UX Chats: Recent Episodes
UX Tools
Go beyond design theory to become a more effective, efficient designer with Jordan and Taylor (creators of uxtools.co). Every month we'll sit down with other senior designers to find solutions to specific challenges we face as designers every day. Each episode is actionable and applicable to your job as a designer.
On the second episode of the Product Design Report, we talk about the Wix design team refactoring their error messages, several updates and tools for Figma and FigJam, a recap of Adobe MAX, accessible color combinations, Overflow Stories, and the State of Design Ops 2022 report.
Links:
- Article from Jenny Nadler about error messages: https://wix-ux.com/when-life-gives-you-lemons-write-better-error-messages-46c5223e1a2f
- Find and replace in Figma: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/9141292269847
- A few new things in Figma and FigJam: https://twitter.com/figma/status/1584927247328313344
- Figma Autoname plugin: https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1160642826057169962/Figma-Autoname
- Adobe MAX: https://www.adobe.com/max.html
- Adobe Fonts in Figma: https://www.creativebloq.com/news/adobe-figma-max
- Some AI experiments at Adobe MAX: https://prototypr.io/post/adobe-ai-max-sneaks-2022
- Randoma11y: https://randoma11y.com/
- Overflow Stories: https://overflow.io/stories/
- State of Design Ops 2022: https://designops.report/
Watch the first episode of the Product Design Report where we talk about working remotely as a designer, Penpot's big announcement about a round of funding, the Abstract show on Netflix, and the new Spark app for Mac.
Links
- Article about in-demand remote jobs: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/05/the-most-in-demand-work-from-anywhere-jobs-companies-are-hiring-for.html
- Penpot: https://penpot.app/
- Penpot’s article announcing funding: https://community.penpot.app/t/penpot-our-time-has-come/1563
- Abstract show on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80057883
- Stark for Mac: https://www.getstark.co/mac/
- Tweet from Anna Cook about accessibility specialists: https://twitter.com/annaecook/status/1529170604225482753
Darshan Gajara is Head of Design at GraphCMS and creator of Product Disrupt. In this episode, we discuss how to take insights you glean from UX research and turn them into actual designs.
We talk about:
- Make sure your design and research reports are clear and story-based so others have the right understanding.
- Utilize low-fidelity tools like wireframes and user flows. It helps bridge the gap.
- Getting hung up on a specific process can sometimes hamper your ability to make designs based on the real problem.
- If you're having trouble translating research into designs, it's likely that there's a breakdown earlier in your flow: you're going after the wrong problem, don't have a hypothesis, chose the wrong method, etc.
- Raise the general UX research IQ of your whole team so everyone can synthesize together.
- Utilize usability testing — it's an easy way to validate your design translations.
- When you're doing really broad research, make sure you know exactly what you're looking for so that you have specific deliverables to help you more easily translate your findings.
- Get effective and efficient at synthesis because that's the bridge between research and UI design.
Links:
- Follow Darshan on Twitter
- Product Disrupt
- Follow UX Tools on Twitter
- Subscribe to the UX Tools Newsletter
Nikki Anderson is the founder and managing director of User Research Academy—an online school to help people enter the field of user research—and a frequent writer in the field. We discuss common mistakes that can make your research less effective and less efficient.
We discuss:
- Forgetting our stakeholders are our "users" as well and how to align with them
- Being a good team player in research—involving, sharing, and handing off
- Using an "intake document" to align on scope and goals and how to set expectations for team members
- Reverse engineering a research plan from the insights you need to gain
- Decoupling personal goals from research plans (and, if possible, not testing your own designs)
- Looking higher up in the funnel to find what business, strategy, or team misalignment might be affecting your research goals
- Standardizing and speeding up tools (like Calendly, Hotjar, Grain, and others)
- Using mixed methods to move more quickly (but making sure the method aligns with your goals)
- Leveraging existing resources through desk research (Google Scholar, Forrester, etc)
- Not letting your research die by investing in ideas like a research repository, a monthly research presentation, etc.
Links:
- Follow Nikki on LinkedIn
- Check out userresearchacademy.com
- Follow UX Tools on Twitter
- Subscribe to the UX Tools Newsletter
Ioana is a UX Manager at UI Path, Co-founder of Mento Design Academy, and creator of UX Goodies. In this episode, we chat about when you should (or shouldn't) do research and if it's ever okay to skip research.
We discuss:
- Focusing on your research question and if you might already have the answer
- The "swinging pendulum" between exploration and execution modes
- Research as a "de-risking" exercise and creative ways to handle low risk projects
- The role sample size plays in your decision to research after releasing a solution to customers
- Reflecting on why you might be considering
- How sloppy research might be more costly than skipping research
- Developing the instinct for when to skip or punt on research
Links to include:
- Follow UX Goodies on Instagram
- Check out Mento Design Academy
- Follow Ioana on LinkedIn
- Follow UX Tools on Twitter
- Subscribe to the UX Tools Newsletter
Anfisa is a Senior UX designer at Citrix, creator of the Into UX Design course, and content creator on Instagram. In this episode, we chat about some of our favorite research tools and how to use them for more efficient UX research.
We discuss:
- How our need for research tools differs depending on context (freelance, in-house, large team, small team, etc)
- Making your current tools work for you
- Basic documentation can be done in Google Docs, Word, or Miro
- Creating intelligent, nested research database in tools like Dovetail, Airtable, Notion, or Coda.
- Tagging and organizing research insights through tools like Dovetail and Userzoom Go
- Recruiting participants through UserBrain, Userinterviews, and Usertesting
- Diverse research techniques through UXTweak and Optimal Workshop
- Usability testing through Maze, Usertesting, and Userbrain
- Session recording through Hotjar and Fullstory
Links:
- Follow Anfisa on Instagram
- Anfisa's Into UX Design course
- Follow UX Tools on Twitter
- Sign up for the UX Tools Newsletter
Lindsey Martin is a UX Director at Lucid and former UX Research Lead. In this episode, we chat with her about how to make the UX research synthesis process more efficient.
We discuss:
- The real definition of synthesis and its importance
- Doing synthesis as you go
- Synthesizing with a buddy
- Leveraging UX research tools and being organized
- When to use workshops
- Focusing on how research impacts your end designs
Links
- Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn
- Follow Lindsey's dog Zelda on Instagram
- Follow UX Tools on Twitter
- Sign up for the UX Tools Newsletter
We chat with Trae Winterton about how to pick research methods that can still be highly effective even if you're short on time (or budget).
Trae has worked in Support, Analytics, UX Research, and now as a Product Manager at BrainStorm.
We chat with Trae about:
- Finding passionate people who are excited and willing to give feedback.
- Some of our favorite efficient research methods, like user interviews, surveys, and even napkin sketches.
- Balancing the number of insights needed against the time and money spent to gather them.
- Using the resources already at your disposal to move quickly.
- Leveraging UX tools (like Maze and Dovetail) or even unlikely Sales tools like Gong.
- How to excite your participants and stakeholders so they want even more research!
Links
- Connect with Trae on LinkedIn
- Follow UX Tools on Twitter
- Sign up for the UX Tools Newsletter
We chat with Varun Murugesan about how about how to tailor the UX research recruiting experience to be as efficient as possible for you and your team.
Varun is a Research Manager at BestBuy, and also co-founder and Head of Research at Apple & Banana. He was previously a UX Researcher at Facebook.
With Varun we discuss:
- Being realistic about the right number of participants for your project (a "scalpel" vs a "shotgun")
- Clearly defining who your participants should be by their experiences (not their demographics)
- Navigating stakeholder relationships to understand research needs
- The difference between tactical and strategic research and how it affects participant recruiting
- Figuring out what "levers" you can pull to create a more flexible
- Leveraging Sales and Support as partners in contacting customers
- The importance of mapping out and planning the research participant experience
Links
- Follow Varun on Twitter
- Follow Apple & Banana on Twitter
- Apple & Banana Website
- Follow UX Tools on Twitter
- Sign up for the UX Tools Newsletter
We (Jordan and Taylor) introduce ourselves and our new show: UX Chats! We'll be sitting down with other senior designers to find solutions to specific challenges that designers face every day. This isn't design theory, this is actionable content to help you become a more efficient, effective designer. Stay tuned!
Here are some of our resources we reference in the trailer:
Design Tools Survey
UX Challenges
Design Tools Database
Here's where to follow along:
The UX Tools Newsletter
Follow UX Tools on Twitter
Follow UX Tools on Instagram
Follow UX Tools on LinkedIn
If you're interested in collaborating, being a guest on the show, or just want to say hi, reach out to us at team@uxtools.co!