Research is a vital component of the design process. It plays a crucial role in gathering essential information.
Start the design process by identifying project roles and responsibilities, user needs, user pain points and business goals.
Problem: Solution based on assumptions
Without research, you risk designing a solution based on assumptions, missing valuable insights, and delivering a product or service that falls short of expectations.
Solution: Do research, analyse data
The objective is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the needs, pain points, and goals of both the users and the business stakeholders. This will help align the design process with their requirements and ensure that the resulting solution addresses the most critical problems effectively.
Checklist
Do what’s applicable to the project
- Project roles and responsibilities
- Surveys & questionnaires
- Enquiry forms analysis
- Social media content analysis
- Stakeholder and users interviews
- Main competitors & website audits
Website audit tips: Is branding and marketing clear and focused? is it clear how to do business with us? how users complete tasks? main user flows? does the website communicate correct messages? business & user goals?, content hierarchy?, content strategy?, does it solve user problems or we talk about our selves?, site architecture, call to actions, is the website optimised for mobile devices?, keywords + SEO, how do they drive conversions?, website code and speed check, google analytics), accessibility.
Process
- 1. Define project roles and responsibilities
- Identify the specific tasks, duties, and accountabilities that individuals or teams will be responsible for throughout the project lifecycle
- Ensure that all members of the project team understand their roles, the expectations and requirements of their respective positions, and how their contributions fit into the overall project objectives
- 2. Conduct research
- Create surveys & questionnaires
- Enquiry forms, social media content analysis
- Stakeholder and user interviews
- If you can, speak directly to users
- Website and competitor audits
- 3. Based on research:
- Define user needs, fears, struggles
- Define business goals (e.g. drive more leads? signups?...)
- Review notes form competitor audit
- Review notes from website or digital product audit
- 4. Define the context of the project - initial brief
Takeaways
- Be clear about the problem you need to solve.
- Have a clear understanding of user needs, fears and struggles.
- Understand business goals (e.g. drive more leads? signups?...).
- Define what works and what doesn’t (Audit).
- Understand the context of the project.
Books
- Just enough research by Erika Hall
- Sense and Respond by Jeff Gothelf & Josh Seiden
- Click! How to Encourage Clicks Without Shady Tricks by Paul Boag