User Research Is Storytelling

Always since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated with videos. I loved the figures and the excitement—but most of all the reports. I wanted to be an actor. And I figured out that I would be able to embark on exciting activities in the same way that Indiana Jones did. Yet my friends and I had movie ideas to make and sun in. But they never went any farther. I did, however, end up working in user experience ( UX). Today, I realize that there’s an element of drama to UX— I hadn’t actually considered it before, but consumer research is story. And to get the most out of customer studies, you must tell a compelling story that involves stakeholders, including the product team and decision-makers, and piques their interest in learning more.

Think of your favourite film. More than likely it follows a three-act construction that’s frequently seen in story: the layout, the fight, and the quality. The second act provides an overview of what is happening now, and it also serves as a primer for the characters and the difficulties and issues they face. Act two introduces the fight, where the activity is. Here, difficulties grow or get worse. And the third and final work is the solution. This is where the problems are resolved and the figures grow and change. This architecture, in my opinion, is also a fantastic way to think about consumer research, and it might be particularly useful for introducing user research to others.

Use story as a framework when conducting study.

It’s sad to say, but many have come to see studies as being dispensable. Research is frequently one of the first thin when costs or timelines are limited.