Interaction designer, do you know anything about user research?

Many friends will be confused when they see the title: interaction designers should also understand user research? The answer is, of course, yes.

Recently, I read the book The Practical Road of User Research in Interaction Design, which gave me a deeper understanding of user research and further improved my professional ability in interaction design. I want to summarize this article and share it with you.

1. User research helps you get to know users better.

Interaction designers are the bridge between products and users. We design products from the user's point of view, transforming abstract concepts into landing design schemes. How to make users feel easy to use and love to use? Designers need to master some user research theories. User research can help us understand users, their basic attributes, behaviors, habits and preferences, and help us design products that are more in line with users' mental models.

2. User research provides a better solution for the design.

At work, we often encounter some problems: both schemes are good in evaluation, which one should we choose to go online? The little friend questioned why you designed it like this? What is the feasibility of the design scheme ... and so on.

Designers with certain user research thinking can choose appropriate user research methods according to the complexity of the project before design, and provide better solutions for design.

3. User research can promote and verify product design.

Did you finish your design when it went online? How to measure the quality of our design?

After the design, some user surveys are used to verify it, which can help us to make a clear judgment on the design quality. Paying attention to the design data and optimization methods can pave the way for the subsequent optimization iteration of products. It can be said that user research is a good way to verify product design and can improve our design ability and quality.

A complete Internet project consists of several stages, and the research methods used in each stage will have different emphases.

Demand analysis &; Product design stage

Usually a project is from 0- 1, and designers need to consider all aspects. At this stage, questionnaire survey, interview, user portrait, industry data analysis, competitive product analysis and other methods may be used to find user needs and pain points, understand business needs, weigh user and business needs, determine product realization methods, sort out product logic, and generate interactive design schemes.

Visual design stage

Different colors, textures and shapes all represent different emotional feelings. At this stage, through the investigation of the emotional board, we can find the positioning and cognition of these features in the user's subconscious, thus defining the design elements on the visual level, and finally generating the visual scheme and page design specifications.

On-line analysis stage

The launch of any product is not the end of the project but the beginning. After the product goes online, it is necessary to know the user's feedback in time, collect and analyze the data after going online, collect information for the next optimization and iteration, and clarify the direction.

It can be seen that user research runs through the whole project, and appropriate methods are selected according to different needs and purposes to help product design and optimization.

Before studying user research, we can understand the concepts of "qualitative research" and "quantitative research". Quantitative research uses quantitative data to explain phenomena, so it is more rational and objective, while qualitative research uses the opinions and behaviors of some users to explain phenomena, so it is more perceptual and subjective. There are some differences between them in forms of expression, application scenarios and research methods, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

In daily design, designers need to know the following user research methods: questionnaire survey, interview, eye movement experiment, usability test, data analysis, emotion board, card classification, user portrait and so on.

1, questionnaire survey

Questionnaire survey refers to the method of drawing up a series of questions, distributing and recycling them within a certain range, and counting the feedback information from users. Through the questionnaire, we can understand users' attitudes and opinions, and analyze users' habits and characteristics.

Reasonable questionnaires should usually pay attention to the following 10 principles:

(1) problem design should pay attention to one thing;

(2) avoid answering irrelevant questions, and the options should be consistent with the questions;

(3) Put forward specific questions to avoid generality and abstraction;

(4) The way of asking questions should be simplified to avoid negative words;

(5) The answer design should be rigorous and consider the exhaustiveness of options;

(6) avoid directional questions;

(7) Arrange the questions according to similarity and similarity, and the closed questions take precedence over the open questions, from shallow to deep;

(8) Specimen screening questions are given priority to the questionnaires of designated people;

(9) Random display of answer items, so that each option can be displayed fairly;

(10) The application of false test can improve the authenticity and validity of data.

2. User interviews

Interview is the most commonly used method in user research, and it also has high requirements for researchers. We need to let users talk as much as possible in interviews and guide users to express their real needs. Need to observe and understand the user's heart in real time.

There are three important stages in user interview: before the interview, you need to be fully prepared; During the interview, the host should pay attention to the interview skills, and the recorder should make records; After the interview, analyze and refine the interview content.

The success of the interview depends largely on the interview skills and recording work. The author of this book refines the following skills:

(1) The order of questions should be from the whole to the part;

(2) communicate like a chat;

(3) Give appropriate encouragement when the interviewee is hesitant;

(4) Observe the micro-expressions and body language of the interviewees and ask questions in time;

(5) Adjust the way of asking questions, so that the interviewees can express the phenomenon from their own perspective;

(6) Open problems should be avoided;

(7) Avoid asking questions in fixed sentences;

(8) Respond in time without interrupting the interviewee;

(9) Adjust the order of questions appropriately.

3. User portrait

There are two kinds of user portraits: personas and user profiles. The former is more used for product optimization, while the latter is more used for launch, operation and recommendation. It is a user label system generated by quantitative method.

(1) Definition of User Portrait Role

It is a virtual representative of real users and a target user model based on a series of real data.

There are several key points in the definition of user portrait:

(1) must be generated from real users, not a decision to pat the head or think about it;

② Based on real data, qualitative or quantitative methods are used for analysis and refining;

③ Target user model.

(2) the role of user portrait

User portraits play a very important role in product recommendation and dissemination:

(1) Let project members think about role transformation, which is well-founded;

② Make your products more focused;

(3) Reduce the obstacles in communication, and make the goal of team effort and endeavor more unified.

(3) Composition of user portrait

A relatively complete user portrait consists of priority, name, photo, quotation, basic attributes, industry information, behavior description, user goals or user stories, usage habits, influencers and influencing environments, and difference refining. In addition, there are some religious beliefs and special habits.

There is also a concept called granularity in the user portrait. The finer the granularity, the more stereoscopic and rough your understanding of users will be. You may not know much about his details, but you will still know some of his macro attributes. As long as the direction is correct, regardless of the particle size, it will be of great help to our products. Therefore, when making user portraits, you should choose the granularity that suits you.

4. Data analysis

Data analysis is not only available in the Internet industry. Traditional industries have used this method for a long time, but the importance of data analysis has been strengthened in the Internet era. For companies in the Internet industry, the lack of data analysis is like the lack of eyes.

The role of (1) data analysis

There are three main types: recording, understanding and forecasting.

(2) General data indicators

Page views PV, number of independent users UV, number of visitors, exit rate and bounce rate, return visit rate correction rate, stay time, click conversion rate CTR, depth of visit conversion rate DV, order conversion rate, number of new users, daily active users and monthly active users, and user retention rate.

(3) Three commonly used data analysis methods

A/B testing, comparison of before and after versions, comparison of third-party data platforms. They each have their own advantages and emphases.

Through years of experience, the author summed up many valuable conclusions in practice:

(1) Whether it is interactive design or visual design, we should consider the surrounding scenes;

(2) Design needs to know the degree of users. Degree is amplitude and amplitude;

(3) Don't distract users. When you want users to click, it is not suitable to put down many choices;

(4) Don't remove the subject when doing subtraction;

(5) It is necessary to analyze the specific reasons for the poor modification effect;

(6) clearly communicate the direct benefits you can bring to users;

(7) Different data analysis angles determine completely different conclusions;

(8) Design should do the right thing in the right scene;

(9) Clever "packaging" can bring better effect;

(10) The ultimate goal of "sending" is to bring about transformation;

(1 1) It is very important to develop good data thinking.

In practice, we should be good at choosing appropriate methods and applying them properly, and combine quantitative research with qualitative research. Only by adding quantitative and qualitative research can the conclusion be more comprehensive and representative. By adding qualitative and quantitative research, we can get a deeper understanding of the real reasons behind the data. The combination of various research methods can maximize the value of user research, dig deep into the core needs of products and users' demands, and verify the authenticity and effectiveness of the conclusions.

The above are some insights and summaries after reading the book. It is the general trend to have certain user research thinking and master research methods. Little friends, learn quickly!