Research The Researcher S01C5 feat Tiffany Eaton
Name and a brief intro about yourself…
Tiffany Eaton.
Tiffany Eaton is an interaction designer at Google working on messaging and communication tools for the next billion users at Google.
As a design advocate, Tiffany writes about her experiences weekly on Medium (@tiffanyeaton), mentors designers in her spare time, and collaborates with companies on social good initiatives through freelance design and writing. On her free time, she loves sipping matcha lattes and reading a good book.
Current place of work
Google
Designation/role/title
Interaction Designer
What you up to? (any interesting work or project you want to talk about)
I am currently working on a product that helps developers work with their partners (i.e. businesses) develop business messaging tools to reach customers via RCS.
How and Why did you get into User Research?
I studied interaction design at college and during my sophomore year, I fell in love with the design research class that was being taught. I didn’t know whether or not I wanted to focus solely on UX research, so once the semester ended, I had the opportunity to intern at DocuSign as a UX research where I dove deep into understanding the user base and the product itself.
I got into User Research because of the importance of gaining empathy and being apart of the user’s journey throughout the design process. It can be easy to lose sight of who we are designing for if we don’t understand the user.
All the products that I have been involved with building, whether through design or research, are driven by what the user needs, which isn’t simply discovered by asking what the user wants. User Research delves deeper into a person’s motivations and problems.
One book recommendation for those who want to get started in User Research (can also be a book which you often refer to)
Universal Methods of Design by Bella Martin and Bruce Hanington. I used this book to reference research methods and which ones to use based on the product I was building and what kind of insights I wanted to gain.
What skills do you look for when hiring Researchers? (or what skills you think Researchers should have)
If I were to hire a UX researcher, I want to see that they have a passion to understand their users, great collaboration skills and storytelling that informs a user’s motivations and behaviour to invoke action.
I also want them to have an understanding of a wide range of research methods (quantitive and/or qualitative) and knowledge of when/how to use them in the product development process to get the best results based on constraints and requirements.
What value does User Research add to Product Design & Development? (if any examples where User Research created an impact, that would be great)
User Research can help understand new user bases before diving deep into building the design, only for it to not work and even offend users.
Here is a good article on the product development of Youtube Go, which heavily relied on user research in the earlier stages of their product to cater to a new market and create something valuable for them: https://design.google/library/making-youtube-go/
User Research can benefit to building products that would be aiming to a saturated market. When you are building a product for a market that is already saturated with similar products, it is crucial to conduct research before shipping it.
Any “wrong move” (i.e. creating something that exists, doesn’t add any new value, isn’t the best at what it does) can cause distrust with potential users and long term adoption.
How is User Research structured at your place of work? (is it that researchers are embedded into products or called for as and when the demand arises)
Researchers are often embedded in our products. They mainly work with designers and PM to conduct research based on the product development phase and provide insights that influence the decisions we make with prioritizing which features to build/think about.
How do you grow as a Researcher? (what should Researchers do to stay valuable)
Researchers should always be curious about their users, observe the world around them, and to learn about new methods or when to use methods that they already know at the right time to get the most effective results.
What are the sources of info which you follow to stay updated in the field of User Research (can be people you follow on Medium/LinkedIn/Twitter, Websites, Publications, etc)
Erika Hall has a plethora of helpful articles on User Research: https://medium.com/@mulegirl
Thanks, Tiffany for sharing your insights!
I highly suggest following her on Medium — https://medium.com/@tiffanyeaton.
She is very candid, writes well and has a fondness to help the design community from her experience.
Past conversations —
