The types of design research every designer should know NOW

In UX design, research is a fundamental part in solving relevant problems and/or narrowing down to the “right” problem users face. A designer’s job is to understand their users, which means going beyond their initial assumptions to put themselves in another persons shoes in order to create products that respond to a human need.

Good research doesn’t just end with good data; it ends with good design and functionality users love, want and need.

Design research is often overlooked in that designers emphasize the result of how a design looks. This results in having a surface level understanding of the people they design for. Having this mindset goes against what UX is all about; being user centered.

UX design is centered around research to understand the needs of people and how the kind of products/services we build will help them.

Here are some research methods every designer should know on the top of their head when going into a project, and even if they are not the ones doing research, they can communicate better with UX researchers to drive engagement in the industry.