User Experience Research (UXR)

User experience researchers unearth insights from data like miners search for gold. In this course, students utilize data mining technology to extract actionable that enable organizations to anticipate and lead change. Students explore the volume, velocity, and variety of large data sets used to propel design teams to make impactful decisions and ultimately affect the experience of stakeholders.

In this course, students apply generative and evaluative research methods to study how users incorporate products, services, and systems to enhance their everyday lives. Through qualitative and quantitative research methods, students analyze their findings to derive meaningful user behavior insights. Students collect, analyze, prioritize, and effectively communicate their findings that can be used to advance their user experience design solutions.

Successful and meaningful user centered design for diverse populations requires rigorous, ethical, and inclusive user research. Drawing from the fundamental ethical approaches of virtue ethics, consequentialism, rights, and justice, students learn how to apply ethical theories to a variety of issues that arise in professional UX research including the importance of inclusion in research subjects and research teams.

In this course, students synthesize research, design, and visualization skills into a holistic process that informs user-centric design and leads to strategic business opportunities. Through compelling visualizations and storytelling, students deliver an actionable business brief that illustrates research findings and helps guide the ideation of engaging and memorable UX design solutions.

Students utilize user and industry research methodologies to uncover insights leading to new and innovative product and service designs. This studio focuses on applying research methods learned throughout the user experience research program that mirrors professional research practices.

To conduct primary research, students work with public audiences to collect user data for real-world design problems. Following innovative processes and research methodologies, students conduct thorough user assessments that inform the ideation stage of design, and analyze the collected data to identify valuable opportunities. Students envision and document a range of potential user insights and opportunities for refinement in the successive studio.

Internships offer students valuable opportunities to work in a professional environment and gain firsthand experience to help them prepare for careers. In an approved internship setting, a student typically spends one quarter working with an on-site professional supervisor and a faculty internship supervisor to achieve specific goals and objectives related to the program of study.

In this course, students progress their user research through the analysis, synthesis, and refinement of insights generated in Senior Studio I. Students produce professional presentation packages and compelling user research reports that illustrate collected, analyzed, and synthesized user data as well as derived insights and recommendations for UX design.