User research

Understanding users is a prerequisite for developing valuable, and valued, design concepts. From creating a research plan, to finding participants, and choosing and executing research methods in the context of a specific design project, and increasing number of tools, methods and approaches exist for observing and analyzing human behavior and needs to inform the design process.

Just a few of our interests in this area include ethnographic interview techniques adapted for design, video and photo documentary, immersion, participant-aided data gathering, prototype-assisted observation, and methods for organizing data, finding patterns and distilling insights that lead to actionable and inspiring design directives.

As the sub-discipline of user research becomes larger and more important to the design field, we continue to focus on building and expanding this area of study. For the past six years, ID has hosted the Design Research Conference, the largest design-focused user research event in the U.S., as well as many smaller colloquia and workshops.