I’m a Calgary-based
UX Researcher & Strategist focused on answering three questions about your users.
What do your users need?
You can’t just ask your users what they want – they wouldn’t be able to tell you, even if they wanted to. Instead, you have to discover what they need.
I help you understand your users’ needs by combining quantitative data (collected by measuring things) with qualitative data (collected by observing your users or talking to them).
Analytics Review
Popping the analytics hood of your website or product to learn more about how your users behave.
Content Audit
Analyzing your existing content against your users' needs to identify gaps or shortcomings.
Competitive Analysis
Figuring out what problems your competition is trying to solve and where you can do it better.
Contextual Inquiry
Observing folks in their natural context and asking them to fill in the gaps of what I'm able to see.
Diary Studies
Capturing people's behaviours, feelings, and thoughts over time to gain insight into their lives.
Focus Groups & Interviews
Facilitating discussions with your users to reveal their desires, attitudes, and experiences.
Secondary Research
Synthesizing & remixing research that others have done to arrive at actionable insights.
Surveys
Collecting a large amount of data from a representative group of about their behaviours or attitudes.
How do you design for these needs?
Without a clear definition, your users can become whoever you want them to be. The result is a Frankenstein product or website that is everything to no one.
I distill user research into a format that your designers can easily apply, which helps to ensure that design decisions are informed by evidence, instead of assumptions.
Card Sorting
Uncovering how your users organize information, so we can structure content in a way that makes sense to them.
Content Analysis
Extracting themes and making meaning from unstructured information (like interviews or open-ended survey questions).
Experience Mapping
Visualizing the steps that your users take to reach their goals, and identifying the pain points, behaviours, thoughts, and feelings they encounter.
Personas
Transforming data points into a concrete representation that feels less like a spreadsheet and more like a real person.
Do your solutions work?
If your people can’t use your product – they won’t. Your customers should be able to achieve their goals, and their experience shouldn’t leave them feeling frustrated.
No design is perfect after the first attempt. I’ll provide you with the insights you need to improve your user experience by testing your solutions with your users.
A/B Testing
Comparing two versions of the same design to see which performs better (and is statistically significant).
Usability Testing
Evaluating both the information and visual design of your product, by observing where your users encounter problems or experience confusion.
User Testing
Assessing if your users think your concept hits the mark and achieves your intended outcomes.
Tree Testing
Evaluating the information design of your product, by asking your users to find information only using your product’s structure, without any visual cues.
Trusted to answer these questions by:
- Boyle McCauley Health Centre
- BC Oil and Gas Commission
- Community Natural Foods
- Alberta Treasury Branch
- JD Power
- Pursuit
- Calgary & Area Child Advocacy Centre
- Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer
- Mayfair Diagnostics
- Calgary Folk Fest
- Glassdoor
- Chaordix
“Working with Allison on the redesign of the Calgary Folk Fest website was essential to the success of the project. She brought incredible insights through extensive research into our own needs and the needs of our audience.
The research and its application were valuable for more than just our website - it gave us new ways to view our audience and to address them. Allison was able to explain the value of UX research to even the most skeptical in our office. The value of her research has already improved our outcomes online, even a few short months later.
She was very easy to work with, and her management of the project made us all feel at ease with timelines. I can't recommend working with Allison enough.
If you're unsure of the value of this process, I wouldn't start another big web project without the kind of research that Allison conducted. It proved an invaluable foundation for the project and ensured the success of our website as not just a pretty redesign but something that was user-friendly and achieved our goals.”
Elyse Bouvier
Marketing Coordinator
The Calgary Folk Music Festival
Allison Robins
UX Researcher & Strategist
My first word was "why?" - Just kidding, it was probably "mama," but I have been chasing answers since I could crawl.
Now, I help my clients ask better questions, challenge their assumptions, and connect their visions with the details required to get them there. When I’m off the clock, I’m likely nerding out over politics, watching bad reality TV, or getting my sweat on.