Summary
Designers are the driving force in today’s user research landscape. In this workshop, Prayag Narula, CEO & Co-Founder of Marvin, will discuss how good design is a competitive advantage that enhances the customer experience when you embed research into your process. Learn how design teams can use the tools and methodologies of trained researchers so the whole company benefits from a collaborative and repeatable approach to research.
Key Insights
-
•
Design and research need each other and produce better outcomes when working closely together.
-
•
Good designers and researchers want to collaborate, but need organizational culture and practical systems to make it effective.
-
•
Many organizations fit into a maturity model from isolated design or research to research-driven product strategy.
-
•
There are not enough researchers to do all research; researchers must teach and enable designers and PMs to conduct research themselves.
-
•
Research teams should shift from reactive service providers to proactive culture builders, leading strategic projects ahead of the product roadmap.
-
•
Designers need support scaffolding from research teams such as recruitment, research plans, interview guides, and feedback loops.
-
•
Bias in qualitative research cannot be eliminated but should be acknowledged openly and questioned collaboratively.
-
•
Designers can and should do foundational research and usability testing; roles between design and research overlap more than commonly assumed.
-
•
Researchers as note takers and facilitators in design-led research sessions help provide feedback and embed collaboration.
-
•
Timely, incremental sharing of research insights (e.g. quotes, video clips) is more effective than large final reports.
Notable Quotes
"Design research—they need each other. They are much, much better together."
"Good designers understand you can’t design what you don’t understand."
"Researchers want designers to help them with the research because there aren’t enough researchers in the world."
"Your primary function as a research team is to build a culture of research, not just react to project requests."
"The best teams I know are a quarter ahead of the product roadmap, seeking out impactful strategic research projects themselves."
"You should not be struggling with best practices, recruitment, or documentation when conducting your own research as a designer."
"Unbiased qualitative research does not exist. The best we can do is acknowledge and minimize biases."
"Bring your research team as note takers and facilitators—they make excellent collaborators and help build feedback loops."
"Share your learning quickly and often—don’t wait for big reports. Your deliverable as a designer doing research is the design itself."
"There is overlap between design and research when it comes to different types of research; it’s not a strict divide."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"The long-term goal is building something more specialized for our professional tribe that generic tools can’t fully address."
Louis RosenfeldGenAI for UXers: A Rosenbot Demo and Discussion
June 11, 2025
"Building evals is like building tests to know if your AI system is good enough, and you can rerun them as models improve."
Peter Van DijckDesigning AI-first products on top of a rapidly evolving technology
June 10, 2025
"Enterprises are basically people pursuing outcomes, doing activities, and using objects—this simple theory underpins the language of Edgy."
Milan GuentherA Shared Language for Co-Creating Ambitious Endeavours
June 6, 2023
"Companies with high corporate design maturity perform better financially and have happier employees."
Kit UngerTheme 2: Introduction
June 10, 2021
"Designing and researching wisdom is a dialogue, not a monologue."
Cassini Nazir Meah LinThe Dangers of Empathy: Toward More Responsible Design Research
March 27, 2023
"I was driving home in silence and remembered playing volleyball, feeling focused and in the zone."
Jacqui FreyFlow and Superfluidity for Design Orgs
November 7, 2018
"The conference is for mature, experienced designers and managers who connect the dots across complexity and scale."
Wendy Johansson Surya VankaDesign at Scale: Behind the Scenes
April 29, 2021
"Now a year later, the landscape is completely different with dozens of new AI design tools for all stages."
Llewyn PaineDay 1 Using AI in UX with Impact
June 10, 2025
"Maybe you should consider making mobile the place you start your accessibility efforts."
Sam ProulxMobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World
March 10, 2022
