Jump-Start Your Design Discovery
Whether creating something new or iterating on an existing feature, digital designers and product teams can collaborate on design discovery and research methods to guide user-centered solutions.
As the lead designer working on our website NPR.org, I’m working with the web team to find ways we can “refresh” the site over time, rather than launch a soup-to-nuts redesign. I’d like to share a few design discovery and research methods we used to jump-start a new project: How do users listen to audio on our website?
Design discovery and research methods can inform a team at the beginning of the project. While user testing is more commonly known as a valuable step in shipping a product, it is just one method of design research. Teams would do better to front-load their workflow by learning about their users earlier in the process, before a solution is chosen and prototyped. Discovery and research methods help digital product teams know who their users are, what they need, what they do, and what they want to do.
So, as our team has been looking at the listening experience on NPR.org, we’ve been gathering information from a number of sources before we start brainstorming solutions. We started by getting context, seeking feedback, looking at data, and setting goals — then continued by writing user stories, creating assumptions, and interviewing users.
Getting context
We talked to design and product colleagues who created the website’s current listening experience. We wanted to understand the backstory of why and how this solution was put into place. Why did they make certain decisions? Were any parts of the project easy wins, or were there messy challenges? To what extent did internal initiatives influence the outcome? Were time or resources a factor? What did they learn about listening behaviors that we should know and explore?
Seeking feedback
We reached out to NPR’s Audience Relations team to see if users had submitted feedback forms or emailed concerns about the listening experience. What were the problems users encountered, or features they wished for? Could users find the content they wanted, or was anything missing? Did the feedback indicate any themes or patterns? (See also: App Store reviews, Tweets, etc.)
Looking at data
We worked with another NPR team, Audience Insights, to pull data on how users listen on the website. What parts do they click/tap? Are some tools or content used more often than others, or are some rarely used? Which content is the most popular? How do these numbers and behaviors change between desktop and mobile? How have behaviors changed over time?
Setting goals
We determined the desired outcomes of refreshing the listening experience, and how to measure success. Do we want more listeners generally? Do we value more engaged listeners? What do engaged listening behaviors look like, anyway? Do we want to increase the duration of listening, and by how much? Is there certain content we want to introduce, or encourage listeners to discover?
Writing user stories
We knew there were many different listening behaviors to account for. Through writing user stories, we took a user-centered approach to capture varying needs. The format of user stories is basically: As [this type of user], I want to [accomplish this goal] because [of this reason]. We steered clear of proposing solutions and tried to stick to the user’s point of view. For example:
• As a commuter, I want a way to hear all of “Morning Edition” stories, because I’m not in the car long enough to hear the entire show.
• As someone who works on a computer all day, I want to listen to the radio to keep me company and keep me entertained.
• As someone whose schedule varies, I want to listen to my favorite show when I have free time, because I can’t listen when it’s broadcast live.
Creating assumptions
We wanted to be careful about determining design solutions before we have a chance to poke holes in them. So, we combined what we learned so far to create assumptions. Personally, I prefer the term “hunches” because it reminds me that they’re a direction that we still need to prove (or disprove). Hunches are a great way to take what you think you know about your users and test it out, as long as you’re open to being wrong! Here are a few examples:
• Since more website listening happens on desktop/laptop computers during the day Monday through Friday, listeners are listening while at work.
• Since some listening features on the website aren’t used nearly as much as others, users aren’t aware of those features.
• Since many listeners live-stream local radio on the website, they do so only when there isn’t a terrestrial radio nearby.
Interviewing users
Hunches informed the research questions that helped us prepare for recruiting and interviewing users. We recruited for different listening behaviors by posting a link to a screener on our “NPR Extra” social channels on Twitter and Facebook.
We looked for candidates who frequently listen on the website, those who mix listening with reading, and those who listen elsewhere (e.g., radios, mobile apps, or smart speakers). Then we interviewed participants about their listening habits and watched them perform tasks on the website.
At the time of this writing, we’re looking at these user interviews to draw insights — patterns, themes, varying behaviors, or new use cases. More often than not, we’ve found that user interviews uncover the unexpected, and provides a more holistic understanding of the varied ways in which users interact with our products.
As we continue with the project, these findings will inform problem statements and “how might we” questions that will help us brainstorm solutions to design, prototype and test.
These are just a few methods we used in the discovery phase to jump-start this particular project. From competitive reviews to surveys, from card sorts to A/B testing (and more) there are numerous ways for teams to incorporate design research and other methods of discovery into their project workflow. In fact, every colleague on NPR’s Design team plans and conducts user research with their product teams in one form or another. It’s a challenge, but we aim to do more research, more often.
Want to dig in further? I’d recommend the book “Just Enough Research.” The author Erika Hall asserts that asking good questions is more valuable than having the right answers. Through her book and related presentation, Erika makes the case for the value of research and practicing it regularly. This is a great read for those who are at the intersection of digital products and user experience.
Let’s begin our projects with a focus on the user. If we learn more about our users earlier in the process, we’ll ask better questions, determine better solutions, test better prototypes and ship better products.
Libby Bawcombe works in design research and user experience for NPR’s digital platforms. Read more on NPR’s Design blog.
