By Janus Boye
A packed room at the Royal Library of Denmark in Aarhus earlier this month for our UX research peer group kickoff
Earlier this month, we visited the impressive Royal Library of Denmark in Aarhus, which hosted the kickoff meeting for our new peer group focused on UX research.
The purpose of UX research is to understand users’ needs, behavior, and experiences in order to create products that are functional, intuitive, and meet their goals.
A recurring theme was asking the right questions and being curious about who uses our solutions and how they are being used.
Johanna Halfmann joined us from Hamburg and talked about the gap between just providing a product or actually providing a useful tool. Citing Don Norman who famously said: "The Trouble with 'Users' is They’re Only Human", she also covered generational gaps and potential gaps in our understanding of the diverse range of humans using our products.
Also attending was design leader Martin Michael Frederiksen from Stibo DX, who shared from his recent experience with research and Dennis Nordstrom from Grundfos, who among many things reminded us about the desirability test from Microsoft.
From our host, Tenna Eliasen, we heard about the recent big project to get the Danish Broadcast Corp radio and TV archives online, and how user testing had influenced the final solution.
Asking questions and experimenting is actually a relevant topic for our entire network, where there can often be a long way from strategy through design to development. At the same time, there's often a lot of pressure, especially now with AI, for everything to be launched faster. But does this make better products?
We live in a time where you can probably find many answers here on LinkedIn or by using ChatGPT. But it's easy to overlook the value of contemplating carefully about the questions asked. It's often the questions that are important and can unlock new knowledge and insights.
The good questions are something we can work on together. Let’s be curious together, shift the focus away from all the buzzwords, and create better solutions.
The impressive indoor library garden at The Rouyal Library of Aarhus
A big pleasure as always to launch a new peer group. Thanks to everyone who joined us and in particular also to Sandra Trefzer for helping get the group started.
Learn more about UX research
The conversation naturally continues in our peer groups at conferences in Europe and North America. Why not join us and be a part of it? This new group meets four times a year.
This oldie but goodie from 2000 (!) by Jakob Nielsen was also mentioned at the kickoff: Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users.