Design Research

Guide to Qualitative UX and Design Research Methods

At Outwitly, UX and design research is what we do best! This post covers our three qualitative research methods, in-depth interviews, observations, and diary studies, that you can use for your next project.

How to Plan and Conduct a Virtual Empathy Mapping Workshop

This post will teach you how to plan and conduct an effective virtual empathy mapping workshop! We also dive into accessibility and empathy mapping.

View Full Blog Post ›

Two design researchers are working together to analyze data they gathered from UX and design research.

October 21, 2022

Data Analysis for UX and Design Research

This post covers all things data analysis! We dive into the process of making sense of data, methods for analyzing data, and tips for analyzing data.

View Full Blog Post ›

How to conduct desk research in UX and service design. Including SWOT analysis, comparative analysis, and

October 04, 2022

How to conduct effective desk research for UX and service design?

This post looks at exactly how to conduct desk research in a UX or service design research project. We’re covering the desk research planning process as well as conducting analyses like literature review and trend analysis, comparative analysis in UX, and SWOT analysis.

View Full Blog Post ›

Woman is conducting desk research at her desk wearing glasses and a white shirt.

August 26, 2022

How to use desk research in UX and service design?

Today’s post digs into how to use “desk research” in UX and service design. We answer questions like when should you use it and how does it fit into the design process. We cover internal vs. external desk research and break down examples of each, like document review, literature review, and jurisdictional scans.

View Full Blog Post ›

May 27, 2022

How to Champion HCD and Design Research to Stakeholders

Struggling to convince stakeholders of the value of human-centered design (HCD), service design, and design research? This post will teach you the importance of stakeholder management, how to overcome research resisters, and responding to common objections to doing research.

View Full Blog Post ›

March 18, 2022

Project Management for Design Research and Service Design

We know that a design research project is only as successful as the foundation it’s built upon! We like to have a phase at the beginning of any project called Project Initiation. This phase is crucial for setting your project up for success! To help set your next design research project up for success, we’re covering nine core project management principles, two key activities to conduct in the initiation phase, and our favourite tools and tech for project management.

View Full Blog Post ›

February 18, 2022

Q&A With CEO Sara Fortier on Outwitly Academy’s Design Research Mastery

We sat down to talk to our CEO and Founder of Outwitly, Sara Fortier, about the recent launch of Outwitly Academy. Outwitly Academy’s flagship course, Design Research Mastery, is now accepting its first cohort of registrants.

View Full Blog Post ›

February 04, 2022

Design Research: Methods, Practices, and Pitfalls

This post is a “roundup” of our past posts on the topic of design research. We dive into the methods, practices, and pitfalls associated with one of our all-time favourite topics. You’ll learn how to plan and prepare for discovery research, how to get the most out of your research, why you should stay away from focus groups, and a few research methods we love, like diary studies and in-depth interviews.

View Full Blog Post ›

June 11, 2021

How to Get the Most Out of Your User and Customer Research?

Are you struggling to get the most out of your user and customer research? We explore types of user research, best practices for testing, and the most common pitfalls associated with conducting UX research.

View Full Blog Post ›

March 05, 2021

HCD Series: Leveraging Design Strategy for Business

Identifying and solving complex business challenges can be difficult, and managers often don’t realize that their design team can help! We explore why Design Strategy is a great framework for aligning stakeholders, gaining buy-in, and tackling sticky business problems.

View Full Blog Post ›

February 05, 2021

Why You Should Stop Using Focus Groups to Gather Customer Feedback

To focus group or not to focus group? We explore why focus groups are susceptible to a number of human biases and behaviours, making them less effective than other human-centered design research methods.

View Full Blog Post ›

August 22, 2019

Design Research Methods: Diary Study

This week in our Research Methods blog series, we’re explaining the benefits of conducting Diary Studies for your human-centered design and design-thinking projects, to better understand your users’ experiences and motivations over a longer period of time.

View Full Blog Post ›

Pages: 12

Interested in implementing any of the ideas in the blog posts in your business or team? Book a discovery call today.

Book a Discovery Call