usability research Articles & Videos

  • The Role of UX in Agentic Software Factories

    AI-native software development lifecycles reduce UX to AI context. UX must discover user needs, shape what’s built, and evaluate it before and after launch.

  • Why Your Research Findings Aren’t Landing

    Great research means nothing if the story doesn’t land. Learn how to structure a research readout that moves stakeholders to action, not just acknowledgment.

  • Test Complex Interactions Earlier with AI Prototyping

    AI tools make it feasible to build fully interactive prototypes of complex interfaces so you can test them with users earlier in the design process.

  • Dogfooding vs. QA vs. User Research

    Dogfooding, or using your own products internally, helps catch bugs, but it can't replace user research: your team knows too much to represent real users.

  • The Methodological Problems Hiding in Your Research Tools

    The methodological blind spots in UX research tools have always been a problem. Now that AI is planning and analyzing research, it's gotten worse.

  • UX Research with Minors: Consent vs. Assent

    When conducting UX research with minors, you must obtain consent from a parent or legal guardian and assent from the minor participant.

  • 4 Things GenAI Needs for Better Content Design

    Product-specific genAI needs to follow common digital writing practices in order to better fit users’ scanning needs.

  • What is Mixed-Methods Research?

    Want the numbers and the stories behind them? Mixed-methods research combines qualitative and quantitative data to give you a clearer, fuller picture of the user experience.

  • Preference Testing for Assessing Visual Design

    Preference testing is a tool to evaluate multiple design variations, helping you make informed decisions that align with your brand and resonate with your audience.

  • Digital Twins: Simulating Humans with Generative AI

    A digital twin is a genAI-based model of a particular individual that can be used to predict both individual and population-level preferences and behaviors.

  • Testing Icons In and Out of Context

    Test icons out-of-context to assess recognizability early on, and in-context to evaluate clarity and usability later—both are key to effective icon design.

  • Test Keyboard Accessibility On Your Website

    Keyboard accessibility is crucial for inclusive web design. Test your site using only a keyboard to ensure clear focus states, access to all interactive elements, and logical tab sequences.

  • 5 Reasons to Test Even When You “Know” the Answer

    Evidence from usability studies can be more convincing than what you say. Test even if you can easily determine the difference between good and bad designs.

  • SEQ vs. SUS

    Pair qualitative methods with quantitative metrics like the System Usability Scale (SUS) for benchmarking and the Single Ease Question (SEQ) for task-level insights. Use both carefully with qualitative data.

  • Attitudinal vs. Behavioral Research

    Explore the difference between attitudinal and behavioral UX research. Learn how combining these methods offers a complete view of user interactions and perceptions.

  • User Testing with Older Adults

    When conducting usability testing with older adults, understand the unique needs of participants in this age group and adjust your test setup and tasks accordingly.

  • Research Repositories 101

    Research repositories organize user research in a central place, making research-related documentation easy to access and consume.

  • Affinity Diagramming for Collaboratively Sorting UX Findings and Design Ideas

    Use affinity diagramming to cluster and organize research findings or to sort design ideas in ideation workshops.

  • Attitudinal vs. Behavioral Research in UX

    Attitudinal research captures user opinions and feelings in the form of self-reported data; behavioral research observes user actions.

  • The 4 Degrees of Anthropomorphism of Generative AI

    Users attribute human-like qualities to chatbots, anthropomorphizing the AI in four distinct ways — from basic courtesy to seeing AI as companions.