Why you should conduct User Research

To design user-oriented products, it’s important that you carry out research. User Research is a method used to understand the behaviours, needs, and pain points of your users.

Research is mainly classified into qualitative and quantitative. There are different methods of conducting research, and they can be put under these two categories.

Qualitative research involves collecting data to understand opinions and experiences, while Quantitative research is numerical statistics used to study patterns, calculate averages, make predictions, and make general results in reference to wide population counts.

As a designer, analysing user research is a top skill you should have to create effective designs. There are many reasons you shouldn’t skip this phase in your design process, such as:

1. To understand your users

When designing, it’s best to keep in mind that you are not your user. This prevents you from making assumptions that might not work. Involving your users allows you to create a better experience in your design.

2. To save time and avoid rework

You don’t want to have to redo your design because it doesn’t have a good user experience. To prevent this from happening, you should conduct research and use its analysis to create your user-centred design. It saves you and your team from stress.

3. Design better products

Every product has its main aim: to create an efficient service and product that people want to use. To achieve this aim, it’s your duty to create user-centred designs while making use of user research analysis.

4. To improve usefulness

Irrelevant elements in design contribute to a bad user experience. Therefore, it is important to make use of research analysis to ensure features and elements in your design are useful.

5. To ensure it is easily usable

As the designer of a product, you understand your design, but does the user understand? Every product should be easy to use. User testing is a very effective method for finding out the level of usability of your product. It is important to know if your users understand the functionality of your design or product, so as to make users have a good experience with your product.

Research, most of the time, is assumed to be unnecessary by designers and sometimes even clients. It is very important to not skip this phase in your design process, as it makes your work easier while creating a user-centred design or product.