365: UX Research ft. Danae Holmes

Design Details

This week, we sat down with Danae Holmes, a UX researcher at YouTube Gaming to talk about everything UX research. We dig into research methodologies, effective collaboration with design, tips to get better at user research, the future of the field, and so much more.

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to full episodes going forward! Sign up at https://patreon.com/designdetails.

In this week's Sidebar, as with all interview episodes, we ask bonus questions! This week we ask Danae:

• What skill do you think researchers overvalue?
• What skill do they undervalued?
• Is your success mostly the result of luck or hard work?

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Follow up:

• @muffmasterflash aka Monica says: I am filled with nitpicky rage when I see things under Settings that aren't things you can actually set, like FAQ, Contact, About, or T&Cs. But what to call that stuff collectively? "Help"?
• From now on, all new Sidebars will be posted separately on Patreon to make it easier for people to catch up on the backlog.

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Interview:

This week we sat down with Danae Holmes, a UX researcher at YouTube, to talk all about user research in software design. We discuss the function of UX research in organizations, research methods (and how to choose one), the difference between qualitative and quantitative data, the pros and cons of using scripts, collaborating with product designers, and tips for anyone interested in learning more about research.

• System Usability Scale (SUS) provides a “quick and dirty” but reliable tool for measuring usability
• Set Phasers on Stun: And Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error
• UX Ya'll is a conference happening later this week. Learn more about Danae's presentation.

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Cool Things:

• Brian shared GitHub CLI, a simple but powerful new way to interact with GitHub from the command line. It's beginner-friendly, too, so if you're interested in learning more about git and GitHub, check it out!
• Danae shared Glyph, a molecular spirit with a beautiful design, good taste, and environmentally-conscious creation.
• Marshall shared all the neat new features in the latest AirPods Pro firmware update, including the magical spatial audio feature.

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Bye bye bye!