DISCOVERY

PHASE ONE

SCREENERS & SURVEYS

SCREENERS

Screeners are helpful to weed out unwanted participants and isolate your target audience.

SURVEYS

Surveys are the first step in discovering relevant data about the user in the UX design process.

RESULTS

Parsing the results of the Survey data give you a path to identify targets for user interviews.

USER INTERVIEWS

Interviews are targeted based on survey findings and can be conducted in person, via Teams, Zoom, or Google Hangouts, through chat, or over the phone. Crafting relevant interview questions is an art in itself, requiring careful consideration to uncover deep insights during the interview process.

CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY

Contextual Inquiry is a qualitative research method where researchers observe users in their natural environments—homes, stores, workplaces, or schools—to gain authentic insights into everyday behavior. This firsthand observation reveals real user pain points and uncovers opportunities for designing effective, contextually relevant solutions.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

COMPETITIVE RESEARCH

During discovery, competitors are analyzed for their features, business model, audience, colors, etc. This helps the UX designer to understand the client's market.

LAYOUT ANALYSIS

Often it is beneficial to do a Layout Analysis of existing competition to see the pros and cons of other sites and establish best practices and customer expectations.

LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS

VISIT THE NEIGHBORS

By evaluating what works well and where competitors fall short, it helps me understand their market position and identify missing features or opportunities, ultimately informing product strategy and driving competitive advantage.

HEURISTICS

Heuristics in UX research are established guidelines or best practices used to evaluate a product’s usability.

Along with a Competitive Analysis, a Heuristic Analysis of the current client and relevant competitors helps pinpoint where a product falls short relative to industry standards.

By applying these rules—such as Nielsen’s heuristics—you can identify the most obviously deficient areas and focus improvement efforts on key pain points, ensuring your design is more user-friendly and competitive in the market.

NOW THAT I KNOW WHERE WE STAND....

After the discovery phase, it comes time to set a plan in place based on data. Data drives the designs, and analytics become a key element to the next step in the design process.

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