From Insights to Impact - Innovation Partner - IoT, FinTech, Mobile Apps & Software Development, Cloud Engineering

From Insights to Impact

Key Methods We Learned in a UX Workshop

By Yesin Singhawansa

User experience (UX) design is not just about aesthetics; it's about making thoughtful and meaningful design decisions that make products useful and loved. Recently, we attended a UX workshop called "From Insights to Impact,” organised by the ICTer Conference Team of the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) which showcased a useful variety of techniques for creating user-centered designs. Here's a breakdown of the standout UX tips and tricks we learnt, how they can be applied, and why they're so invaluable for anyone working with digital products—whether you’re a seasoned designer or a developer dabbling in UX.

Practice Empathy: Throughout the session the overarching theme was practicing empathy when using these techniques. Putting ourselves in the user’s shoes.

1. User Research: Laying the Foundation for Informed Design

The workshop kicked off by emphasising the importance of User Research highlighting it as the bedrock of any effective design process. Knowing your users isn't just a nice-to-have—it's an absolute must!

Key Takeaways:

User Interviews: These are like friendly conversations with a purpose. The workshop highlighted the process, from preparing a tailored interview guide to running the interview and following up with analysis. We learned that a well-conducted interview uncovers not just user needs, but the “why” behind them.

In short, we are trying to empathise and understand the user, beginning with open-ended questions and only diving in with more probing questions when appropriate so that we don’t make the participant uncomfortable.

Why It Matters: User research drives business value by aligning design choices with what users truly want, reducing the risk of costly redesigns down the line.

Image: A friendly user interview

What We Loved:

A great takeaway tip to learn is to "listen more than you speak" during user interviews—capturing raw user sentiments can spark those game-changing insights that data alone might miss!

Challenges:

Even though interviewing 5-8 participants per user segment is the sweet spot, finding many participants on short notice (within a few days) can be challenging even if your organisation does have access to focus groups, hence it is always best to plan in advance.

2. Personas: Understanding and Designing for Your Audience

One of the most engaging segments was creating Personas—archetypical representations of our users. Personas help us step into our users’ shoes, bringing empathy to the forefront of design.

Types of Personas We Explored:

Proto Personas: Quick, sketchy personas based on team assumptions or limited data. Perfect for initial brainstorming sessions when you need to start somewhere without diving deep into research.

Qualitative Personas: Built from comprehensive user interviews, these personas are detailed and deeply insightful. They offer a nuanced view of user motivations, goals, and pain points.

Statistical Personas: The ultimate blend of qualitative and quantitative research, providing a data-backed look at user behavior. These personas take time to develop but offer a complete picture.

Why It’s Fun?

Personas put a human face to the design challenge. We enjoyed creating proto personas in the workshop based on what we “thought” we knew—only to refine them later using real data. It’s a fun and eye-opening way to confront assumptions!

Image: Hand written User Personas

3. Journey Mapping: Visualising User Interactions

Visualising how a user interacts with a product over time is crucial, and that’s where Journey Mapping shines. It’s like storyboarding a user’s emotional journey through your product.

Key Components of a Journey Map:

Stages of the User Journey: From initial awareness to post-engagement.

User Goals and Expectations: What are users trying to achieve at each step?

Pain Points: Where do they encounter friction, and how can we smooth it out?

Opportunities: Identifying moments where a delightful experience could make all the difference.

What We Learned:

Journey maps reveal emotional highs and lows, helping us pinpoint opportunities to match or even exceed user expectations. It’s like having a user’s diary that captures every moment of joy and frustration.

4. Storyboarding: Bringing User Scenarios to Life

Storyboarding is where the magic of storytelling meets design. We dove into creating Storyboards—visual narratives that detail how a user might interact with a product in specific scenarios.

Components of a Storyboard

Scenario – A real-life story about how a persona interacts with the product.

Visuals – Step-by-step sketches or illustrations showing the flow.

Captions – Small notes detailing what the user is doing, thinking, and feeling.

Image: Storyboarding user journeies

Why It’s Engaging:

Storyboards transform raw data into a vivid narrative. It was fascinating to see how scenarios we visualised led to tangible design decisions that directly impact the user experience. They’re a great way to get creative, even if your drawing skills are basic!

5. Wireframing and Prototyping: From Concept to Reality

We moved from storytelling to the nuts and bolts of UX with Wireframing and Prototyping—essential tools for visualising and testing our ideas early on.

“Wireframing” is all about sketching out the basic layout without worrying about the fine details, while “Prototyping” adds interactivity, allowing users to engage with the design before development starts.

Pro Tips from the Workshop:

Start with low-fidelity wireframes to quickly iterate and gather feedback.

Use clickable prototypes for usability testing—catching potential issues before any code is written saves time and money!

Why It’s Crucial:

We learned that even a simple wireframe can uncover usability problems early, while a high-fidelity prototype lets you validate complex interactions in a realistic way. It’s like building a model airplane before flying the real thing!

6. Usability Testing: Validating Design Choices

The workshop emphasised that Usability Testing is the gold standard for knowing if your design truly works for your users. We explored different testing techniques that can fit projects of any size.

Types of Usability Testing We Discussed:

Remote Moderated – The facilitator observes users via a video call, guiding them through tasks.

In-person Testing – Directly observing users' interactions allows for nuanced insights.

Remote Unmoderated – Tools like Hotjar or UserTesting.com help gather feedback without the facilitator’s presence, providing a more natural context.

Real-Life Impact:

We practiced running short usability tests during the workshop. It was eye-opening to see how minor design tweaks, identified through simple user feedback, led to significant improvements.

Image: Mobile app Usability testing

7. UX Research Synthesis: Making Sense of Data

Gathering data is one thing; understanding it is another. The workshop covered UX Research Synthesis, which involves processing raw user data to extract actionable insights.

Best Practices:

Use affinity diagrams to group similar findings and identify patterns.

Prioritise the most impactful insights—small changes can make a big difference.

Collaborate as a team to avoid personal biases and ensure diverse perspectives.

Image: Team collaboration and conceptualisation

Why It’s a Game-Changer:

Research synthesis is where data turns into decisions. We loved the focus on creating visual artifacts to support our findings, making it easier to communicate with stakeholders and get buy-in for design changes.

Conclusion

The "From Insights to Impact" workshop was a fantastic reminder that UX is a process of continuous learning, testing, and refining. From gathering raw insights with user research to storytelling through personas and storyboards, every step is about “putting the user first”. These techniques have not only enriched our toolbox but also inspired us to dive deeper into creating intuitive, delightful digital experiences. Whether you’re a designer, a developer, or somewhere in between, these methods provide a framework that makes user-centered design accessible and impactful.

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