Field Research
Field research enables our clients to gain a deeper understanding of customer needs, pain points, delights, and new opportunities. Field research relies on studying how customers and prospects use different product and services in their natural environments, such as at home, in the office, or in public spaces.

When to Use 
Field research is an excellent way to kick off any design or product strategy initiative. Field research provides critical insights into how customers think about a product or service, and new ways to move your product forward. Field research is also an ideal method to generate new ideas for features and functionality by identifying unmet needs.

Field Research at the UXC
The UXC conducts field research when the context of use has an impact on the user experience. We incorporate other methods into our field research, such as in-depth interviews to probe on specific aspects of their experience, diary studies to understand long-term usage patterns and surveys to validate many of the qualitative insights we observe.

In-Depth Interviews
In-depth interviews (IDI’s) provide our clients with answers to fundamental questions about how their customers and prospects use and perceive their products and services, as well as competitors. IDI’s are the best way to understand customer motivations, barriers, and unmet needs. Interviews may be based on a large or small sample size, and structured or open-ended, depending on the project goals.

When to Use
IDI’s are most effective when you need to establish a baseline understanding of your customers and prospects, prior to initiating any design. The insights gained from IDI’s will allow your designers, product owners, and developers to avoid costly mistakes by focusing on the most critical aspects of the user experience.

In-Depth Interviews at the UXC
The UXC has extensive experience with IDI’s, utilizing professional recruiters to find the right mix of study participants across the globe. We often use IDI’s to inform the creation of personas and user requirements. We also validate many of the insights acquired through IDI’s through large-scale surveys. 

Surveys
Surveys are a highly effective method for measuring preferences and attitudes from a large group of your customers and prospects. Surveys are also used to validate product feature sets and compare different design alternatives. Results from a survey provide validated metrics that are used as the cornerstone for critical design decisions.   

When to Use
Surveys are typically employed throughout the product design lifecycle. A survey at the start of a project provides baseline metrics that are used to inform design decisions and user requirements. A survey during the design phase can effectively be used to validate design decisions.

Surveys at the UXC
The UXC utilizes Qualtrics as its survey platform and has access to an extensive network of online participant panels and professional recruiters. UXC consultants often use surveys as a compliment to more qualitative-based research such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, and field research.

Focus Group
Focus groups generate a productive discussion from a small group of participants around topics such as barriers to adoption, brand perception, and new products or features. By gathering a small group of individuals, focus groups allow businesses to develop initial impressions of how a group of customers or prospects views an existing or proposed product or service.  

When to Use 
Focus groups are most common early in the product design lifecycle. Focus groups are particularly helpful for collecting feedback on early design concepts prior to any significant design work. At the same time, focus groups help designers, developers, and product owners better understand significant barriers to product adoption and usage as well as prioritize ideas for new products or features.

Focus Groups at the UXC 
The UXC’s state-of-the-art facilities and experienced staff easily handle focus groups of various sizes and composition, including focus groups with specialized audiences such as children and caregivers, and participants with disabilities. Clients also hire the UXC to conduct focus groups at rented facilities around the US and abroad.

Diary Studies
Diary Studies are the best method to understand product usage over time. Diary studies utilize mobile apps that allow individuals to self-report their activities, thoughts, and insights over an extended amount of time, or during specific activities or situations. The data collected from a diary study allows the researcher to generate product design recommendations aimed at maximizing long-term value, user engagement, and retention.

When to Use 
Diary studies are most valuable when conducted in the user research phase, prior to any design work. The insights collected from a diary study give the design team the necessary tools on how to move a new product idea forward that aims at improving the user experience and long-term engagement.

Diary Studies at the UXC 
The UXC uses a wide variety of tools to collect and manage diary data, which also allows our clients to observe participant feedback in real-time. The UXC partners with professional recruiters to identify and schedule the right mix of participants and ensure a high percentage of study completion. The UXC believes diary studies are an excellent driver in designing products and services that customers truly care about, and use over an extended period of time. 

Personas
Personas are fictional, but highly realistic representations of different types of users. Personas are an integral part of the design process, helping product teams focus on designing a great experience for specific types of users, rather than a broader, less defined audience.

When to Use 
Personas are a critical element at the start of any design work, and often credited as the key element in designing a great user experience. Personas allow the entire product team to share a clear vision of their target user(s).  Personas let the product team focus on the needs and desires of a target customer group or prospect type. Personas are commonly used throughout the design process, and revised over time as the market and product evolve.

Personas at the UXC 
The UXC creates personas using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. By incorporating client metrics, field research or survey data, and statistical analysis, we are able to develop personas that are both highly detailed, but also validated with a large customer or user base. The UXC also works closely with clients to disseminate personas that will have a maximum impact across the organization.

Journey Maps
Journey maps are a highly effective visualization depicting the end-to-end user journey through a service, including touchpoints, user actions, emotions, pain points, and opportunities for improvement/innovation.  Journey maps allow the product team to see how all of their channels work together from the customer perspective, and the best places to focus their attention to improve the customer experience.

When to use 
Journey maps are an excellent activity when imitating a service design or customer experience engagement. A journey map is the perfect method when senior stakeholders need to identify specific points where the end-to-end customer experience falls short, and build a successful cross-channel customer experience strategy.  

Journey Maps at the UXC 
The UXC creates journey maps driven by both quantitative and qualitative methods such as personas, surveys, and field research. The UXC also uses journey maps as the launching point in a service design engagement, followed by service ecology maps and service blueprints.

Baseline Usability Testing
Baseline usability testing provides a clear picture to the product team on what works, and what doesn’t work on the product before a redesign begins. Baseline usability testing utilizes established UX metrics for UX benchmarks and competitive analysis, as well as qualitative insights to identify the most significant usability pain points with the current (live) product. 

When to use
The best point to baseline usability test is prior to any design work. Baseline usability testing provides a clear roadmap on what aspects of the product need to be improved, and what areas should be incorporated into the new design. Baseline usability testing is to also used to establish a benchmark for a product or service that can be used to measure performance over time, as well as compared to competitors.

Baseline Usability Testing at the UXC
The UXC has extensive experience in both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of usability testing. The UXC often utilizes baseline usability testing as the launching pad to start a design engagement, as well as the basis for more systematic and long-term UX competitive benchmarking. The outcome of this work is often a detailed UX roadmap. 

Usability Testing
Usability testing is a popular observational research method in which a participant completes a series of tasks on any product, such as a website, mobile application, software, or physical product. Usability testing reveals to the stakeholders how their users are actually interacting with their product, specifically what they are confused about, points of frustration, and their delights and surprises. Usability testing results in a set of detailed design recommendations to make significant improvements to the user experience.   

When to use 
Usability testing is best used throughout the design lifecycle. Early in the design phase, usability testing typically involves low-fidelity prototypes, with the goal of identifying significant usability issues around the user’s mental model and task flow. Usability testing later in the design phase involves high-fidelity prototypes, with a focus on specific user interactions. Usability testing is most powerful when performed throughout the design lifecycle, giving the design team a chance to continually improve the product prior to development.   

Usability Testing at the UXC 
At the UXC, we have extensive experience with usability testing, including websites, mobile applications, software, and physical products. The UXC has two state-of-art usability labs, as well as the capability for remote usability testing, field testing, and testing in other markets. The UXC works with professional recruiters to find the right mix of participants. 

Expert Review
An expert review is a systematic evaluation of a product based on established UX best practices. An expert review does not involve actual users, but rather a small team of seasoned UX consultants independent reviews of the user experience of a product based on the most common or critical use cases. The outcome of an expert review is a prioritized list of specific user experience issues, along with detailed design recommendations.

When to Use 
Expert reviews may be performed at any time during the design lifecycle. Expert reviews are particularly useful when there are significant time or budget constraints, and can typically be completed with very quick turnaround. Expert reviews are also highly valuable when a client wants to identify the most significant UX issues before investing more resources to a specific design direction.

Expert Reviews at the UXC 
The UXC staff has extensive experience in identifying UX issues across all platforms and industries. The UXC staff work in teams of two or three reviewers and independently evaluate the product, followed by incorporating all the data together to form a more comprehensive evaluation and detailed set of design recommendations.  

Accessibility Evaluation
Accessibility is the practice of enabling individuals with cognitive or physical impairments to seamlessly interact with products, applications or services. Some of these impairments include vision or hearing loss, mobility constraints, and memory changes. An accessibility evaluation is based on common accessibility guidelines, including Section 508 and WCAG 2.0. An accessibility evaluation may or may not involve end-users. The outcome of an accessibility evaluation is the identification of accessibility issues, and the best remedy to improve the accessibility of any product.

When to use 
An accessibility evaluation is conducted when a client needs to improve or validate the accessibility of their product(s). Typically an accessibility evaluation happens later in the design lifecycle or once the product is live (in production).

Accessibility at the UXC
The UXC’s versatile facility is designed to accommodate individuals with vision, hearing, mobility and cognitive impairments. In addition, UXC consultants have expertise in testing products and applications in accordance with the latest accessibility standards. Through using methods such as expert reviews and usability testing, we can help our clients develop an actionable strategy for improving accessibility for their products.

Eye Tracking and Biometrics
Eye tracking and biometrics are highly effective research tools to measure user engagement and emotion. The UXC is equipped with a Tobii eye tracker, Shimmer sensor, along with the iMotions platform. Together, these technologies allow the UXC to measure where users look in real-time and their emotional reactions through a detailed facial expression and skin conductance analysis. The outcome of this type of eye tracking and biometrics is a more complete picture of the emotional aspects of the user experience, including what features are drawing the most attention, and which designs are most engaging for the user.   

When to Use
Eye tracking and biometrics are typically used with a high fidelity prototype or live website. Our clients want to focus on designing a highly engaging user experience, such as optimizing visual attention and engagement with a particular set of features, or measuring the overall positive reactions to various designs. Eye tracking and biometrics also can easily be added to any lab-based usability testing, providing an additional layer of data on better understanding the broader user experience with any product.

Eye Tracking and Biometrics at the UXC  
The UXC labs are outfitted with state-of-the-art biometrics technology, including a Tobii eye tracker, Shimmer GSR sensor, Affectiva facial expression analysis, and the iMotions software platform. The UXC can seamlessly integrate some, or all of this technology, into our everyday user research and usability testing. All of these technologies are easily portable, allowing us to collect emotion and engagement data in other locations.  

Competitive UX Benchmarking
Competitive UX benchmarking measures how a product performs against specific business and user goals, and stacks up against the competition. Competitive UX benchmarking provides critical metrics to senior stakeholders about how well a product is performing against the competition, and specific aspects of the product that should be prioritized for improvement, as well as missing features or functionality that are major drivers in satisfaction with the competition.

When to Use  
Competitive UX benchmarking is typically performed at periodical intervals, such as every quarter, twice a year, or once a year. Competitive UX benchmarking is particularly useful when a senior team needs to build a business case for various design initiatives or following the launch of a major redesign.

Competitive Benchmarking at the UXC  
The UXC has extensive experience in all facets of quantitative user research, and access to large panels of potential participants, ensuring reliable results and actionable findings. The UXC utilizes tools such as UserZoom, Qualtrics, and Optimal Workshop to collect large sample data in a timely fashion. The UXC also offers an objective, third-party perspective, when collecting and analyzing data, helping our clients truly compare their products against the competition, and continually validate user experience improvements over time.

Card Sorting / Tree Testing
Card sorting and tree testing are popular research methods focused on the information architecture of a website, software, or mobile application. Card sorting reveals how a user organizes content, such as what functions or information belong together. Tree testing is a validation technique to measure the intuitiveness of an information architecture. These two methods together help our clients ensure that users are able to successfully navigate and find the content and functionality they are looking for, as well as expose other content and functionality that may have been otherwise difficult to find.     

When to Use  
Card sorting and tree testing are most effective early in the design lifecycle, prior to when the information architecture becomes set. Because card sorting and tree testing do not require a prototype, they are often performed early in the design phase. The only requirement is the different types of information people are looking for, common tasks, and functionality. Card sorting and tree testing commonly follows surveys, requirements gathering, or field research, and is typically proceeded by usability testing with low fidelity prototypes.

Card sorting / Tree testing at the UXC  
The UXC uses the Optimal Workshop suite of products, such as OptimalSort and TreeJack. The UXC has extensive experience in analyzing relevant metrics, such as directness, error rates, and task success, as well as creating data visualizations depicting the most intuitive information architectures. In addition, the UXC staff often integrates qualitative data into these methods to get a better sense of the reasons behind how someone organizes content and functionality.

Wireframes / Interactive Prototypes 
Wireframes and interactive prototypes are a vital part of the design process. They provide ways to test and iterate designs with users prior to any development efforts. They allow for quick communication of navigation, task flows, and design for development teams. Wireframes and prototypes facilitate effective communication of navigation, tasks and visual elements during development and refinement of designs. 

When to Use  
Use wireframes and interactive prototypes when you are designing a new product or feature and need to expand your creative process or illustrate multiple design concepts. Visual representations are helpful when you need to document key workflows as part of a redesign effort, and especially when you want to test with end-users before investing development time.  

Prototyping at the UXC 
We employ a variety of prototyping tools, including Axure, Figma, and Balsamiq Mockups, and work with clients to conduct participatory design sessions that inform future iterations on a current design. We develop strategic partnerships with top design firms across the world to help them validate their design solutions. 

Design Thinking  
Design Thinking is a collaborative creative process that helps our clients refine product strategy and define solutions for design problems. The process involves iterative stages of conceptualization and brainstorming, research, prototyping, and testing. Design thinking ultimately produces well-defined design recommendations, concept descriptions, user personas, and use cases. 

When to Use  
Design Thinking is a method to refine product strategy and define solutions for customer service and design problems. Use design thinking to tease out solutions to complex problems. When your company is faced with a complex problem, design thinking can be used to tease out impactful solutions on the product design or strategic level. The process allows you the creative space and procedural structure to define your business goals and hidden challenges, then iterate with your team to develop creative solutions. 

Design Thinking at the UXC  
UXC consultants have worked with global companies to facilitate design thinking sessions tailored to each organizational level, from fundamental design approaches to executive strategy. Design thinking has helped organizations like yours to refine products, services, and processes, and ultimately improve the customer and user experience. 

Service Design
Service design is the process of creating a great end-to-end customer experience across all channels and platforms. A service design process is co-creative and iterative, resulting in artifacts such as service ecologies, journey maps, and service blueprints. For example, a service design blueprint is a critical artifact, as it visually maps the relationships between all components of a service. Those components may be employees, customers, processes, or physical or digital objects.

When to Use  
Service design can help you qualitatively measure customers’ experiences throughout their engagement with your products or services. Whether you have a service you’d like to improve or an idea for a service to develop, service design can ensure that your organizational operations align with customer needs. 

Service Design at the UXC  
UXC consultants use a variety of research and design methods to help you augment your existing services or develop one from scratch. These exploratory methods may include stakeholder maps, service ecologies, field research, personas, or journey maps. Together, we can identify opportunities to improve customers’ experiences with your services and products. 

UX Strategy
A UX strategy allows our clients to follow a series of deliberate steps to achieve specific business goals through a great user experience. The UXC develops a tailored UX strategy with each of our clients that fit within a desired timeline and budget. A UX strategy is series of activities that build upon one another, such as stakeholder interviews, competitive analysis, user requirements, design thinking, and product validation.  The outcome of a UX strategy is an efficient process to create a best-in-class user experience that meets or exceeds specific business goals.

When to Use  
The UXC strongly recommends a UX strategy with our clients. Rather than performing a series of isolated UX activities, a UX strategy provides a clear roadmap to product and organizational success. A UX strategy is ideal at the start of any design initiative, immediately before or after a business case has been approved.

UX Strategy at the UXC  
UXC consultants develop a tailored UX strategy for each client. Customizing a UX strategy ensures that maximum value is gained from each UX activity, and there is the best chance for product and business success. With extensive expertise across UX research and design, as well as working with hundreds of clients around the world, UXC staff can create a winning UX strategy for any client.