Define the question
Agree the audience, experience context and decisions the findings will inform.
Human Experience
Understand the people behind the experience: their needs, everyday realities and what matters when they interact with your organization.
People & behavior
Understand the people behind the experience.
People do not experience a product or service in isolation. Their routines, responsibilities, surroundings and available choices shape how they use it. We study these contexts to help your team understand the problems worth addressing before deciding what to create or improve.
What we look at
Lived context, routines and unmet needs- Reported emotions and concerns around everyday decisions
- Barriers to adoption of new products or services
- Language people use to describe their own problems
How we study it
- In-depth interviews and narrative inquiry
- Contextual and ethnographic fieldwork
- Diary and cultural probe studies
- Synthesis workshops that turn stories into opportunity areas
When to research
When human experience research helps
Use this research when you are exploring a new idea, entering an unfamiliar context or trying to understand why an existing experience does not fit people's lives. It is useful when your team knows what people do but needs more context about their needs, constraints and expectations.
A small business may focus on one audience and a recurring problem. A larger organization may need to understand several groups, environments or markets. We agree the scope around the decisions you need to make, rather than investigate people's lives without a clear purpose.
What we investigate
What we help you understand
What are people trying to achieve? What happens before and after they interact with you? Which routines, responsibilities and workarounds shape the experience? Who else is involved, and what do people describe as reassuring, frustrating or difficult?
The research can cover products, services, spaces, systems and technology. We examine relevant interactions at home, at work or in service settings, with the access and boundaries agreed in advance. We connect the findings to your experience challenge, not to broad claims about human nature.
Our approach
Research grounded in everyday life
In-depth interviews explore specific experiences and the meanings people attach to them. Contextual observation helps us understand activities in the places where they occur. Diaries can capture events over time, including moments that a single interview may miss.
Participant-led activities, such as photos or short reflections, can provide additional context where appropriate. We choose methods according to the question and participation requirements. Surveys or existing data may complement the study when you need to explore how widely a pattern occurs.
From context to opportunity
Our research process
Plan the study
Select methods, recruitment criteria and participation safeguards suited to the context.
Gather evidence
Explore recent experiences and relevant activities using neutral questions and agreed observation boundaries.
Analyze patterns
Identify needs, constraints and differences, including examples that challenge an emerging interpretation.
Frame opportunities
Connect findings to problems your team could address, with the supporting evidence made visible.
Agree next steps
Identify priorities, further research questions and ways to test proposed responses.
Research in context
Look beyond the most visible users
Depending on your question, recruitment can include current users, people who stopped using a service and people who have relevant needs but do not use your offer. We consider differences such as experience level, language, access needs and living or working context.
A study cannot include every perspective. We document who participated and who was not covered so your team does not mistake a selected sample for a complete picture of the population. Recruitment arrangements and achievable coverage are agreed before fieldwork.
The output
What your team receives
Depending on scope, deliverables can include an evidence-backed needs assessment, descriptions of relevant routines and contexts, experience maps and opportunity areas. We can also develop audience summaries where the evidence supports meaningful differences.
Reports link interpretations to observations and participant accounts. They explain study coverage, unresolved questions and limits. A findings workshop helps your team understand the implications and decide which opportunities to explore, rather than simply receive a collection of stories.
From insight to action
Turn understanding into practical decisions
Findings can inform what to investigate next, which assumptions to reconsider and where a concept or existing experience needs attention. For example, a difficulty may arise from timing, access or competing responsibilities rather than the interface alone.
Opportunity areas are not validated solutions. Your team may need concept testing, usability testing or a separately scoped quantitative study before committing to a proposed change. We make these next steps explicit and distinguish evidence from recommendations.
Global research
Research across cultures and markets
For multi-market work, we consider local language, service availability, routines and relevant social contexts. We agree local research and recruitment arrangements for each market and examine differences without treating nationality as a fixed explanation for behavior.
Findings are interpreted within the contexts studied. Similar needs may call for different responses in different settings, and apparent differences may reflect recruitment or study conditions. We document these considerations before recommending a shared or localized approach.
Research ethics
Respect the people who take part
We agree participation, consent, recording and reporting arrangements before research begins. Activities should focus on information relevant to the study, with clear boundaries around private spaces, other household members and sensitive topics.
Public use of identifiable photos or recordings is not assumed from research participation. Where additional safeguards are needed, we agree them before recruitment. We explain how contributions will be used and avoid promises of anonymity that the study design cannot support.
Clear boundaries
What this research can and cannot establish
The research helps explain experiences and identify opportunities. It does not provide a psychological diagnosis, assess someone's character or establish hidden motivations as facts. Emotional experiences are explored through participant accounts and context, not treated as something we can directly read.
Interviews rely partly on recall, and observation covers particular situations. Qualitative findings do not establish population prevalence or guarantee adoption, loyalty or commercial success. We make these limits clear so your team can act on the evidence responsibly.
Before we begin
Frequently asked questions
No. Research can explore people's current experiences and needs before a concept exists. We still define the decision your team needs to make so the study remains focused.
Usability testing focuses on completing tasks with a particular experience. Human experience research examines the wider context, needs and routines that can explain what the experience should support. The methods can complement each other.
Where the question and participant context support it, interviews or diary activities can be remote. Field observation may be more appropriate for questions that depend on a physical setting. We agree the approach rather than assume one format fits every study.
Tell us which people and experiences you want to understand, what your team is considering and what evidence you already have. We will discuss scope, methods, participation arrangements, deliverables, timing and budget.
People & Interaction Experience
Detailed interaction metrics, shadowing, and lab usability programs. We observe the subtle frictions that compound into larger experience failures.
Explore
Customer Experience
End-to-end multi-channel mapping from first discovery to loyalty. Align your business objectives with real, stated customer journeys.
Explore
Employee Experience
Internal tool flow audits, workflow analysis, and frontline interviews to maximize productivity and internal service quality.
Explore
Decision & Behavior
Behavioural interviews, choice modelling, and decision journey research that separate stated preference from real behaviour.
Explore
Let us help shape the next step
Your experience has a UX problem.
Let’s find and fix it.
Tell us whose experience you need to understand.