Zack Naylor is a senior UX designer and user research lead at The Nerdery. He has experience working with startups and large companies. The document discusses the process of user research and strategy in UX projects, including business discovery to understand objectives, user research methods to gather data on user needs and behaviors, and developing strategy informed by research insights.

1. Tuesday, June 5, 2012

2. Zack Naylor
The Nerdery
Zack is a Senior UX Designer and User Research Practice Lead at The Nerdery, where he’s
constantly seeking to evolve the practice of user research, discovery and synthesis in design.
He has worked with clients ranging from early stage startups to Fortune 500s. He began his
career in visual design and front-end development. Before joining The Nerdery, he worked as
a UX designer for startups Modcloth and Lockerz, then later UX Manager at Pikimal.
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

3. User Research & Strategy
What Is It?
Business Discovery User Research & Analysis UX Project Strategy
+ =
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

4. Business Discovery
What’s the Problem?
Understanding business objectives is a
significant part of user experience design.
• Problem Definition
• Success Criteria
• Potential Risks
• Business Goals
• ...and how they’ll be measured
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

5. User Research & Strategy
What is it?
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

6. Business Discovery
The Scoop
We begin by learning us much as we can about the business, relative to the project
at hand:
• What is the problem we’re solving?
• How does the business see this project solving a
problem for the business? It’s audience?
• ...on that note...
• Who is the audience?
• What are their needs?
• How will this design serve their needs?
• How do we know we hit the mark?
• Who determines the designs success?
• How do they determine that?
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

7. Business Discovery
The Execution
We go about answering those questions in a number of ways:
• Stakeholder Interviews
• Stakeholder Workshops
• Collaborative Design Sessions
• Problem/Solution Workshops
• Heuristic Analysis
• Competitive Analysis/Gap Analysis
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

8. Business Discovery
The Punchline
What comes out of this and what happens next?
• Business Insights Report
• Focused Research Goals
• Further Definition for Design Success
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

9. User Research
Let’s Get Some Data
User Research allows us to learn how to
design for delight and ease of use.
• Goals
• Expectations
• Triggers
• Pain Points
• Behavior
• ...specifically past and current behavior
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

10. User Research
The Methods
After we define our goals for the research (directly informed by our business
discovery), we conduct user research to gather data through various methods
such as:
• Usability Testing
• Ethnography & Contextual Inquiry
• User Interviews
• Card Sorting
• Surveys
• Web Analytics & Site Search Analytics
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

11. User Research
The Magic
Steeped in business goals and defined success criteria for that business, we
analyze and synthesize raw data to:
• Create Insights
• Inform Design Decisions
• Empathize with the Audience
• Craft Features
• Meet Expectations
• Support Behavior
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

12. Strategy
Let’s Get Cookin’
We have observed, behavior-based insights to inform other critical pieces of a
digital experience such as:
• Information Architecture
• Taxonomy, Thesauri, Vocabulary, Sitemaps
• Interaction Design
• Process Flow Diagrams/User Flows, Interaction Models, Wireframes
• Visual Design
• Visual Design Concepts, Design Production
• Technology
• Engagement
• Overall Experience Strategy
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

13. In Closing
Tie It Together
User Research and Strategy in a UX Project looks like:
• Business Discovery
• Define the Problem
• Outline Project Success
• User Research
• Understand Why it’s a Problem
• Define How to Solve it
• Synthesize, Make Informed Decisions
• Strategy
• Meet Business Goals and Objectives
• Design to Support Real, Observed Behavior
• Support Other Critical UX Elements
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

14. Thanks
Questions?
@zacknaylor
Tuesday, June 5, 2012