User research has been a constant in my design practice. I tend to work on the basis that human factors underpins design with knowledge of how people think, work, and understand, but this needs to be supported by a more detailed understanding of the target audience.

General Dynamics: Lab-based usability testing

At General Dynamics I was part of a team that had designed multiple prototypes to plan communications. I designed a set of tests which I carried out over the course of a week, using representative users,with Axure prototypes running on the target hardware. As well as helping to refine the designs, this approach helped to:

• understand the additional challenges introduced by the hardware and environment;

• get deeper insight into users’ thought processes; and

• decide between alternative approaches to the same problem.

Dynamic Planner: Surveys, interviews, and large-scale remote usability testing

Early on in my time at Dynamic Planner, I introduced user research. This was initially quarterly surveys with users working in financial advice firms that:

• provided feedback on current and proposed features;

• helped to develop a deeper understanding of the user base; and

• built relationships with users.

These regular surveys were supported by analytical data and interviews with users, typically as deep-dives into their needs or the broader context for how they used a particular product feature.

 The largest research and test programme I ran at Dynamic Planner was in support of a novel product to provide online ISA advice. The research program began with in-depth interviews of financial advice firms to develop a detailed understanding of the process used by advice firms, as well as the time required. This understanding helped to shape the design as well as informing the potential time savings and the size of the market.

 Later in the design process, as prototypes became available, unmoderated remote user testing was used to refine the design. Over 100 tests were done, primarily on Android and iPhone devices with users from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds, and this led to many minor changes being made to the process, interaction, and text. One of the more memorable changes was to the date picker on Android. The prototype initially used the default date picker, but after one user didn’t understand how to change the year and ended up going back month by month until the minimum age of 18 was reached, this was quickly changed!

Legal design work: Multinational interviews

As part of developing the field of legal design I have carried out research with users of legal documents from multi-part contracts to privacy policies. This has included:

• interviews to understand user concerns over the terms and conditions being used by a startup;

• focus group sessions with contractors based around Australia to understand issues and needs around foreign aid contracts; and

• card sorts / tree testing with participants from across Europe to inform the information architecture of a contract.