Research Cards: A Toolkit for Better User Sessions
I paired with talabat research on a printable card deck to run clearer user sessions. After our CPO shared it on LinkedIn, inbound interest exploded, so we refined the kit, published it online, and saw it spread to designers and researchers far outside the company.
How it began
It started with a conversation at lunch break with my colleague Prabhjeet Kaur, who is a part of the research team at talabat. She wanted help designing a deck of cards that would support the team in running effective user sessions. We collaborated on the designs in Figma, got them printed, and thought that was it.
When she presented the cards in the quarterly design showcase, our chief product officer Yi-Wei Ang shared them with his network. In a short span of time, a slurry of comments began to pour in from people who wanted to use the cards for their own research exercises. We couldn’t be happier to share.
Refining & sharing
Over the coming days, we refined the cards and hosted them online. Today, they’ve been shared across a wide network of designers, researchers and product people. We had no idea the impact a side project like this could have outside of talabat.
Why I took it on
Looking back, I find myself revisiting the reasons why I decided to partake in the project despite having no clue of the widely positive feedback it would receive.
Opportunity to connect
I work with lots of people on a day-to-day basis and to have the opportunity to engage with people outside of my usual circle sounded like a great chance to get to know them better, bounce ideas off each other, and to create a positive relationship with them.
Building something fun
Working on a single problem at work can easily get taxing. Diversifying your routine with fun-based activities can help take your mind off the problem and relax. You may even end up with some brilliant ideas for your primary task. Additionally, designing a deck of cards was something I personally wanted to do for a long time, so I caught on to a personal motive here.
Challenging your brain
For any designer, being limited by your own capabilities can be devastating. It is always about pushing the limits, trying out something new, and staying open to the very idea of innovation. This project may not be at the level of the launch of a game-changer smartphone, but I decided to treat it that way anyway.
What I learned
Look at everything as an opportunity to learn something new—let the outcome be big or small. You never know how far it might take you in the future.
Huge shoutout to Prabhjeet Kaur for reaching out to me to help her with the project, and to Ahmed ElHenedy for helping with the beautiful rendition of the brand devices used on the cover of the cards.