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
"Defining teams by shared value — what’s desirable, compliant, feasible, and viable — broke down silos effectively."
Erin HauberDesign is Not the Frosting on the Scaled Agile Layer Cake
October 24, 2019
"Jenny and Will will take a foundational look at wielding data visualization and product analytics effectively."
Uday GajendarTheme Four Intro
June 6, 2023
"Confidence is a higher burden in retail because people are giving real money; inaccessible flows cause quick abandonment."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
June 7, 2023
"Only 38% of people actually looked at the company review information, even though it was crucial."
Jeff Ephraim Bander Ariane Rahn Philipp ReiterEye Tracking Gamechanger: Why Smartphone Eye Tracking will Revolutionize Your UX Research
March 11, 2022
"You must remember this. A kiss is just a kiss. A sigh is just a sigh."
Susan Simon-DanielsWar Stories LIVE! Susan Simon-Daniels
March 30, 2020
"A research report is essentially the coffin where insights go to die."
Robin Beers Nalini Kotamraju Andy WarrPanel: Excellence in Communicating Insights
March 26, 2024
"I would prefer not to reduce human understanding to shallow sound bites."
Jemma AhmedTheme 1 Intro
March 10, 2026
"We need to turn our skills toward observing the culture of the companies we’re in."
Christopher GeisonTheme 1 Intro
March 25, 2024
"Hope is not a strategy, and mandates don’t build culture. What works is scaffolding."
Bianca JeffersonFrom Sprints to Systems: Operationalizing Continuous Discovery Through DesignOps
September 10, 2025
