2learn

User Interviews

What it is

A user interview is a one-to-one conversation that surfaces goals, mental models and pain points. It is not a usability test — nothing is shown and nothing is attempted — and it is not a survey read aloud. The participant talks about their own experience in their own words, and you write down what they did.

Why it matters

Interviews are the cheapest way to learn why people do what the analytics show, and the easiest to do badly. A leading question, a participant who answers about the future, or a researcher who explains the product all produce confident fiction. Done well, six interviews reveal the vocabulary, the sequence and the workarounds that shape everything you design next — and give you the exact quotes that convince a sceptical stakeholder.

In this track

  1. Writing the interview script (03-design-ux/20-user-interviews/01-writing-the-interview-script) — the structure, the warm-up and the prompts that let a stranger talk usefully for an hour.
  2. Follow-up questions and past behaviour (03-design-ux/20-user-interviews/02-follow-up-questions-and-past-behaviour) — keeping the conversation concrete and asking about what happened rather than what might.

Prerequisites

Go deeper

Analytics cookies are set only if you allow them. Nothing is loaded, and nothing is sent, until you choose.