2:42
a template, or you can create your own.
2:46
Notice that the interview questions
are color coded because this will help
2:48
you later on when we begin to organize and
analyze the data.
2:52
Once you've finished adding all the data,
begin making some initial observations.
2:56
What do users like about using Craigslist?
3:00
What are some common pain points
that users are experiencing?
3:03
For example, if the majority of your users
are saying that they're worried about
3:06
safety and
whether they can trust Craigslist or
3:10
not, that's an opportunity or
a problem to solve.
3:12
As you start to look through your data,
you can make notes for
3:16
yourself by highlighting or
bolding the data that seems important.
3:18
Now it´s time to analyze your data.
3:24
Tracking all the data and
finding patterns can be difficult,
3:27
especially when you've got
a long spreadsheet full of text.
3:30
Affinity mapping, or affinity diagram, is
a tool that gathers large amounts of data
3:34
and organizes them into groups based
on their natural relationships.
3:39
It provides a complete picture of the
research, showing trends, themes, issues,
3:43
and areas of opportunity for improvement.
3:47
Using sticky notes is a great
way to create an affinity map.
3:50
This could be done with real sticky notes,
or
3:54
you can do this digitally by using
a free product called RealtimeBoard.
3:56
Let's go ahead and open a new browser
window, and go to realtimeboard.com.
4:00
RealtimeBoard is an online
whiteboard that's useful for
4:05
visual team collaboration.
4:08
You can add sticky notes,
images, mockups, drawings,
4:10
videos, etc., onto an endless canvas and
share it with your teammates.
4:13
It saves a lot of time and
makes collaboration much easier,
4:18
especially if your teammates
are working in remote locations.
4:22
The link to the RealtimeBoard website
is also in the teacher's notes.
4:25
After you sign up, log in to get started.
4:29
If you're using a Mac computer,
you can activate the split screen mode
4:33
by clicking and holding down the full
screen icon of your browser.
4:37
You can drop the RealtimeBoard browser
into one side of your screen, and
4:40
then drop the Google spreadsheet
into the other side.
4:44
You can also resize your split screen
window to what works best for you.
4:47
A split screen will help save you
a lot of time from switching back and
4:51
forth to different browsers or
programs as you work.
4:55
Create a new board in RealtimeBoard and
click on the frame tool,
4:58
and choose a custom frame to begin.
5:02
Click on the paint bucket icon to add
a color to the background of your frame.
5:11
Then click on the sticky note tool and
choose Bulk mode.
5:16
I'm going to assign the color green for
5:19
all of these notes as it corresponds
to the color in the spreadsheet.
5:21
Let's start by entering the data for
5:25
the question,
what do you like most about Craigslist?
5:27
Once you're done entering your
insights for this portion, click Done.
5:53
You can resize the sticky notes so
that they can fit into your frame.
5:57
Then continue adding the rest of your data
using different color sticky notes that
6:02
match with the color you've
assigned in your spreadsheet.
6:06
Once you've gathered your research,
6:17
select the frame and choose the More icon,
6:22
then Duplicate to create
a copy of this frame.
6:28
On this new frame, begin to organize and
6:39
group the sticky notes based
on similar insights or topics
6:41
Start making observations like,
which topics or
6:59
insights were repeated the most,
and jot down any notes.
7:02
This will help you create
insight statements.
7:05
Here is an example of what your board
might look like after you finish grouping.
7:12
Now create a new frame, and
then click on the sticky note icon and
7:22
choose a color that you haven't used yet.
7:25
Look at your insights and
notes you've taken and
7:29
write insight statements that
summarize the main points.
7:31
For example,
the summary of these two columns is that
7:35
scammers cause users to feel nervous and
worried.
7:38
You can write an insight statement like,
users are worried, nervous, and
7:42
furious because of scammers and
scam posts.
7:45
Here are the insight statements
I came up with from my research.
7:55
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