{"id":19300,"date":"2025-07-31T12:44:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T12:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lollypop.design\/?p=19300"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:32:11","slug":"how-to-conduct-user-research-ui-ux-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lollypop.design\/blog\/2025\/july\/how-to-conduct-user-research-ui-ux-design\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Conduct Effective User Research for Better UI\/UX Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have all worked on at least one project where the user research did not translate into UI\/UX design<\/a>, and everyone was left to wonder, \u201cWhat was the point?\u201d<\/p>\n

In this article, I don\u2019t want to bog you down with the best user research methods or ways to conduct UX research<\/a> that feed nicely into UI\/UX design. There are a bunch of articles on how to conduct user research on the internet that you can refer to.<\/p>\n

Instead, let\u2019s talk<\/a> about the relationship between research and design, their cousin business, along with how to avoid unemployed research reports and designs that barely care about the user in the user experience. This discussion is especially relevant if you\u2019re trying to improve the UI\/UX design process by aligning design, user insights, and business needs.<\/p>\n

Key Steps to Translate User Research into Effective UI\/UX Design<\/h2>\n

1. Setting Expectations from the Get-Go<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

First of all, there should be consensus on what research is doing and why, and how it will aid the design. In other words, the assignment of tasks to both the research and design teams\u2014a defined UX research process that connects directly with design workflows.<\/p>\n

Then the designer has to tell the researcher if there is anything specific that the researcher needs to look at, which is a common approach in collaborative UI\/UX design projects.<\/p>\n

This could be a particular feature when doing usability testing methods, for example:<\/p>\n

In the old design of a ride-hailing app<\/a>, users were able to find the cancellation button easily. So now, the researcher can focus on whether the new design is balancing user experience and business needs and find a balance on how hard it is for the user to find the cancellation button.<\/p>\n

In a case where this communication has not happened, the UX insight will look like:<\/p>\n

\u201cUsers find it hard to find the cancellation button and show signs of frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of:<\/p>\n

\u201cUsers find it hard to find the cancellation button and take around 10 seconds to figure it out, enough to give them a chance to reconsider cancelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a great segue to talk about the most crucial thing for research to be helpful to design and vice versa: translating UX research into design decisions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. Communicate Insights; Don\u2019t Just Share<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

In an ideal world, researchers would research and hand off the insights to design. Design would take all the insights and make the best user-centered product.<\/p>\n

But this is not an ideal world. Sometimes designers don\u2019t understand research well enough and might not be able to apply the insights or even interpret them.<\/p>\n

Bridging this gap requires translating UX insights for design in a way that is actionable and accessible for the whole team. This is where many UX research practices fail\u2014they don\u2019t speak the language of the UI\/UX design process.<\/a><\/p>\n

And researchers might not know every bit of design limitation and may find it downright offensive.<\/p>\n

Add business needs to this mix, and voil\u00e0, here we have a half-baked product that tried to be a lot but turned out only \u201cmeh,\u201d and none of the parties involved feel proud of the outcome.<\/p>\n

If there were clear communication between UX research and design about the meaning and impact of certain insights, if designers then communicated any design limitations or proposed better options, and if the business were clear about its goals, we might achieve a good balance between research insights and design decisions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/h4>\n

Insight:
Users naturally group laptop sleeves and hard cases together, viewing them as variations of the same product type meant for device protection, and expect to find them in the same category.<\/p>\n

Business view:
Laptop sleeves should be kept with mobile covers, so people see suggestions and buy the sleeves as well.<\/p>\n

Solution:
A conversation between the three could lead to a golden mean:
Laptop sleeves and hard cases stay in the same category, but there are pop-ups of phone cases in similar items or categories to lead the user to mobile cases.<\/p>\n

Here, design can intervene, think of a unique solution, and put their UX understanding to best use, without having to simply do what research and business say. This is what makes UX research for UI design truly impactful.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udce2 Want to see how we apply user insights in real products?<\/strong>
\ud83d\udd17 Explore our case studies \u2192<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

3. When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Make insights easy to digest. We know we wanna make perfect insights that are not just \u201cfindings\u201d (if you know, you know).<\/p>\n

But sometimes these are not significant for the designers to understand and implement.<\/p>\n

You might wanna translate your insights into user stories or something designers are used to, such as:<\/p>\n

As-is\/To-be Frameworks<\/h4>\n

As-is: \u201cAs a user, I struggle to find the checkout button because it\u2019s buried in a drop-down.\u201d
To-be: \u201cAs a user, I want to easily find the checkout button so I can complete my purchase quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jobs To Be Done (JTBD)<\/h4>\n

When (situation), I want to (motivation), so I can (expected outcome).
Example:
When I\u2019m commuting, I want to listen to something engaging so I can make the most of my time.<\/p>\n

This helps the designer:<\/p>\n