Human-Centered Research and Design
Usability research for evidence-based decision making
Over the last 20 years, our field of work has been given many different names: UX or CX Research, UX or CX Design, UX or CX Strategy, Human Centered Research (HCD), Behavioural Research, Information Architecture, Content Strategy, Content Design, Experience Research/Design, Service Design, and even magic!
Whatever you may call it, our value to our clients remains the same.
We use research insights from real people to provide the evidence you need to create better user experiences, while reducing overall project costs and risks.
How we do it
We have conducted over 150+ usability projects the last few years and have worked with over 2000 testers.
Our engagements range in size from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Clients hire us to deliver full projects, to extend the capabilities of their team, for occasional advice or a mix of all three.
With dozens of projects for clients in the Government of Canada, we have significant knowledge about the rules of procurement and can help you with the process.
Our HCRD Services
Strategy - We have supported clients in the evolution of their system and strategy. This has included supporting clients in their efforts to increase their organizational UX maturity, to design strategies, draft policy, guide change management initiatives, design and build teams, and support the creation of Research and Design Ops.
Service Design & Interface Design - We use research to define the problem that needs to be solved, the options that make sense, and then what the product or service should look like. Our design-related services have included building information architectures and navigation patterns, Service Design workshops and Sprints, Design Thinking workshops, personas, journey maps, empathy maps, drafting Value Proposition Canvases, service blueprints, wireframes and prototypes.
Usability Research – We have completed 150+ research projects where we have designed, administered, and analyzed many different research projects, using dozens of approaches. This includes conducting heuristics, comparative analysis, surveys, ethnographic studies, one-on-one interviews, and both moderated and unmoderated usability research.
Usability Testing - We are strong advocates for testing designs and in-progress sites and online applications with real users. We have completed hundreds of moderated and un-moderated usability testing projects to date. Our process is simple and fast, will produce results and recommendations that are convincing, useful, and includes guidance on how to fix things.
Usability Test Participant Recruiting - Over the last 10 years we have recruited over 2000 usability test participants across many different projects/clients. We have become experienced at finding testers to match the audience profile of the various Government of Canada departments and agencies we have worked with.
While we can typically find the participants you need in just a few days, we will happily take on the challenge to recruit usability test participants who are harder to find.
In June of 2021, we launched our own usability test participant pool that is quickly filling up with candidate testers specifically for our Canadian clients. We are using our propriety UXM platform to quickly find appropriate candidates, manage logistics and pay incentives to our testers.
Training and Coaching - The nature of our work and the ongoing confusion about what it means translates into being called upon to provide formal and informal training as well as coaching services as part of almost every project. Whether the level of understanding is low, moderate, or high, our deep experience across 150+ projects means that we have lots of insights to share. This has included customized training to address specific organizational needs, UX training, and one-on-one coaching for the middle level and executives.