The hottest User Research Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Gmail: Designed to be joyfully simple

Elizabeth Laraki • 199 implied HN points • 03 Sep 24
🕹 Technology UX Design Product Development Software Engineering User Research Interface Design
  1. Gmail was built to be fast and user-friendly. The designers wanted everyone to enjoy using email instead of feeling overwhelmed by it.
  2. Key features like conversation threading changed how we view email. Instead of treating each email as a separate message, Gmail groups related messages together for easier tracking.
  3. Designing for joy means creating a simple and pleasant user experience. The goal was to make Gmail so easy to use that it felt natural and enjoyable for everyone.

UX Roundup: OpenAI Product Roadmap | Parallel and Iterative AI Use | Virtual Boyfriends | Jakob in SF | Dropdown Menus | Early GUI | AI Urgency | Perplexity Deep Research

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 11 implied HN points • 17 Feb 25
🕹 Technology AI UX Design Product Development User Research Web Development
  1. Grok 3 is about to launch and promises to be a smarter AI. It’s important to compare it with future models like GPT-5 to see how much better they become.
  2. OpenAI has simplified their product naming, making it easier to understand what each version offers. GPT-5 will also come with better features for users who pay for a subscription.
  3. The way we use AI in creative work can really boost quality. Using multiple models and refining ideas helps combine the best outcomes, making it a collaborative tool not just a replacement.

User Research Guide For Founders, Part 1: Getting Started

Elizabeth Laraki • 179 implied HN points • 25 Apr 24
💼 Business User Research Product Development Startups Entrepreneurship Market Analysis
  1. Set clear and specific research goals to know exactly what you want to learn from users.
  2. Choose the right research method, like interviews or usability studies, based on whether you need feedback on a concept or an existing product.
  3. Turn your research goals into specific questions that are easy for people to answer, making it easier to gather useful information.

Unlocking simplicity: Customer empathy as a (not-so-secret) weapon

amivora • 5 implied HN points • 05 Feb 25
💼 Business Customer Experience Strategy Product Development Marketing User Research
  1. Spending time with customers is really important for understanding what to simplify in your product. It might not seem helpful right away, but it leads to better decisions in the long run.
  2. Using your own product to identify issues can teach you a lot. Observing how customers interact with it often reveals what's working and what's frustrating for them.
  3. Deep emotional responses from customers indicate what matters most to them. Getting those insights helps shape what you should focus on and improve in your offerings.

Enhancing Employee Experience through UX

UX Psychology • 238 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
💼 Business UX Employee Experience User Research Iterative design
  1. It is crucial to integrate UX principles into the employee experience to enhance engagement and productivity in the workplace.
  2. By applying UX methodologies like user research, iterative design, and usability testing, organizations can create environments that prioritize employee needs and well-being.
  3. UX professionals can play key roles in optimizing the employee experience by leading research, advising on best practices, and educating workplace teams on UX skills and mindsets.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

User Research Guide For Founders, Part 3: Run Sessions + Identify Insights

Elizabeth Laraki • 79 implied HN points • 17 May 24
💼 Business Startups User Research Product Development Market Analysis
  1. When running user research sessions, make sure to plan the logistics and keep the session length manageable. It's important to stick to your script while encouraging participants to share their thoughts during the session.
  2. After completing the sessions, document the findings by organizing feedback into themes. This will help you identify common issues and insights that can improve your product.
  3. Share the insights in a clear and concise format, highlighting major findings and prioritizing issues that need attention. This helps ensure everyone on your team understands the feedback and can work together on solutions.

Breaking analysis paralysis: a guide to using data in product management

Askwhy: UX Research, Product Management, Design & Careers • 33 implied HN points • 27 Nov 24
💼 Business Product Management Data Analysis User Research Market Strategy Customer Insights
  1. Always start with a clear hypothesis when analyzing data. This helps focus your research and prevents getting lost in too much information.
  2. Use a mix of qualitative and quantitative data for a better understanding. This means looking at both numbers and user feedback to get the full picture.
  3. Document your analysis process carefully. This helps others understand your findings and allows for better collaboration in the future.

UX Roundup: Jakob Keynote Video | University Courses | 8 Uses of AI for UX Design | Museum Usability

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 32 implied HN points • 18 Nov 24
🕹 Technology UX Design AI Applications User Research
  1. AI is becoming a major force in UX design, helping teams work faster and more efficiently. It's taking over mundane tasks, allowing designers to focus on more important work.
  2. Educational programs are starting to include AI in their UX courses, preparing future designers for the changing landscape of the industry. This is a positive step for those looking to enter the field.
  3. Good usability in places like museums can greatly improve visitor experience. Clear signage and easy navigation are key factors in making sure everyone enjoys their visit.

User Research Guide For Founders, Part 2: Plan your Research

Elizabeth Laraki • 59 implied HN points • 06 May 24
💼 Business Startups User Research Market Analysis Product Development Entrepreneurship
  1. Identify who you want to talk to for your research. Focus on people who can actually help answer your questions.
  2. Recruit participants carefully by using screening forms to find the right fit. Make sure your questions are clear and helpful.
  3. Create a detailed research plan and script to guide your sessions. This will help make your research more effective and insightful.

The Effect of Culture in UX

UX Psychology • 258 implied HN points • 12 May 23
🕹 Technology UX Design Cultural differences User Research Iconography Language
  1. Understanding cultural differences is crucial in UX design to cater to diverse user needs globally.
  2. Cultural dimensions like individualism-collectivism, high-vs-low context communication, and power distance can significantly impact user behavior and preferences.
  3. Incorporating cultural sensitivity in design through research, inclusive elements, and collaboration with local experts can enhance user experience for a diverse global audience.

UX Roundup: AI-UX One-Day Conference | AI Format Remixing | UXR Prompt Cheatsheet | Research Report Renaissance | Worst UI Ever | Flexible Displays | Scaling Law for Physical AI | Podcast | Le Chat

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 25 implied HN points • 25 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI UX Design Conferences User Research Interface Design
  1. There is an online conference on December 4 that focuses on using AI in UX design. It's a great chance to learn about best practices and improve your skills.
  2. AI can help repurpose content into different formats, like turning articles into videos or podcasts. This makes sharing ideas easier and more engaging.
  3. Keeping a research repository is important because AI can quickly pull insights from past studies to answer new questions. This saves time and improves the impact of user research.

Creating Inclusive AI: A Strengths-Based Approach to Accessible Design

UX Psychology • 138 implied HN points • 10 Nov 23
🕹 Technology AI User Research Frameworks Methodology
  1. Designing AI systems using a strengths-based approach can empower users across a wide array of abilities, rather than highlighting deficits.
  2. Key frameworks like Universal Design, Ability-Based Design, and Design for User Empowerment help create more accessible and empowering intelligent systems.
  3. Using qualitative research methods like co-design and long-term engagement can provide deeper insights into diverse user experiences, enhancing the design process.

Nostalgia in UX Design

UX Psychology • 158 implied HN points • 11 Aug 23
🕹 Technology UX Design Psychology User Research
  1. Nostalgia has evolved from being seen as a medical ailment to a cultural touchstone, becoming more relevant today in marketing and design.
  2. Nostalgia offers psychological comfort during distressing times, increasing well-being, optimism, and a sense of meaning in life.
  3. When incorporating nostalgia into UX design, it's essential to understand the audience, innovate while evoking the past, ensure coherence, and avoid the potential pitfalls of manipulation and inhibiting innovation.

Lost in Navigation: Overcoming the Paradox of Choice in UX Design

UX Psychology • 99 implied HN points • 01 Sep 23
🕹 Technology UX Design Psychology Navigation User Research Information Architecture
  1. Providing more choices in user interfaces does not always lead to better decisions due to the paradox of choice - too many options can lead to decision overload and poorer choices.
  2. Choice paralysis in UX occurs when users are overwhelmed with options, leading to inaction or abandonment of tasks - simplifying navigation options can help prevent this.
  3. Hick's Law states that decision time increases with the number of choices available, emphasizing the importance of streamlining navigation design to reduce cognitive effort and aid decision-making for users.

Why do people hate redesigns?

UX Psychology • 178 implied HN points • 28 Oct 21
🕹 Technology UX Design Psychology User Research Behavioral Economics Cognitive Bias
  1. Users often hate redesigns due to familiarity bias, where they prefer the familiar even if the change is beneficial, and the endowment effect which makes them value what they already have more.
  2. Psychology plays a significant role in user reactions to redesigns, as habits are hard to change, leading to user dissatisfaction with altered interfaces.
  3. To improve user experience with redesigns, allowing opt-ins for changes can give users control, conducting thorough user research helps address pain-points, and making small, incremental changes can ease user adaptation.

Embrace AI’s Uncertainty in UX

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 29 implied HN points • 06 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI UX Design User Research
  1. In the age of AI, the design landscape is changing as we embrace the uncertainty of probabilistic systems, leading to a redefinition of traditional design roles and processes.
  2. Using AI in user research introduces new challenges, such as increased variability and a shift towards more qualitative studies over quantitative ones.
  3. Designing for AI means relinquishing control over the final user interface and embracing a design approach focused on creating rules and heuristics for AI-generated content.

UX Roundup: Domain-Optimized AI | Be a Test User | Heuristic Evaluation Template | Jakob Live

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 30 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
🕹 Technology UX Design AI User Research Live Q&A
  1. Domain-Optimized AI aims to provide specific answers integrating content from experts.
  2. Participating in research studies can help understand user experiences and the impact of designs.
  3. Heuristic Evaluation Template by Jason Ogle helps evaluate interfaces and offers guidance based on 10 usability heuristics.

5 ways to empathize with users and involve your team

Step-by-step Product • 19 implied HN points • 05 Mar 23
💼 Business Product Management Team Collaboration User Research Communication Strategies
  1. Observing users regularly and involving your team is crucial for building successful products.
  2. Maintaining continuity in the discovery process by having weekly touchpoints with customers helps generate insights.
  3. Creating a stakeholders repository and using tools like empathy maps and user scenarios can enhance team collaboration and communication.

Creating personas with secondary data

UX Psychology • 59 implied HN points • 05 Jan 22
🕹 Technology UX Design User Research
  1. Personas are crucial in design, representing target users based on research. They help focus design efforts, improve team communication, make assumptions explicit, and bring empathy to the process.
  2. Secondary data can be utilized to create personas, saving time and costs. Social media, case studies, and internal research are potential sources.
  3. Creating multiple personas ensures a more accurate representation of the target group. It's essential to limit personas to 3-4 major ones, each representing a segment of the target users.

Should User Interviews be Influenced by the Founder's Point of View on the Problem?

Build Startup In Public • 4 HN points • 16 Jul 24
💼 Business Product Design User Research Entrepreneurship Market Analysis Stakeholder engagement
  1. When talking to users, keep an open mind and avoid pushing your own ideas. It's important to listen and discover unexpected insights from their experiences.
  2. Don't just talk to the end users; include stakeholders and decision makers too. Their perspectives can reveal hidden challenges and needs that could affect your product's success.
  3. Understand the context where your users operate. Observing them in their natural environment can help you learn about their behaviors and needs, leading to better product design.

10/36 - User Research 101: Navigating the Discovery Process

Product Mindset's Newsletter • 9 implied HN points • 19 Mar 23
🕹 Technology User Research Product Management Data Collection
  1. User research helps understand user behaviors and needs through various methodologies to improve product usability.
  2. Benefits of user research include cost reduction, increased user satisfaction, and gaining a competitive advantage.
  3. User research methods include qualitative and quantitative approaches, attitudinal and behavioral studies, and a mix for a comprehensive view.

#13 Empathy, billiard balls and experts

Design Lobster • 19 implied HN points • 23 Apr 20
🪑 Design User Research Design Philosophy
  1. Empathy should drive design decisions, going to great lengths to understand users' lives can lead to innovative solutions.
  2. When changing materials in design, maintaining the same satisfying feel is crucial for user experience success.
  3. Designers must recognize that users are experts in their problems, not the solutions, and aim to create solutions users didn't even realize they wanted.

Fail Safe, Fail Smart… Succeed! (Part 2 of 3)

It Depends / Nimble Autonomy • 0 implied HN points • 29 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Project management Innovation Team Dynamics User Research
  1. Learning from failure is important. When things go wrong, take the time to understand what happened so you can do better next time.
  2. Project retrospectives help teams reflect on their work. These meetings let everyone share what went well and what didn't without placing blame.
  3. To reduce the risks of failure, use a step-by-step approach to launching new features. Start small, gather feedback, and make improvements before a full release.

Learning to ask better questions when talking to users

Eddie's startup voyage • 0 implied HN points • 22 Apr 22
💼 Business User Research Decision-making Entrepreneurship
  1. Asking better questions in user interviews is crucial for uncovering deeper insights and making informed decisions.
  2. Avoid closed and hypothetical questions that lead to yes/no answers or opinions based on unfamiliar situations.
  3. Using discussion guides in user interviews can significantly enhance the quality of insights obtained and improve problem discovery and decision-making processes.