UX Design: Week 2 — User Research
User Research
User research is a study of target users which would include user needs and goals. This is to the designer and developer know who their target audience are and find ways to gain their interest and attention.
User research is important as this allows to discover the target audiences’ problems. For example, if I was creating an app, I’d want to find out the similar apps that are available and figure out a way to attract them to me. So, if there is an issue or a problem with them apps, I could think about a solution by fixing the issue/ problem — this way I would be more than likely to attract the target audience. User research can also help align the team and potential save money but not overspending on the investment. Most importantly, user research will help clarify the (business) goals. A good UX design will ultimately be in the middle target audience needs and business needs.
Through research, I have the opportunity to find problems and evaluate existing products. Having an understanding what existing products and apps are made to do, will also provide insight to what the target audience think — feedback of the good and bad.
Qualitative research such as interviews help gain an in-depth understanding of product or applications’ experiences by asking relevant questions. The advantages for this method are it can be held as 1–1 or in small group and can be interviewed on a flexible day/ time. The information gathered can be details although, it remains in question as to whether this is an actual representation.
Quantitative research such as survey are intended to gather data about what the target audience do
Survey research can be considered as both, depending on if the results are intended to count or ask open-minded questions. Regardless, both methods provide large number of responses and learn about the problem but not all answers can be accurate.
Update
For my product, the User Research will be the principal part as this is where I will gather the information of target audience, expectation for the product design. Using the research, I will create a prototype which will meet the users’ needs with appropriate UX design.
In every research there is always a doubt in keeping up with the competitors. There’s always something that will work successfully. For me, I have begun with making the prototype with simplicity, ensuring the product is usable for all users, even those who are non-technical. I think this will attract more users especially for those who only running the landlord business in their spare time.
In achieving the user research, I will need to collect analytic data which will determine how many people use similar products. Researching will be important as these skills will come handy to determine how to approach my app design.
I will complete the user research by collecting related data and information. I will compare those with my prototype and use this to improve on the product. The user research will be broken down in Target Audience, Personas, and looking for competitors. I will aside 1–2 weeks for this to come together with a user research.
REF
1. Ditte Hvas Mortensen, December 2020, User Research: What It Is and Why You Should Do It, Interaction Design Foundation, Viewed 25th February 2021, Available at <https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/user-research-what-it-is-and-why-you-should-do-it>
2. Interaction Design Foundation, ND, What is User Research?, Interaction Design Foundation, Viewed 25th February 2021, Available at <https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/user-research>
3. Falmouth University, January 2021, Figure 1: Good UX, Available at <https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/907/pages/week-2-introduction-to-user-research?module_item_id=46620>
Falmouth University, January 2021, Week 2: Introduction to User Research, Falmouth University, Viewed 2nd February 2021, Available at < https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/907/pages/week-2-introduction-to-user-research?module_item_id=46620>
