Lowell Staveland   UX Researcher

Who I am

Research

Portfolio

Timeline

Clients

NASA TLX

Publications

Empathy, Insight, Vision

A little about me 

 

The best design hangs on understanding your customers' interactions and motivations - this passion motivates me every day.

 

I am a seasoned researcher driven to emphasize with people and to understand how they think, feel and act, and use this to implement research strategies for any situation.

 

I can expertly employ the full spectrum of generative and evaluative research including all quantitative and qualitative methods, such as ethnographic field studies, emotional and market research, task and cognitive analysis, surveys, card sorts, experimental design, RITE testing, benchmarking and usability evaluations.

 

I’ve successfully worked with customers, designers and stakeholders across the product landscape to deliver the best experiences, while acting as their champion and promoting innovative research methods and practices.


 

My Research Principles

 

Empathize with everyone

Everyone has a story to tell and a researcher needs to know them. While a research focus may be on the customer, stakeholders and designers have important stories you need to know.

 

Make it visceral

Don't talk in the abstract. Users stories are rich, involved and encompassing and while interesting, they become useful when you ground  a story in a real situation,  a mockup, a prototype or a tangible item. It's the only way to minimize bias and make sure it's valid. What they say and do can be very different - you have to watch and listen to learn.

 

Check your ego at the door

Research is always about the user, never about the researcher. While easy to say, it can be hard to keep ego's at bay, but it's essential to get the stories right.

 

Develop relationships

From the first moment you contact your users remotely or in person, you're beginning a relationship, so treat it like an important one. Care for them and they will give up the insights.

 

Keep Quiet

Everything you say changes their behavior and can change their frame of reference from theirs to yours. Every question, statement, instruction or comment affects how they think or what they say because it alters their attention. Interact to minimize redirecting their attention, keep them focused on their chain of thought and tasks while probing for details.

 

Forget the product.

Your focus should never be on the product, but always on the experience. You want to know what they do and with what and more importantly how. When you're always trying to get them engaged with a myriad of product details you can miss what they are really trying to do. Probe about the tasks and how it's supported or how it's blocked. Products come and go but user experiences are far more stable.




 
 
Lowell Staveland
 
Email: Lowell@staveland.com
Phone: 831/661-0391
Cell: 831-345-7820
Aptos, CA 95003