ASSIGNMENT 01
User Research Plan
My first assignment in my university course! I first began by learning how to develop a research plan.
Identify a client and product to conduct discovery research.
List user research methodologies.
Identify the two user types who would be using this product.
In later assignments, I have to interview those two user types so, this first assignment needed to be perfect.
INITIAL IDEAS
My professor encouraged the class to select a field we were familiar with and find a problem users face.
I chose YouTube as the subject of study for entire class because of past background and experiencing the problems users face.
How long you approximately have to react to a callout. (Simulated)
Problem discovery
I drafted a problem affecting both the business and user. The initial problem statement was extremely broad; as I didn't have supporting information to the problem.
Message from the future: Don't worry this, problem statement becomes refined in later assignments as I gain more insights and information!
INITIAL ASSUMPTIONS
YouTube faces high user drop off from newer content creators. They face difficulty growing their view count and subscribers. Lower retention rate leads to potential loss of revenue.
INITIAL PROBLEM STATEMENT
CHALLENGES
Forming a research plan is REALLY hard actually
Although I was provided a small template for guidance, it was my duty to define the research plan.
Defining the purpose of research
After
NOT SHOWN: The hours of reiterating until the plan made sense.
Selecting relevant methods of research
In real life, it's important not to waste time, money, and resources. My next challenge was selecting methods of research, while NOT doing too much.
HYPOTHESIS AND REASONING
It's easier to reprioritize and focus on an audio source by providing a visual ping.
Understanding the process and logistics of UX Research
The hardest part involved ideating the schedule, logistics, and next steps of the project. This process
was required to have us understand the UXR process holistically.
HYPOTHESIS AND REASONING
It's easier to reprioritize and focus on an audio source by providing a visual ping.
Final Work
You can view my work here
My initial idea was to ping the user with a visual signifier when keywords are spoken by other users.
HYPOTHESIS AND REASONING
It's easier to reprioritize and focus on an audio source by providing a visual ping.
RESULTS
Defending my decisions within my work
My initial worry was not articulating the problem statement well. UX Design requires a lot
of context behind actions; so I defended my statement based on what I knew at the time.
Verbatim of my submission for the assignment.
Success in defending my statement!
After fearing my grade for the assignment; I was happy to find defending my research plan with context went well. My next step in the course is to narrow the broadness of the statement for more targetable and actionable insights…which happens in the next assignment actually!
💯stamp of approval
LEARNINGS
First week and assignment; and I learned a lot!
I succeeded in ideating and addressing the problem; then drafting a research plan to identify
and deep dive user problems!
Articulating
When my initial solution failed in user testing - I took it as an opportunity reiterate FROM the problems I found.
Defending decisions is always important
I chose to follow an old adage from past UX Designers, and it paid off in helping my professor understand my point of view.
Ask myself "Why?" constantly
I refined my research plan until I could stop asking myself "Why?" to mitigate
NOTABLE EVENTS
What if we make subtitles THE ping?
I looked into subtitles to act as a visual signifier and information delivery. During my previous— whiteboarding, I avoided adding a new UI element to prevent clutter. I chose to reexplore this idea because users are already familiar with subtitles.
Knowing filtering audio signifiers is harder than visuals; subtitles can turn communications into visual signifiers.
Relearning MLA Format
So, funny story — we're required to use MLA format; but the provided template was incorrect. It had me wondering if it was a test to make sure we're reading directions. I'm glad I noticed and corrected it.
The provided template header! It should be left aligned!
CONCLUSION
Thank you for reading! I'm happy with this project because a lot of human factors and interaction design was needed. It helped me develop my skills as a UX Designer!
Failure leads to better solutions
When my initial solution failed in user testing - I took it as an opportunity reiterate FROM the problems I found.
Human Factors is very important
Consideration based on a users' environment and role proved to be crucial in building
a better product.
Applying typography is life changing
Combining typography and human factors proved to be an immense help in creating
the design of the subtitles.