Conducting User Interviews for the Google UX Design Certificate Program

This article is part of a series about my learning journey through Google’s UX Design Professional Certificate program and into the UX space.

“Focus on the user and all else will follow”. This quote is a master statement at Google. I have seen it on their about page, on their youtube channel, and on the Google UX certificate program. This statement is a reminder that our job when creating experiences is to have the users as the protagonists of our designs. The user should be the front and center of everything we do.

For my first project on the Google UX Design course, I needed to create a user-centered design for a mobile app following the Design Thinking process. The platform had a prompter to help to generate ideas for this project. I chose to:

Design a mobile ordering app for a cafe.

The first step of the Design Thinking process is to empathize with the users. This step is necessary to learn about the user's motivations, needs, and behaviors. In order to so, we must let the user tell the story. Using research techniques, we can learn from the people we design for. This way we are able to build a bridge between the business and the customers, so we can fulfill the customers’ expectations and needs. Driven by research finds we can design better products for everyone. It’s a win-win!

In order to create an ordering app that would fit the needs of the users for my first project on the Google UX Design course, I began my design process by conducting interviews with real users. This step helped me to better understand the user behaviors and identify opportunities to explore in my design. That’s why the UX Research process is so important. When I was preparing my questions for the interview a had a few research goals in mind:

• I wanted to understand the processes and emotions that people experience when they go to a coffee shop.
• I wanted to identify common user behaviors and experiences when users are shopping for coffee in-person and through a mobile app.
• I wanted to understand the common challenges consumers face when purchasing coffee.

With these goals in mind, I elaborated some questions for my foundational research. Here are a few of the research questions I included in the interviews.

• How do you currently purchase coffee?
• Could you describe your experience going to a coffee shop? What do you like the most about it? What do you like the least about it?
• Have you ever used an app to purchase beverages or food? How was your experience using online ordering apps?
• What are your favorite mobile ordering apps? Why?
• What are the challenges do you have when ordering coffee or food online?
• How likely would you use a coffee ordering app?

In order to conduct the interviews, I needed to rely on my personal network. My husband, close family, and friends helped in this step and I used the technology in my favor. Most of my interviews were made using video calls. In the end, I was able to gather in-depth information from 6 users. Thank you to each one of you!

Conducting interviews is a complex task, especially when you are interviewing people that you know. My prior experience as a Research Assistant and as a Dietitian taught me how to conduct the interview and avoid biases. During that time, I learned that some people tend to say things that they think you want to hear. Keep in mind that every word you use when asking questions matters. We must be able to use a neutral tone of voice and be aware of our non-verbal language as well.

When I was done with the interview round, I started to analyze & synthesize the results. Analyzing and going through all the insights from research and creating an empathy map helped me to come up with the different opportunity areas. Time was a big factor for many people, everyone would like to avoid lines and save time when shopping. Another factor was related to usability, some people mentioned that they had some issues using the mobile app to order coffee and food. They would like to use an app that is easy and intuitive. Another topic mentioned was customization, customers would like to change their drinks based on their preferences and food restrictions. Last, by not least they would like to save money as well, so the ability to give customers discounts or rewards would be greatly appreciated.

At that point, I had planned and conducted the user interviews, analyzed and synthesize the results, collect insights. In my next article, I will explain how I integrated the user’s feelings, thoughts, and needs to build personas.

-See you there!