I think we are all guilty of neglecting the research phase when it comes to developing some design concepts. I myself am guilty of performing "research" by opening up some CSS galleries and looking through some magazines. The problem with this common approach is that you are researching aesthetics and ignoring the target users.

This of course can be a hard concept to get away from as many of us are striving to make designs that are aesthetically pleasing... and by aesthetically pleasing it typically means pleasing to ourselves. Yes, with this approach the client will agree it looks great and we can look at our portfolio with a glimmer in our eye, proud of our works of art. However what really should be a gauge for success is how well the site performed.

Keep in mind some of the most successful sites would probably look ugly in your eyes, but are perfect in the eyes of the target audience. The Knot for example, doesn't strike my fancy in any way shape or form... but brides to be?

My not so subtle point is that we should be striving to create effective designs and in order to do so we need to really understand our target users. This means going beyond what the client tells us they like, going beyond looking through CSS galleries to see what we like and instead it means reaching out and finding out what those target users actually like.

Don't Trust The Client

If nothing else the first step is to understand that you client has a better understanding of the audience than you do. The next step is to acknowledge that everything you (or the client) think you know about the user is wrong. This sounds contradictory but what I am getting at is that while doing client interviews is a good first step to some vague understanding of the audience but it will no doubt lead to assumptions that are simply incorrect. Additionally you can be sure that some of the information gathered from the client is based on assumptions that are incorrect.

Your goal during the initial interviews is to get enough information and knowledge to know where to look to start performing actual research. The interview and client questionnaire is not the research itself.

Phase I, The Basics

The first design meeting that you hold should really aim to understanding the basics of the target audience. Basic age, demographic and interest information. I stress that you shouldn't try and extract any more information. Rather than looking for answers instead look for examples.

The problem with asking "What does your audience care about?" is that you will get an answer that is really what your client thinks the audience cares about... which most of the time is not the actual case. Instead ask to give an example of a perfect customer, one that they would like to have 10 times more of. This will draft up a real example where you can get an idea of life stage, interests, gender, family, geographic location, etc... I would also stress to try and get contact information for this example as well.

Repeat this process to get a decent sample size of actual examples of customers based on factual information and you have a pretty good base to start your research.

Phase II, Understanding

With 4 - 5 examples of the "perfect customer" you will start to notice some pattern. It might be age range, family size, occupation, interests, region, etc... but you should be able to find some common thread among them. However this isn't enough to really decide what should be visually communicated to them in a manor that will maximize website effectiveness.

From there you can dive a little deeper. You can now start asking more probing questions, however it is important to only record answers that are based on fact rather than assumption. For example it may be a good idea to ask "Why did this customer purchase from you rather than a competitor?" -- if the client hasn't specifically asked them, don't bother. However more sophisticated companies with healthy marketing departments will be cataloging this sort of information in a CRM system.

If the client is unaware of why they purchased that is OK, instead ask permission to contact the client for a brief interview via e-mail or phone. If the customer really is a "perfect customer" they would be happy to spend 10 - 15 minutes of their time answering questions about your clients company or product.

This is the perfect time to start drafting interview questions, such as:

• Why did you select this company over a competitor?
• What do you identify with in regards to this company?
• How would you describe yourself (if you can show people an image of someone they would agree is "like them" you increase empathy dramatically)
• What emotions do you associate with the company or product you purchased? (Happy, sad, fear, etc...)
• What are you looking for when choosing a company/product for this need?

These types of questions will give you incredibly valuable insight into the decision making process of the "perfect customer." It is important to ask these sorts of emotional and logical questions rather than design questions (such as what is your favorite color) as most people will give suggestions that will actually not resonate with them at all. This will let you as a design aggregate the information and responses and draft a visual strategy that communicates the goal of the message with out the recommendations of those who are not trained in visual communication.

Phase III, Immersing

There has long been a strategy of design research in which a designer actually follows and monitors target customers over a period of time. Typically this is documented through photo journal to provide easy visual reference and inspiration when it comes time to design. Unfortunately this practice is rarely practiced as turn around times become shorter and budgets become smaller... however you can really get the same sort of effect simply by doing some research through easily available social media.

• Finding examples of the "perfect customer" on FlickR will give you a snapshot into what photos are most important to them in their lives.
• There are plenty of Facebook fan pages, groups and discussions that will give you insight into consumer hopes, concerns and aspirations.
• The always classic blogs and forums are a great way to follow and understand your market.
• Searching for conversations on Twitter regarding your service or product will give you lots of people to follow and better understand on a micro level.

Yes... It Actually Works Wonders

If you have any doubt that two equally stunning and beautifully designs that have different approaches can perform completely different than consider this example:

At one point the popular Guitar Magazine decided to redesign the cover of their publication. If you have done work in the publication industry you will learn that the cover of a book can make a dramatic difference in sales and this is no different for magazines.

Originally the covers featured prominent guitarists and musicians. This made sense as these were often the primary articles of the publications and it was only logical to try and sell the best content the magazine had to offer. However after doing extensive research on their target market they found that what people cared amount more where beautiful guitars themselves, not the musicians who played them.

So after a redesign the cover then focused on a different, beautiful and interesting guitar every month rather than a person of interest. Despite the fact that the content didn't change and the new cover wasn't any better designed (from an aesthetics or rules of design perspective) sales increased dramatically.

This would have never happened had research been ignored during the redesign process. They likely would have changed the magazine enough to make it look interesting and completely missed what the target users really wanted to see when they were browsing through the magazine stand.

Have some feedback? Leave a comment