When planning new design work, interviewing potential users helps us understand behaviors and contexts to narrow down the problem(s) we should address.

Surveys can also help us form a better picture of our users, their behaviors, and preferences.

Personas are a deliverable which helps us summarize and communicate findings from user research, embodying those findings in a representative user which other stakeholders can empathize with as well.

The best way to gather information about users’ behaviors is to actually observe them doing things in their natural context.

We’ll briefly discuss task analysis and scenarios as optional information architecture topics which may be helpful for your projects.

Visit to metro stations nearby to observe how users purchase tickets in context, then take your findings to make suggestions for how to improve the interface of the ticket machines.