Understanding users is my passion. Before I begin user research, I focus on understanding the clients’ needs. I look to answer the following questions:

1. Who are the stakeholders? What do they need to know about their users?
2. Who is affected by the design and content?
3. What makes this organization special?
4. What value does the organization offer their users?
5. What are the goals of the organization?
6. What are the time and technical constraints?

After completing the internal research, I conduct user research to answer questions about who the users are and what needs they have:

1. Who are the users of this website, product or service?
2. Within the group of users who are the power users? Who are the novice users?
3. What is the user’s motivation for using this website, product or service?
4. Under what circumstances are users visiting the website, using the product or exploring the services?
5. What are the user’s needs?
6. Does the user see the product or service as a need, or as a want?

There are several methods of user research that I use to inform design recommendations. I have experience in the end-to-end process of planning, scoping, moderating, and reporting on the following types of research methods including usability testing, survey, interviews, cognitive walkthrough, focus group interviews, card sorting, eye-tracking, A/B testing, heuristic analysis, field study, and remote study. I have experience in both formative and summative research to assist in defining user needs to fill opportunities, as well as, improving the current user experience.