Great Sites for UX Research

As designers we spend a lot of time trying to persuade people to see things our way. Specifically when presenting work and getting buy-in for designs and design decisions. One’s overall experience in the industry counts for a lot; we end up amassing a lot of knowledge from past work and projects. Unfortunately though, when we use this knowledge to inform design decisions, which we communicate to project stakeholders, sometimes they just don’t care. This is very common when you have a client or stakeholder that thinks you’re there to simply do what they ask. While it might be true that “everyone is a designer” — that doesn’t mean everyone is qualified to make design decisions.

This is why many design critiques and feedback sessions come down to opinions. One versus another. Even though as a designer, your opinion might be based on your knowledge and experience, people may not care — because they just want what they want! Often times I find myself in design reviews thinking “I wish people would just listen to me.” Well, the job is just not that easy!

This is one of the reasons we need research.

Research as Proof

We can (and should) use research to inform our design decisions, educate stakeholders and ultimately back up our work with the goal of getting it across the finish line. User research is valuable and necessary in its own right, but there’s a lot of other research that is readily available to us. If we can use research as proof we can use proof to persuade.

My Top 3 Sites for UX Research

It amazes me how much free, high-quality information Nielsen Norman provides. Getting their newsletter is one of the highlights of my week and it’s the first source I turn to when looking for data to back up design decisions. A big thank you to the Nielsen Norman team!

UX Stack Exchange is so great because there are bits of gold scattered everywhere, you just have to do a little hunting and pecking to find them. The ability to have a conversation and ask questions to a community of people that share similar traits and struggles is great.

UX Myths is just straight up telling it like it is and they are backing their myth busting with research cited in each topic. It doesn’t get better than this. To see an example, see Myth #3: People Don’t Scroll.

SVPG

I’d like to make a special shout out and mention the Silicon Valley Product Group. It didn’t make my top three list only because it’s not strictly for UX/UI research. As product designers we will inevitably get involved in product strategy (some of us really like it 👋)! SVPG is the number one source for product strategy learnings.

Other Great Sources

Here’s a handful of other great research resources I reference.

How to Use Research

Aside from the obvious, use it to design a better product or interface — as designers we want to get people on our side! Use research as a design review facilitation tool, as an educational component. Use it to show to how you got from point A to point B.

Present your research findings prior to presenting your design
Make annotations on your design work that link to your research
Write up brief research reports to go with design deliverables

Do whatever you need to do to facilitate, educate and illustrate your design journey and good luck!