Humans of dxw: finding user research before I knew it had a name
User research is about helping your team and collaborators see the hidden assumptions they ‘swim in’ every day
Finding ‘user research’ before knowing it existed
Whenever I meet a user researcher, I always like to ask ‘how did you get here?’. Not because it’s a standard conversation starter, but because the routes into this field vary so wildly. As far as I know, there’s no formal degree simply titled ‘user research’.
Most people pieced their path together through human-centred design courses, intensive bootcamps, or a leap from academic research. I get the impression that a lot of us didn’t choose this path by seeing a big ‘user research’ sign at the end of the road, or even knowing the discipline existed when we started.
Here’s how my own story came together:
I studied business and management with a major in marketing and management in Hong Kong, and my first job was in sales and project management at a media production company, working on video animation and digital marketing campaigns.
From there I moved into an account manager role at an e-commerce software company. My favourite part of the job was poking through user data on spreadsheets, following customer journeys from homepage to shopping cart, trying to work out why people behaved the way they did online. I didn’t know it yet, but that was my first taste of ‘understanding user behaviour’. I just didn’t have a name for it.
The vocabulary of design thinking and user-centred design came later, when I relocated to Tokyo for work. I joined a hackathon called Global Goals Jam, where I was introduced to the double-diamond framework and built my first empathy maps and personas. Something clicked and not long after, I joined a traineeship at the Digital Society School in Amsterdam, using agile working and design thinking to tackle complex social and healthcare problems.
Working alongside designers and engineers, I went out on field visits, observed how doctors and parents communicated, and interviewed parents of ill children. It was a profound experience that made me realise: truly empathising with people empowers us to create meaningful impact, and that was when I knew I wanted to work in user research.
Opening the ‘user research’ door
Fuelled by passion and hope, I headed back to Hong Kong to find a role in this area, but that turned out to be harder than expected. User research roles were scarce back home. Web development companies only hire UXUI designers, and most companies are not aware of the importance of engaging with users. The closest concept I heard was ‘ask users for feedback’ which normally happens after a service is launched, while user research should be the integral part of a design in every stage. This is an obstacle that I think a lot of researchers face.
I eventually landed in a university psychology lab, where I spent 4 years helping build a self-care mental health app with interactive tools for mindfulness and psychotherapies. Being the only user researcher in the lab, I was lucky to have the opportunity and space to decide on what research to carry out for the design and development.
I taught myself different methods and consulted mentors throughout the experience. I tried out most of the common research methods, understanding the art of asking questions in an in-depth interview, the in-and-out of conducting a diary study, learning quantitative analysis for surveys and ways to analyse results from card sorting, etc.
While I could teach myself the mechanics of research methods, I wanted to push my practice even further to make sense of complex human stories. So I decided to take a master’s in Anthropology and Professional Practice at University College London. It gave me a holistic framework to question assumptions and a deeper lens to untangle the cultural nuances in how people behave, relate to each other, and make sense of their world. Turns out that is what user research actually is to me.
Landing the sweet spot at dxw
Landing at dxw gave me the support, resources and great opportunities to apply all that I have learned in the past years. Especially with public sector projects – where engaging with users before launching a product is an integral part of government design standards – there is dedicated space and support to conduct research in all design phases. Besides, accessibility testing to ensure we build services that truly work for everyone.
At dxw, the autonomy I have to design my own research approaches gives me the freedom to sharpen my craft, alongside owning my trajectory for career development. I’m currently working with the Department for Education on a digital transformation service. In the meantime, I’m continuing to expand my skill set by exploring AI tools for our team and studying for an upcoming accessibility certification.
Discovering my favourite part of user research – ‘Feeling the weight of water’
The sociologist Pierre Bourdieu described a ‘fish in water’ as being so immersed in its environment that it does not feel the weight of the water around it. We all operate within systems, cultures, and habits that become so familiar they turn completely invisible. What motivates me most as a user researcher is pointing out how we take the water for granted and reminding ourselves of its weight.
User research isn’t just about collecting user feedback at the end of a project. It’s about helping your team and stakeholders see the hidden assumptions they ‘swim in’ every day. It means taking your teammates by the hand, inviting them into live research sessions, sifting through transcripts together, and making sense of the patterns collaboratively.
When you bring the team and client into that process, you help them realise their assumptions and feel the ‘weight of the water’ for the first time. You uncover the implicit habits, cultural nuances, and unspoken frustrations that shape how users navigate a service.
This is only my take on what user research means to me. Join me in the dive, come build your own repertoire and find your own meaning!