By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Cognitive walkthroughs offer a powerful way to evaluate how users interact with a product or system. They focus on understanding the user's thought process as they complete tasks, helping designers spot usability problems early. This method is especially useful for improving software interfaces, websites, and other interactive systems where user experience matters. Person conducting a cognitive walkthrough on a digital interface What Is

When designing a product or interface, identifying usability problems early can save time and resources. One effective method to find these issues is heuristic evaluation. This technique involves experts reviewing a product against established usability principles to spot problems that might confuse or frustrate users. Understanding heuristic evaluations helps teams improve user experience before launching or updating a product. Expert conducting heuristic evaluation on a web

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Preference testing plays a crucial role in understanding what people like and why they make certain choices. Whether you are developing a product, designing a website, or creating content, knowing your audience’s preferences helps you make better decisions. This post explores what preference testing is, how it works, and practical ways to apply it effectively. Person choosing between two product samples What Is Preference Testing? Prefer

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Card sorting is a simple yet powerful technique used to organize information in a way that makes sense to users. It helps designers, developers, and researchers understand how people group and label content, which improves website navigation, app menus, and overall user experience. This post explores what card sorting is, how it works, and practical ways to use it effectively. Cards sorted into categories on a wooden table What Is Card S

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Understanding how users navigate complex information is a challenge for many designers and researchers. One effective method to evaluate this is the Tree Test . This technique helps uncover how easily people find information within a website or app’s structure. If you want to improve your site’s navigation or organize content more clearly, a Tree Test offers valuable insights. Diagram showing a website's navigation tree structure What Is

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Cultural probes offer a unique way to explore people's lives, thoughts, and environments. They provide rich, personal insights that traditional research methods often miss. This post explains what cultural probes are, how they work, and why they matter for designers, researchers, and anyone interested in understanding human behavior. A notebook with handwritten notes and sketches from a cultural probe activity What Are Cultural Probes? C

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Eye-tracking technology reveals where and how people look at visual information. This insight helps understand attention, perception, and decision-making in ways that words alone cannot explain. Whether used in research, design, or healthcare, eye-tracking offers a window into human behavior by capturing eye movements with precision. Eye-tracking device capturing eye movements How Eye-Tracking Works Eye-tracking systems use cameras and i

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Imagine testing a new product or feature without building the full technology behind it. This is exactly what Wizard-of-Oz testing allows teams to do. It offers a way to explore user reactions and gather feedback early in the design process by simulating functionality with human intervention behind the scenes. Wizard-of-Oz testing is a valuable method for product designers, developers, and user experience researchers who want to validate

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader User experience (UX) design shapes how people interact with websites, apps, and digital products. But how do designers know which version of a design works best? A/B testing provides a clear answer by comparing two versions of a design to see which performs better. This method helps UX researchers make decisions based on real user behavior instead of assumptions. Comparing two webpage designs in A/B testing What Is A/B Testing in UX? A/B

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Unmoderated usability testing has become a powerful tool for product teams aiming to understand how real users interact with their products. Unlike traditional moderated sessions, this approach allows users to complete tasks independently, providing authentic insights into user behavior. This post explores how unmoderated usability testing can improve product development by offering practical benefits, real-world examples, and tips for e

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Understanding how users interact with a product is essential for creating intuitive and effective designs. Moderated usability testing offers a direct way to observe users, gather feedback, and uncover issues that might otherwise remain hidden. This method involves a facilitator guiding participants through tasks while observing their behavior and reactions in real time. The insights gained can lead to meaningful improvements that enhanc

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Understanding your customers’ experiences is key to improving products, services, and overall satisfaction. One of the most practical ways to gain this understanding is through journey mapping workshops. These workshops bring teams together to visualize the customer’s path, identify pain points, and find opportunities for improvement. This post explores how to run effective journey mapping workshops that lead to meaningful results. Journ

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Understanding why customers choose a product or service is key to creating solutions that truly meet their needs. Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) interviews offer a powerful way to uncover these motivations by focusing on the tasks customers want to accomplish. This method goes beyond traditional surveys or focus groups by exploring the underlying reasons behind customer behavior. JTBD interviews help businesses discover what drives customer deci

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Focus groups remain one of the most valuable tools for gathering detailed feedback and understanding the opinions of a target audience. When done well, they provide rich insights that surveys or one-on-one interviews might miss. Yet, many focus groups fall short because of poor planning or execution. This post explores practical strategies to help you run focus groups that deliver clear, actionable results. Participants engaged in a focu

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Ethnography offers a unique window into human cultures, allowing researchers to observe and understand social behaviors, traditions, and everyday life from an insider’s perspective. Unlike surveys or experiments, ethnography immerses the researcher in the community, providing rich, detailed insights that other methods often miss. This post explores what ethnography is, how it works, and why it remains a vital tool for uncovering the comp

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Designing products that truly meet user needs requires more than assumptions or surface-level feedback. Contextual inquiry offers a powerful way to understand users by observing and engaging with them in their natural environment. This method reveals insights that traditional interviews or surveys often miss, leading to better, more user-centered designs. Contextual inquiry is a research technique where designers or researchers observe u

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Diary studies offer a unique window into people's daily lives, capturing behaviors, thoughts, and emotions as they happen. Unlike traditional research methods that rely on recall or one-time observations, diary studies collect data over time, providing rich, detailed insights. This approach helps researchers understand patterns and contexts that might otherwise be missed. Diary with handwritten notes and pen What Are Diary Studies? Diary

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader Understanding your users is key to building products that truly meet their needs. One of the best ways to gain this understanding is through user interviews. These conversations provide direct access to user thoughts, motivations, and pain points, offering insights that data alone cannot reveal. This post explains how to conduct user interviews that deliver clear, actionable information to improve your product. User interview setup with

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader User experience (UX) design shapes how people interact with products, websites, and apps. But creating a smooth, enjoyable experience requires more than just good visuals or intuitive layouts. It demands a deep understanding of user behavior—how people think, feel, and act when they engage with a product. This is where behavioral UX research plays a crucial role. By studying real user actions and motivations, designers can build experie

By Philip Burgess | UX Research Leader User experience (UX) shapes how people interact with products and services. When a design fails to meet user needs, frustration grows, and engagement drops. Evaluative UX research helps identify these issues by testing designs with real users. This process reveals what works, what doesn’t, and where improvements are necessary. Mastering evaluative UX research means creating products that truly serve users, leading to satisfaction and suc