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Grade 9 · Portfolio design

Research planning and user interviews

Plan useful research and ask users questions that can inform your portfolio.

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NAME: ________________________CLASS: ________________________DATE: ________________________

USER RESEARCH FOR PORTFOLIOS

GRADE 9 DESIGN • RESEARCH PLANNING + SHORT INTERVIEWS

Key idea: A designer who guesses what users want is gambling. Today you turn assumptions into evidence.
APRIMARY VS SECONDARY RESEARCHUse both. They answer different questions.
SECONDARY RESEARCH Information that already exists: portfolio websites, articles, design guidelines, competitor analysis.PRIMARY RESEARCH Information you collect yourself: interviews, surveys, observations, user testing.
BRESEARCH PLANWrite 2 primary questions + 2 secondary questions.
Research questionMethodWho / sourceWhy it mattersPriority
________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________H / M / L
________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________H / M / L
________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________H / M / L
________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________H / M / L

Tip: A useful research question affects a design decision later.

CWRITE INTERVIEW QUESTIONSDo not lead the witness.
WEAK / LEADING Do you think simple navigation is better?Would you like a project grid?BETTER / OPEN What makes navigation easy or difficult?When you open a portfolio, what do you want to see first?

Write 5 interview questions + 1 question of your own.

1 ______________________________________________________________________
2 ______________________________________________________________________
3 ______________________________________________________________________
4 ______________________________________________________________________
5 ______________________________________________________________________
6 ______________________________________________________________________
DSHORT INTERVIEWSInterview 3 people. Take notes, not a transcript.
Respondent 1Respondent 2Respondent 3
Role / type of user ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________
Key answer ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________
Interesting quote or idea ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________
What surprised me ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________
EFIND PATTERNSA comment is raw material. An insight is a design-useful conclusion.
One repeated need ______________________________________________________________________
One repeated frustration ______________________________________________________________________
One disagreement ______________________________________________________________________
One surprising point ______________________________________________________________________
Example: Raw comment: “I don’t want to click through five pages.” → Insight: Users want strong project evidence visible quickly with minimal navigation.
FMY INSIGHT STATEMENTTurn one pattern into a usable design insight.
Users need / want ______________________________________________________________ because ________________________________________________________________________ This matters for my portfolio because ______________________________________________
GEXIT REFLECTIONResearch should change something.
The most useful thing I learned from users was... ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________
This may change my portfolio because... ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________