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School of Interaction & UI/UX Design

Academy of Art University’s School of Interaction & UI/UX Design will help you gain a comprehensive skillset in contemporary interaction, user experience, and user interface design that will prepare you for careers in many industries including the tech industry—one of the most vibrant, multifaceted, and expansive industries in the world.

Graduates from the Academy’s interaction design school are strategic thinkers, producers, and technologists poised to lead innovation in interaction and experiential design.

We teach an integrated approach based on four fundamentals: design thinking, user experience, visual communication, and technology. If you’re ready to create the future, our unparalleled training environment in the epicenter of the tech world is for you. Our students and alumni are building tomorrow.

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What we teach.

The School of Interaction & UI/UX Design courses teach the skills you’ll need to help you pursue a career as a user experience designer, product designer, interaction designer, or user interface designer. You’ll design it. You’ll build it. You’ll have the eye and the skills you need for a fantastic career.

User Experience User Experience (UX) is not just pretty buttons and interfaces. It's the sum total of how your audience views and interacts with your creation, from look and feel through navigation, information conveyance and feedback. And it's not limited to the web; the more screen-based the world becomes, the more user experience design becomes crucial to everything we interact with on a daily basis.

Product Design Product design is the culmination of the many skills you will master. It includes interaction design, user experience design, visual design, motion graphics, and user research.

Visual Design Visual design is where research and aesthetics come together. You'll develop strong design strategy, taking integrated projects from concept to implementation across a wide scope of media, creating portfolio-worthy pieces. We teach proportion, color theory, typography, imaging, branding—all the elements that make your designs conceptually superior and visually compelling. We tell great stories. We shape rich experiences. We design eye-opening journeys.

Technology We teach programming techniques using the latest hardware that allow you to create cutting-edge mobile apps, websites, and interactive experiences. As you progress through the program, you become exposed to more advanced coding and technology to produce generative art, VR and AR, and Internet of Things projects (wearables and physical computing).

Motion Graphics Time-based media and the sequential presentation of information are integral to the Motion Graphics in Interaction & UI/UX Design. The study of how visual elements change over time is essential to crafting effective narrative, interactive, and branding experiences.

Pioneering Design and Innovation

Our interaction design degree programs prepare students for cutting-edge careers in interaction and user experience design. We teach an integrated approach based on four fundamentals: design thinking, user experience, visual communication, and technology. Our graduates are strategic thinkers, producers, and technologists poised to lead innovation on a global level.

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The latest in software and equipment is essential to preparing you to enter the workforce, which is why we keep up with current advancements in technology and industry practices. Whatever the pros are doing and whatever the pros are using is what you will find in our classrooms and design studios.

In the professional world, it can often be tough to get your work in front of people who will give valuable feedback or have the decision-making power to offer employment opportunities. Ideate is a place for all of that. IxD faculty bring professionals from major and boutique companies across all stretches of the industry. Facebook, Google, Lyft, Ancestry.com, PayPal, Robert Half, ROI DNA and Home Depot are among many of the companies that have attended the Ideate Conference. At heart, the Ideate Conference exists to provide students with the invaluable resources intended to support them breaking into the creative industry.

Our instructors work in creative businesses, providing you with invaluable knowledge that comes from their personal expertise, as well as networking opportunities that can lead to internships and rewarding careers.

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Ting Chu Chang Interaction & UI/UX Design

Ashlynn Tan Interaction & UI/UX Design

Hannah Heh Interaction & UI/UX Design

Ramiz Sheikh Interaction & UI/UX Design

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Meredith Pence Interaction & UI/UX Design

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Eric Yu Interaction & UI/UX Design

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Featured Alumni

I feel like the Academy has helped me build and attain the right skills to be competitive in the workforce.

The project-focused curriculum not only gave me end-to-end experience working through all phases of a digital project, but it also helped build my portfolio to launch my new career in user experience.

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Students from The School of Interaction & UI/UX Design enjoy many opportunities to work with top technology companies based on our connections to industry and network of successful alumni. Students have interned at top tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, EventBrite, GoPro, LinkedIn, and PayPal.

Careers in Interaction & UI/UX Design

As one of the top art and design schools in the country, Academy of Art University Interaction and UI/UX Design graduates have a range of opportunities to choose from. Our interaction design school facilities, faculty, and hands-on learning approach are designed to provide you with the tools you need to succeed as a working professional in the field.

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User Experience Designer As a user experience designer, you’ll use the User Centered Design process to understand the what, why, and how a product is used. You’ll get to know your users through through research and you’ll use their input to guide the process so that you can provide them with a design that is not only intuitive, but also delightful.

Product Designer As a product designer you'll focus on designing new features for digital products. You will create visual designs, interactive prototypes, and work with design staff, developers, and business stakeholders involved in the creation and maintenance of a project.

UI Designer As a user-interface designer, you'll work with user exprience designers and developers to create mockups, prototypes, and layouts for web applications and dashboards.

Interaction Designer An interactive designer is responsible for design strategy, identifying key interactions of a product, creating and testing prototypes, and keeping up to date on technology trends. Combining strong design thinking and excellent visual design skills, you’ll create digital products that impact the user.

Mobile Designer As a mobile designer, you'll create new and engaging experiences for emerging mobile devices and screens.

Motion Designer As a motion designer, you'll concept user interfaces, interaction animations, and design for emerging devices and platforms.

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5 Prioritization Methods in UX Roadmapping

November 14, 2021 2021-11-14

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Prioritizing work into a roadmap can be daunting for UX practitioners. Prioritization methods base these important decisions on objective, relevant criteria instead of subjective opinions.

This article outlines 5 methods for prioritizing work into a UX roadmap :

• Impact–effort matrix 
• Feasibility, desirability, and viability scorecard
• RICE method
• MoSCoW analysis 

These prioritization methods can be used to prioritize a variety of “items,” ranging from research questions, user segments, and features to ideas, and tasks. This article focuses on using these methods within the context of roadmapping—prioritizing problems that need to be solved into a strategic timeline. 

In This Article:

1. impact–effort matrix, 2. feasibility, desirability, and viability scorecard , 3. rice method, 4. moscow analysis, 5. kano model, 1.a. overview.

An impact–effort matrix is a 2D-visual that plots relative user value against implementation complexity. Variations of this matrix are used across various product-development approaches, including Six Sigma, design thinking, and Agile.

The resulting matrix captures the relative effort necessary to implement candidate features and their impact on the users. It can be subdivided into four quadrants: 

• Quick wins include low-effort, high-impact items that are worth pursuing. 
• Big bets include high-effort, high-value items; they should be carefully planned and prototyped, and, if executed, are likely to be differentiators against competitors. 
• Money pit includes low-impact, high-effort items that are not worth the business investment; there are better places to spend time and resources. 
• Fill-ins comprise low-effort, low-impact items that may be easy to implement but may not be worth the effort as their value is minimal. 

A comparative matrix is a malleable tool. While we discuss impact–effort matrices in this article, you can easily replace each axis with other criteria or use multiple matrices to assess more than two criteria. When setting up multiple matrices, set up your axes so that the Quick Wins (or whatever the equivalent best-outcome quadrant is) is positioned in the same spot (for example, always in the bottom left position), in order to easily compare several matrices and identify the items that consistently fall in best-outcome quadrant. 

1.B. Criteria

This prioritization method uses two primary criteria to rank features that are considered for implementation: the impact that the feature will have on the end user and the effort required to implement that feature. 

• Impact is the value the item will bring to the end user. The level of impact an item will have on end users depends on the users’ need, their alternatives, and the severity of the pain point the item solves.
• Effort is the amount of labor and resources required to solve the problem. The more technically complex the item, the higher effort it will require.

1.C. Process

Items are gathered on a whiteboard and their relative scores on the impact and effort dimensions are established through voting. Team members are given colored dots (one color per dimension) to vote for those items that they consider to rate highly on one or both dimensions.  

A general rule of thumb is that the number of votes per person is half the number of items being prioritized. It’s also possible that certain team members vote on a single dimension, according to their expertise — for example, UX professionals may rank impact, while developers may rank implementation effort.

After team members have silently voted on items, the items can be placed collaboratively on an effort–impact matrix (the x-axis represents effort, while the y-axis represents impact) according to the number of impact and effort votes received. 

Once everything is placed onto the chart, discuss the results and compare items, prioritizing those in the quick-wins and big-bets quadrants. Feel free to use the artifact as a platform for negotiation — throughout discussion with the team, it’s okay to collaboratively move items. However, at the end, there should be agreement on the final placement and the artifact should be documented and saved so it can easily be referenced in the future. 

1.D. Best for Quick, Collaborative Prioritization

An impact–effort matrix is best suited for quick, collaborative prioritizations. The method has a few advantages:

• The output is a shared visual that aligns mental models and builds common ground . 
• It is democratic — each person can express their own opinion through a vote.
• It can be done relatively quickly due to its simplicity. 

2.A. Overview

This method was developed by IDEO in the early 2000s. It ranks items based on a sum of individual scores across three criteria: feasibility, desirability, and viability. 

2.B. Criteria  

This prioritization method uses three criteria to rank items (i.e., features to be implemented):

• Feasibility : the degree to which the item can be technically built. Does the skillset and expertise exist to create this solution?
• Desirability : how much users want the item. What unique value proposition does it provide? Is the solution fundamentally needed, or are users otherwise able to accomplish their goals? 
• Viability : if the item is functionally attainable for the business.  Does pursuing the item benefit the business? What are the costs to the business and is the solution sustainable over time? 

2.C. Process

Create a table, with one row for each possible item, and columns for the 3 criteria — feasibility, desirability, and viability. Then, determine a numeric scoring scale for each criterion. In the example above, we used a numeric scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being a low score. 

Next, give each item a score across each criterion. Scoring should be as informed as possible — aim to include team members who have complementary expertise. Once each item is scored across each criterion, calculate its total score and force a rank. Sort the table from highest to lowest total score, then discuss the results with your team. 

2.D. Best for Customized Criteria 

This scorecard format is highly customizable. You can add columns to reflect criteria specific to your organization’s context and goals. You can also replace the criteria with others relevant to you. For example, the NUF Test , created by Dave Gray, uses the same scorecard format, but with New , Useful , Feasible as the criteria set. 

Another common modification is assigning weights to the different criteria — with those that are very important weighing more heavily in the final score. 

3.A. Overview

RICE is a prioritization framework developed by Intercom . It takes into account four factors: reach, impact, confidence, and effort to prioritize which features to implement.

3.B. Criteria  

This RICE method is based on scoring each item on 4 different dimensions:

• Reach : the number of users the item affects within a given time period 
• Impact : the value added to users 
• Confidence : how confident you are in your estimates of the other criteria (for example, highly confident if multiple data sources support your evaluation) 
• Effort : the amount of work necessary to implement the item 

3.C. Process

Using the RICE method is straightforward. Separate scores are assigned for each criterion, then an overall score is calculated. 

• A reach score is often estimated by looking at the number of users per time period (e.g., week, year);  ideally, this number is pulled from digital analytics or frequency metrics . 
• The impact score should reflect how much the item will increase delight or alleviate friction; it is hard to precisely calculate, and, thus, it’s usually assigned a score (for example, through voting, like in the previous methods) often on a scale from .25 (low) to 3 (high).  
• The confidence score is a percentage that represents how much you and your team trust the reach and impact scores.  100% represents high confidence, while 25% represents wild guesses. 
• The effort score is calculated as “person-months” — the amount of time it will take all team members to complete the item. For example, an item is 6 person-months if it would require 3 months of work from a designer and 1 month from 3 separate developers.  

Once you have each of the 4 criterion scores, use the formula to calculate the final score for each item: multiply the reach, impact, and confidence scores and divide the result by the effort score. Then compare, discuss, and reevaluate all the items’ scores with your team.  

3.D. Best for Technical-Oriented Teams

The RICE method works well for organizations that are more technical in nature (for example, when stakeholders are comfortable with equations or spreadsheets). The RICE method also works well when there are many items that need to be prioritized. Consider including peers with diverse domains of expertise in the RICE process and assign them the task of calculating the score for the criterion that relates to their expertise. 

4.A. Overview

MoSCoW analysis is a method for clustering items into four primary groups: Must Have , Should Have , Could Have , and Will Not Have . It was created by Dai Clegg and is used in many Agile frameworks. 

4.B. Criteria

This prioritization approach groups items into four buckets: 

• Must have : items that are vital to the product or project. Think of these as required for anything else to happen. If these items aren’t delivered, there is no point in delivering the solution at all. Without them the product won’t work, a law will be broken, or the project becomes useless. 
• Should have: items that are important to the project or context, but not absolutely mandatory. These items support core functionality (that will be painful to leave out), but the project or product will still work without them. 
• Could haves : items that are not essential, but wanted and nice to have. They have a small impact if left out. 
• Will not have: items that are not needed. They don’t present enough value and can be deprioritized or dropped. 

4.C. Process

MoSCoW analysis can be applied to an entire project (start to finish) or to a project increment (a sprint or specific time horizon). 

Begin by identifying the scope you are prioritizing items for. If your goal is to create a UX roadmap, you’ll usually have to prioritize for the first three time horizons: now (work occurring in the next 2 months), next (work occurring in the next 6 months), and future (work occurring in the next year). 

Compile the items being prioritized and give each team member 3 weighted voting dots, (one dot with a 1 on it, the next with a 2 on it, and so forth). Ask team members to assign their dots to the items they believe most important, with 3 being weighed most heavily.

Add up each item’s score based on the ranked votes (3 = 3 points and so forth). Identify the items with the highest scores and make sure that everybody in the group agrees on their importance. 

As each item is discussed and agreed upon as a Must Have , move it to a new dedicated space. Repeat this process for lower-priority items and assign them to the Should Have, Could Have , and Will Not Have groups based on their scores.

Once you have assigned each item to one of the four groups, establish the resources and bandwidth required for each group, starting with the Must Haves . Keep track of the total bandwidth and resources at your disposal, distributing and allocating your total amount across Must Haves (which should get the most resources), Should Haves (with the second most resources), and finally Could Haves (with few resources).  

There is not a clear threshold for how many items should be in each group. To determine this number, return to the goal of the prioritization activity. For example, if you are prioritizing items in a backlog, there is only time for so many tasks to be achieved in one sprint. In this scenario, all Must Haves should be easily achieved within one sprint; this constraint will limit how many items cannot be placed within this group.  

4.D. Best for Teams with Clear Time Boxes

MoSCoW is a good prioritization method for teams looking for a simplified approach (given the relatively vague prioritization criteria set) and with a clear time box identified for the work. Without a clearly scoped timeline for completing the work,  teams run the risk of overloading the Must Haves (of course, everything will feel like a Must Have if the timeline is the next two years!). 

5.A. Overview

The Kano model was published by Dr. Noriaki Kano in 1984 and is a primary prioritization method in the Six Sigma framework. Items are grouped into four categories according to user satisfaction and functionality and plotted on a 2D graph. 

5.B. Criteria 

This prioritization method uses two primary criterions to rank items: functionality and satisfaction. 

• None (-2) : the solution cannot be implemented
• Some (-1) : the solution can be partly implemented
• Basic (0) : the solution’s primary functions can be implemented, but nothing more 
• Good (1) : the solution can be implemented to an acceptable degree
• Best (2) : the solution can be implemented to its full potential 
• Frustrated (-2) : the solution causes additional hardship for the user
• Dissatisfied (-1) : the solution does not meet users’ expectations
• Neutral (0)  
• Satisfied (1) : the solution meets users’ expectations
• Delighted (2) : the solution exceeds users’ expectations

5.C. Process

Each item is first assigned a satisfaction score and a functionality score. The satisfaction score should be based on user data — for example, on existing user research or on a top-task user survey asking users to rate the importance of each feature; the functionality score can be rooted in the collective expertise of the team.  

These scores are then used to plot items onto a 2D-graph, with the x-axis corresponding to functionality and the y-axis to satisfaction. Each axis goes from -2 to 2. 

Based on their placement on their scores, items fall into one of four categories: 

• The Attractive category (often called Excitement ) are items that are likely to bring a considerable increase in user delight. A characteristic of this category is the disproportionate increase in satisfaction to functionality. Your users may not even notice their absence (because they weren’t expectations in the first place), but with good-enough implementation, user excitement can grow exponentially. The items in the Attractive are those with a satisfaction score of 0 or better. These items appear above the blue Attractive line in the Kano illustration above.
• The Performance category contains items that are utilitarian. Unlike other categories, this group grows proportionately. The more you invest in items within this category, the more customer satisfaction they are likely to prompt. The items in the Performance category have equal satisfaction and performance scores and fall on the green line in the Kano illustration above.  
• The Indifferent category contains items that users feel neutral towards — satisfaction does not significantly increase or decrease with their functionality and is always 0. Regardless of the amount of investment put into these items, users won’t care. These items are all placed on the dark blue Indifference line (which overlaps with the x-axis). 
• The Must-be category are basic items that are expected by users. Users assume these capabilities exist. They are unlikely to make customers more satisfied, but without them, customers will be disproportionately dissatisfied. Items fall into the Must-be category when their satisfaction score is 0 or worse. These are the items in the purple area of the Kano diagram, below the purple Must Be line.

Once items are assigned to groups, make sure that everybody in the team agrees with the assignment. Items with scores of (0,0), (-2,0) and (+2,0) may initially belong to two groups. In these cases, discuss the item and ask yourself if user value will grow proportionately with your team’s investment. If the answer is yes, group the item with Performance . In cases this is false, group the item with Indifferent . 

Move items as needed, then prioritize items into your roadmap. Items in the Performance category should have the highest priority, followed by Must be , Attractive , then Indifferent . 

5.D. Best for Forcing a User-Centric Prioritization 

The Kano model is a good approach for teams who have a hard time prioritizing based on the user — often due to politics or a traditional development-driven culture. The Kano model introduces user research directly into the prioritization process and mandates discussion around user expectations.  

There are many more prioritization methods, aside from the five mentioned in this article. (It’s also easy to imagine variations on these 5.) One method is not better than another. Consider your project’s context, team culture, and success criteria when choosing a prioritization approach. 

Once you find an approach that works, don’t be afraid to iterate — adjust and adapt it to fit to your needs or appeal to your team. Involve others in this process. The best prioritization methods are ones that everyone on your team, including stakeholders, buy into. 

McBride, S. (2018). RICE: Simple prioritization for product managers. Intercom.  https://www.intercom.com/blog/rice-simple-prioritization-for-product-managers/

What is the Kano Model? ProductPlan.  https://www.productplan.com/glossary/kano-model/

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User Research Academy

Introducing user research to your organization

In a way that makes colleagues care.

👋🏻 Hi, this is Nikki with a  🔒 subscriber-only 🔒 article from User Research Academy. In every article, I cover in-depth topics on how to conduct user research, grow in your career, and fall in love with the craft of user research again.

How many times have you sat through a presentation and thought either:

"This could have been an email." 

"Why is this relevant to me?"

As humans, especially working humans, who have limited time to spend on meetings and work per week, that second question is incredibly important to answer. 

Whenever we give presentations, whether it be a report, a follow-up, a kick-off, an educational piece, or anything in between, it is the presenter's responsibility to ensure their audience is relevant and gets something out of the presentation. 

With that said, how many times have you presented something to colleagues to watch their eyes grow heavy? To see them glance at their computer more and more often? To see them completely lose interest in whatever you are presenting?

I hope I'm not alone when I say this has happened to me all too often!

My first presentation about user research was a bit of a mess. As someone new to the field, I struggled with articulating the value of user research and the impact it could have. So, instead, I talked about how to properly conduct user research, which was also a bit of a shit show because I didn't even know how to conduct it properly.

The thing is, we are specialists. We love our field. We love user research. We believe it is one of the, if not  the,  most critical parts of the product development process.

But not everyone feels that way. 

Product managers are busy tying together the product and business. Designers are busy trying to understand how to design something functional and experiential. Developers are busy trying to ship something worthwhile. Marketing is busy trying to get a larger share of the market. Sales are busy trying to get more people on the product. Account managers are busy trying to help customers through challenging situations and align with products. Customer support is busy fixing customer problems as efficiently and effectively as possible.

We all have a lot on our plate, so sometimes, when we try to convey a topic without relating it to how it can  help  others in their jobs, we fail.

My biggest mindset shift

I went on from that first role and continued refining my presentations, but I still felt they fell short. 

I changed my tune and went hard into creating a user research framework, focusing on the three E's:

Ease of use

Effectiveness

In this framework, I talked a little more about the actual mechanisms of measuring data through user research, specifically usability testing, and how that would help us make more informed data-driven decisions.

I worked for a while on this presentation - blood, sweat, and tears style - and tried to make it perfect. However, I was disappointed when I presented it. Luckily it was a short presentation (I had learned that was best), so there wasn't too much eye-glazing. My colleagues nodded along, but none came when it was time for questions. And after, everyone just went about their days.

The presentation didn't do anything. Nothing changed. No one came up to me with a big revelation. It was just business as usual. People still struggled with how to connect user research with their roles.

And that's when it finally hit me.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to User Research Academy to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

User Research Academy

Embrace impostor syndrome. lead research that creates fomo and makes you famous in your organization, the user research membership, for the user researcher who wants to be valued by colleagues, the uxr membership is the place to learn how to confidently become a b@d@ss user researcher and turn heads with your work., if this is you, wave your insights in the air like you just don’t care.

You are expected to know the most things (read: every single method, approach, idea, criteria, concept, answer, solution - is an etc needed?) about user research at your organization. You just want to scream, “I’M NOT AN EXPERT” but then nobody would take you seriously

You have done so much Googling on topics like personas, journey maps, insight reports, and interview guides that your fingers and brain hurt, but still get a shake in the knees when a stakeholder approaches you with a research request - what if this is the one that makes them find out I’m an impostor?

You are super over screaming into the team-of-one-void and doing everything (the list above) alone while crossing fingers, toes, and eyes that you’re doing it right, despite being a good colleague to work with

You are creative and fun in real life , but you can never seem to infuse that into your research process. Instead, it’s yet another usability test, 1x1 interview, or PowerPoint (which you’re starting to dread)

You are sick of putting a hulk-amount of energy into a research process only for stakeholders to come to you wishing they had research done yester-year

And honestly? Most of the time, you feel like you’re spitting into the wind. 👻 You’re working so damn hard to “create actionable insights,” but nobody seems to care, notice, or open your report masterpieces. Is it your slide design? Your insight creation? That one time you said, “we’re doing the wrong F*ing thing!” (And then heard every stakeholder was offended)

Big sparkly bonus points if you are also: (a) a non-native English speaker trying to write English reports, (b) someone who transferred from academia and is scared about the pace of product/tech teams, (c) scared out of your mind by what you do every day, (d) Stacy’s mom. I’ve been dying to meet you since 2003.

Or how about these fun-filled symptoms? You ever experience these filthy thoughts while writing insights / listening to a stakeholder / procrastinating /contemplating a career pivot into a bookstore manager?

Ugh, that insight sounds so stupid! Who am I, someone who has never written anything in their entire life?

Why, why, why do I have to listen to Pete the Product Manager (or insert any stakeholder here) tell me how to write a better question that sounds like the stupidest question anyone could ever ask — “how much would you looooveeee to buy our product?”

Every other user researcher (including the ones that aren’t even user researchers yet) is smarter / more creative / cooler / more credible / better than me

Is anyone even going to read these insights? Maybe I’ll just go eat some nachos instead of writing this report…

Shit, this report sucks

NO! PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME LISTEN TO MY INTERVIEWS TO GET BETTER! I HAVE THE MOST AWKWARD VOICE IN THE WORLD!

“Just following up on those insights” I write in yet another calendar invitation that I know everyone will decline

What in the name of research is a persona anyway?

Why do people keep asking me to do Jobs to be Done when they literally have never listened to any form of research?

WHY DOES PETE <INSERT ANY NAME HERE> KEEP RUNNING TERRIBLE RESEARCH SESSIONS WITHOUT TELLING ME?

Good thing the stakeholders who need a two-month project came to me yesterday asking for insights in a week

LALALALA LAAA. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING - JUST A PERSON HANGING OUT WITH A GIANT IMPOSTOR SIGN OVER MY HEAD

User research isn’t even fun anymore—it’s just a big, fleshy, smelly armpit of a chore…except I gotta do it because this is what my entire career / life / marriage / FUTURE HOBBY AS OPRAH IS RIDING ON.

Conducting research stakeholders LOVE doesn’t have to feel like a thousand needles in the eye.

The good news is: research doesn’t have to be such a scary slog . It can be fun again!

And you don’t need to be “an expert user researcher” or “a creative person” by nature, or someone that took a million bootcamps and has every certificate under the sun (hey, I have two from general assembly).

You don’t need to be the best writer in the entire world or have a soothing radio voice for your interviews.

And you certainly don’t need to spend endless hours procrastinating and torturing yourself into believing you made a terrible career choice that one day when you were so excited you found your “next step.”

Rather, it’s about learning how to embrace your impostor syndrome and have fun with user research, so your stakeholders can experience that fun with you — all while they listen to your amazing insights.

Most people think it’s about “convincing stakeholders” or being so good that someone finally listens, but here’s the pickle of a truth:

They are listening, but they don’t care (YET!)

Fun fact: 85% of the researchers I’ve worked with (and it’s in the hundreds now) have felt impostor syndrome because it feels like no one cares.

85% is nearly 9 out of 10 people.

9 out of 10 people don’t feel good enough to be a user researcher. They doubt their skills. They spend hours perfecting a persona that no one will use. They get burnt out.

This proves:

You can’t spend hours convincing others about the value of research through lengthy reports or long meetings if you don’t have confidence in yourself.

You need to embrace and learn to dance with impostor syndrome. So you can value yourself. And stakeholders can value your work.

That’s what The User Research Membership is all about.

“This membership gives me confidence and helps me believe in my abilities as a Solo Researcher. I love reading every single article in the database. It keeps me accountable and I always refer back to the material available when in doubt. Love how structured all the information is. Makes it so easy and enriching to consume. Best thing of it all is the amount of time and energy I save on researching about research!” - A happy UXR member

INTRODUCING

The World’s Most Fun—And Practical– UXR Membership That’ll Make You Embrace Impostor Syndrome & LOVE Doing Research Again

“Nikki is not only an expert in the field of UXR, she does everything she can to bring other researchers along with her. Her UXR templates alone are worth the membership fee, but having the chance to meet regularly with this generous and reflective researcher has given me invaluable insights into my work and process.”

- A happy UXR member

Because user research should be fun! And when you finally get your confidence back, it can be incredibly rewarding too!

Inside this membership, you’re going to gain the confidence so that you can:

Steal the Show 🏆 by writing reports that turn stakeholders’ heads (and maybe even the CEO’s) and have them lining up with GOOD and THOUGHTFUL research requests

Say no to methodologies that don’t make any sense given the questions you are trying to answer (hellllllllo JTBD — no offense, but you are overutilized ) while feeling good about suggesting the right method

Track your amazing, sparkly impact as a user researcher , beyond just your insights and throughout every step of your process so that you can demonstrate your b@d@ss-ness to others (especially helpful for pay rises, promotions, and finding your new job)

Instantly up the Wow-Factor of your workshops with my mini-course all about how to facilitate workshops in the best way possible — for the outcome YOU need, not the one Pete wants

Stand wayyyyy out 📣 from everybody else in the industry with our constant live resume and case study sessions to get all your stuff in tip-top shape for that dream job (unless you’re going for Oprah…or President…in which case I support you, but probably can’t help).

Make a BIG impression by learning the best ways to ask for feedback — even if you are terrified of doing that right now. I’ve got all the tricks and templates for you

Tell Pete to shut up . Kidding — but at least get him on board with the right way to do research through my Treat Stakeholders Like Users technique

Try all the different methodologies in the world BECAUSE IT’S FUN AND YOU CAN

“You helped me remember why I love user research”

That’s what researchers chant in the streets (or maybe not since we tend to be an introverted bunch) after joining this membership.

Also we’ve had:

“You’ve helped me fall in love with user research again, ” and “Thanks for giving me permission not to know everything,” and “BYE BYE IMPOSTOR SYNDROME, I’M OVER YOU!” and “You are a legend".” — that last one is honestly true and I blushed for three weeks straight after hearing it.

Before joining, members often feel some combination of: Crippling self-doubt. Questioning their career paths. Wishing they could scream at their manager (& Pete). Wanting to make an impact but being sick of all the unnoticed effort. Hoping someone listens to them. And most of all, trying to recall why they got into this industry in the first place (instead of being that BOOKSTORE MANAGER — who else wants to go in with me on that?)

After joining, it is like they are different researchers: they buzz with the excitement of trying a new methodology, they don’t let their head hang when Pete (btw, I’m sorry if your name is Pete, I have nothing against you) rewords their interview guide to look sound like a toddler asking questions, they get jazzed up about reinventing processes and putting intake docs into place, they look forward to a workshop to bring their insights into beautiful solution-land.

That’s why the User Research Membership exists.

To make it fun for you to do research again. To get you out of that cave of impostor syndrome and into the incredible shining light of impact you can make on a team and organization.

To be able to embrace impostor syndrome. Get that recognition. Get that fulfillment. Get that pay rise. Get that promotion. Get that new job.

“I have no idea how to describe how much I love this community. Nikki is highly empathetic, creates a safe space, and is unafraid to discuss difficult topics. She inspires others and helps them wherever she can. When I don’t know what to do, I ask her questions, and then, after the meeting, I am always closer to the solution. I believe that thanks to her and the researchers who gather in this community, research will not only be conducted with higher quality but also UX research will establish its position in the product 🙂 “ - Karolina

Make your research & yourself sparkle✨

What’s included so that you can be the best - the very best - like no one ever was.

- Quarterly templates (+ access to a template library) help you try new approaches, deliverables, and ideas without having to start from scratch, and they are able to be completely customized to you and your organization. No more breaking our fingers Googling to see templates that look like a website built in the 90’s.

- The UXR database is your go-to for user research templates, articles, books, and videos, all tagged, so you don’t need to open 945309874 tabs and scour through each resource to know if it has valuable (and reliable) info in it!

- Live Q&As are the place to ask every question under the sun that might come to your mind — I will literally answer anything — so that you don’t have to be stuck wondering, “what is a user research strategy after all?”

- Hot seat coaching is admittedly somewhat nerve-wracking because, hey, it’s scary to share your stuff in front of others to get feedback buuuutttt you can get actual eyes on your work and understand if you’re going in the right direction and where to improve — like magic!

- Live practice sessions & challenges are where we really supernova your skills — no more walking into interviews thinking concerned about your questions or tasks, no more wondering if your user research plans are sh*t. We will practice all the skills to sky rocket your confidence

- The private community is your place to vent learn from others by asking questions, sharing the situations you are in, and giving advice so that we no longer are screaming into a void — instead, scream into our community and I promise you will be heard

- Guest sessions happen when I have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to a particular topic because I dedicated way too much brain space to memorizing the PokeRap. I’ll bring them in whenever there is a topic we need a specialist for!

- Career workshops/working sessions are when you GET TO FOCUS ON YOU BECAUSE THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING! We spend dedicated time on things like your resume or case studies, working together (quietly) with me there to offer the perspective of a hiring manager

- Mini-courses I’ve created (based on member votes) get you to the next level in your skills without joining anything live. They are courses only available to my members!

- For members only - discounted 1x1s and document reviews. I no longer offer ad-hoc 1x1s or document reviews unless you are in my membership ! Get my eyes on your work or book a call with me so that you can get personalized feedback and guidance on what to improve and do next

Go behind the scenes with me 👀

Upcoming events.

February Practice Session: Tagging Data Book Club Discussion

March Q&A: Roadmaps & backlogs Case study & resume working session

What makes this membership the best (the very best) membership in the world universe? 🚀

Community & Connection

What is the one thing better than venting on your own? Venting with a bunch of other people WHO GET IT.

Just kidding - kinda. We don’t just vent, but we do a lot of great things in the private community. We have challenges 💪, celebrations 🎉, book club 📚, all on top of the fact that you can literally ask any question in the (user research) world and get help ASAP.

I’m chillin’ in the community at least once a day alongside over 150 other researchers who just want to hang out and introvert-ly enjoy each other’s company.

Q&As, Hot Seat Coaching, & Practice sessions

“This might be a stupid question but…”

Well, guess what? That’s a line we’re not allowed to say in this membership because there is no stupid question. During out 2-3 live sessions you get to ask all the things, get ACTUAL FEEDBACK from me on your work, and have the opportunity to practice real skills in a low-stakes environment because who wants to learn card sorting during your first study?

Also, since I don’t know everything (thank goodness, then I wouldn’t be able to remember lyrics from the 90s), I bring in guest speakers all the time

Members-only Templates

Oh, the sweet relief when you don’t have to sit and stare at a blank page for hours trying to come up with a stakeholder satisfaction survey, a CYOA deliverable (freakin’ cool), a canned response to the statistical significance question, to track your impact in a whole new way, and how to educate people on the value and purpose of UXR (among others).

You ain’t got time for that, so I do it for you by delivering a monthly template to you to save your previous time for other things (like posting in the community or hanging out at our Q&As.

You get access to all the previous templates once you sign up and you also get to request template ideas that would be helpful to you!

UXR DATABASE

No one has time to actually Google something, open 83492749 tabs, go through each to see if it’s a valid and reliable source, and synthesize that information into something you need and can use.

Because I (and my fingers) suffered through this very same pain for years, and heard other UXRs complaining about the very same thing, I wanted to take away the pain!

This UXR database has valid + reliable resources tagged for you in an easy-to-search way!

If you could wave a magic wand and get anything to get you to embrace impostor syndrome and make you famous at your org what would it be? (YES, I JUST ASKED THAT QUESTION AND I RECOMMEND YOU DON’T IN YOUR INTERVIEWS!)

THIS MEMBERSHIP! Huzzah!

PS. Many people expense the cost of the yearly membership to their companies! Here is an email you can send your manager.

Cancel at any time + a 30-day money back guarantee!

Proud to offer a 30-day, 100% money-back guarantee (that you won’t need because it is AWESOME.) 🌟

✓ 2 live Q&As, hot-seat coaching, practice sessions, and guest speakers on valuable topics per month

✓ Access to the private membership community on Heartbeat

✓ A quarterly template & video you can customize to your org/team + access to over 20 members-only templates

✓ Access to the continuously updated user research database

✓ Priority to request templates or podcast episodes

✓ Access to our members-only book club

✓ Access to five members-only mini-courses

✓ Membership discount on all current and future courses

✓ Access to my substack content (normally £13/month)

The proof is in the pudding…or what other members say

Trying to read your mind (as we tell our stakeholders to never do)…

Can I cancel at any time?

Yes! You can cancel at any time within your membership portal or by emailing me directly!

What do I get as a member?

Quarterly UXR templates so that you can try new approaches and ideas without starting from scratch

2 times per month live meetings that include Q&As on specific topics (ex: democratization, insight writing, JTBD), guest speakers on specific topics (ex: quant UXR, product management), hot seat coaching (ex: I review resumes/case studies live) and practice sessions to up-level your skills (ex: generative research, usability test, insight writing)

Quarterly career workshops to focus on writing/updating resumes and case studies

Private members-only community to get all the support you need (I’m in it every day!)

UXR database with keywords so you can leave Google behind

Discounted document reviews (only available to members)

Discounted one-off 1x1 calls (only available to members)

Discount on all current and future courses/workshops

What makes this membership different?

This membership is focused on you feeling less alone and more inspired in your user research journey. I cater all the resources to make you feel like you can tackle any problem that comes up in your daily UXR life through practical advice, actionable templates, and a kind community

What timezone & how long are the calls

Calls range from 1-2 hours, depending on the topic and type. For now, calls are usually from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm UK time (GMT/BST).

What topics do you chat about in the calls?

We meet in live calls 2-4 times a month and each call has a focus (with the exception of open Q&A calls). During the call, we either:

Cover a specific topic in which you ask all your questions (ex: how to form insights)

Engage in hot seat coaching, where you can share your work with me and get feedback/advice during the call (ex: resumes)

Have a practice session where you get to practice a skill and give/get feedback from others (ex: generative research)

Have a guest speaker who talks specifically about a topic they specialize in (ex: quant user research)

Every 3-6 months, I ask the group to give me feedback on the most relevant and valuable topics

What is hot seat coaching?

Hot seat coaching is when you are able to share a concrete issue you are struggling with (and even share your screen) to get direct feedback from me and any other group members who can give advice.

This can mean sharing some research goals you are struggling with, some recruitment criteria you aren’t sure how to turn into a screener question, a theme that you don’t know how to format into an insight, a workshop agenda, or a situation you struggled with at work.

Hot seat coaching is a great opportunity to get personalized feedback…

While also helping others learn from your experience.

What does a typical group session look like?

The format is:

Any announcements about the membership, upcoming calls or events

A live Q&A session to answer any questions on the topic

Hot seat coaching for you to get feedback on your work right then and there

Is the user research membership for me?

If you are currently working as user researcher, especially in a team of one or without a support system, this membership will give you the support and guidance you need in your career.

If you aren’t currently working as a user researcher or are trying to transition into the field, I would recommend taking a look at my User Research Mastery course to get you started!

Tell me more about the templates. What are they exactly + how can I use them for ME?

These templates are created based on struggles that I myself and other researchers have encountered in the industry. And, as a member, you can also request templates that you need! And give you a 10-20 minute walkthrough of the template (depending on complexity) to help give further context and help guide you on how you could use it at your organization. Some templates from previous months include: stakeholder satisfation surveys, research impact tracking, diary study organization, guide to statistical significance questions, Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) deliverable, and more! You will get access to all the previous templates once you sign up!

And who am I?!

I’m nikki 👋🏻.

I once entered a bar as a normal graduate student and emerged as an aspiring user researcher. 

I first heard about user research at an NYC bar party way back in 2015, the year we had the seemingly never-ended debate on whether that dress was #blackandblue or #whiteandgold and also the year Google changed its logo for the first time since 1999.

I’d love to say, since becoming a user researcher, I haven’t looked back, but there were quite a few times when I seriously considered quitting to be an interior decorator or open my own bookstore (which my husband still has to tell me is a financially irresponsible idea). 

What gave me self-crippling doubt about user research?

I was so lonely as a UXR team of one that I practiced my presentations in front of the bathroom mirror at work rather than with colleagues.

My fingers nearly broke from the hours I spent googling “how to build a persona,” “what is an executive summary,” or “how to write insights that stakeholders will actually listen to and care about that will also get me promoted because all I do is work?” (The last one didn’t yield great results.)

Luckily something told me to keep on keeping on, and now people call me an “expert in the field” - someone once even called me a “legend.” I have written over 250 articles - I am attempting to wrangle them into a book, stay tuned - on user research, spoken at dozens of conferences, and upwards of fifty podcasts and events with super cool people and organizations such as UXPA, dscout, UXInsight, and Dovetail. I also spoke one-on-one with my idol, Indi Young, during a conference tech check, so I’m pretty thrilled.

The point is, I don’t want you to experience the crippling self-doubt and impostor syndrome I did.

I want you to:

⭐️ Stroll into that 1x1 interview with confidence rather than crossing your fingers (toes and eyes) that the participant will cancel 

⭐️ Facilitate that workshop so well that everyone’s buzzing about your insights, rather than calling in sick for the next six months until someone forgets about it

⭐️ Grab that promotion/pay rise you’ve been wanting for what feels like the past five years by the horns

So you can fall head over heels for this beautiful craft we call user research and have a blast doing it.

I’ve rallied hundreds of user researchers together, cheering them on and supernova-ing their careers so they are happy doing what they love: researching users.

If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, join the community!

PS: In my spare time, I carry around something called a Pokeball Plus to walk around with some of my favorite Pokemon (Charizard, Gengar, and Growlithe, if I have to name a few) in real life. I can play with them too by shaking the ball. I live in Jersey (not the new one, the old one that’s off the coast of France but has a bunch of British people who speak funny-sounding English) with my dog and two cats.

Kick impostor syndrome in the A$$