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Home ›› UX Design ›› UX Research

UX Research

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Acquired Savant Syndrome in Design: Skill, Obsession, or Exploitation?

  • Behavioral Design, Cognitive Science, Design Ethics, Empathy, Ethical UX Series, Neuroscience, Psychology and Human Behavior, UX Design, UX Research

Find out how UX culture mistakes burnout for brilliance and what it’s really costing designers, researchers, and the products they build.

Article by Tushar Deshmukh
IDEAS IN BRIEF
Acquired Savant Syndrome in Design: Skill, Obsession, or Exploitation?
  • The piece explores the metaphorical parallels between acquired savant syndrome and modern UX culture, arguing that the industry dangerously romanticizes obsession and burnout-driven brilliance over sustainable skill and calling on designers, researchers, and leaders to redefine excellence through ethical, well-paced, and mentally healthy creative practice.
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6 min read

Earning the Right to Research: Stakeholder Buy-In and Influence in the AI x UX Era

  • AI in UX, Artificial Intelligence, Design Research, Human-Centered Design, UX Research

Explore how design researchers can earn the trust and buy-in that give studies impact, even as AI shifts how teams work.

Article by Sara Fortier
IDEAS IN BRIEF
Earning the Right to Research: Stakeholder Buy-In and Influence in the AI x UX Era
  • The article emphasizes that synthetic data and AI tools promise speed, but not the alignment or shared purpose that makes design research effective in solving design problems.
  • It asserts that meaningful human-centred design begins with trust and the permission to conduct research properly (i.e., strategically).
  • The piece outlines how to build stakeholder buy-in for design research through practical strategies that build influence piece by piece within an organization.
  • Adapted from the book Design Research Mastery, it offers grounded ways to enable impactful user studies in today’s AI-driven landscape.
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12 min read

Usability Tests vs. Focus Groups

  • Design Thinking, Focus Groups, Product Design, Usability Testing, User Experience, UX Design, UX Research

Learn when to talk to users, and when to watch them in order to uncover real insights and design experiences that truly work.

Article by Paivi Salminen
IDEAS IN BRIEF
Usability Tests vs. Focus Groups
  • The article distinguishes between usability tests and focus groups, highlighting their different roles in UX research.
  • It explains that focus groups gather opinions and attitudes, while usability tests observe real user behavior to find design issues.
  • The piece stresses using each method at the right stage to build the right product and ensure a better user experience.
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2 min read

Lean UX vs. User-Centered Design

  • Agile UX, Design Process, Lean UX, Product Design, User-Centered Design, UX Research

Lean UX and User-Centered Design share the same heart — empathy for users — but differ in pace and practice. This piece shows how Lean UX turns UCD principles into a faster, data-driven approach for modern teams.

Article by Paivi Salminen
IDEAS IN BRIEF
Lean UX vs. User-Centered Design
  • The article explains that while both Lean UX and User-Centered Design focus on users, Lean UX adapts UCD principles for speed, collaboration, and rapid learning.
  • It argues that Lean UX evolves user-centered thinking into an agile, data-driven process that helps teams design the right thing faster.
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3 min read

Have SpudGun, Will Travel: How AI’s Agreeableness Risks Undermining UX Thinking

  • AI Ethics, AI in UX, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Design Thinking, Design Tools and Software, Human-Centered Design, LLM, Research Methods and Techniques, UX Research

Mashed potatoes as a lifestyle brand? When AI starts generating user personas for absurd products — and we start taking them seriously — it’s time to ask if we’ve all lost the plot. This sharp, irreverent critique exposes the real risks of using LLMs as synthetic users in UX research.

Article by Saul Wyner
IDEAS IN BRIEF
Have SpudGun, Will Travel: How AI’s Agreeableness Risks Undermining UX Thinking
  • The article explores the growing use of AI-generated personas in UX research and why it’s often a shortcut with serious flaws.
  • It introduces critiques that LLMs are trained to mimic structure, not judgment. When researchers use AI as a stand-in for real users, they risk mistaking coherence for credibility and fantasy for data.
  • The piece argues that AI tools in UX should be assistants, not oracles. Trusting “synthetic users” or AI-conjured feedback risks replacing real insights with confident nonsense.
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22 min read

Hopeful Futures for UX Research

  • AI in UX, Career Development, Research Democratization, UX Research, UX Strategy

As UX research shifts and reshapes, how can researchers stay ahead? This article explores the changing landscape and how to thrive in it.

Article by James Lang
IDEAS IN BRIEF
Hopeful Futures for UX Research
  • The article explores how UX research is evolving, with roles shifting and adjacent skills like creativity and knowledge management becoming more important.
  • It looks at how non-researchers are doing more research work, and how this trend challenges traditional UX research careers.
  • The piece argues that researchers can stay relevant by adapting, staying curious, and finding new ways to share their value.
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16 min read
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