Building a Scalable UX Research Repository

2024-

Overview

User research was scattered across multiple platforms, making insights difficult to access and leading to redundant efforts. With the departure of the only UX designer who had full research oversight, valuable knowledge risked being lost. To solve this, I led the implementation of a centralized, structured, and searchable research repository. This improved accessibility, stakeholder engagement, and research adoption, helping teams make more data-driven decisions. Through strategic tool selection, a scalable taxonomy, and transparent data practices, we successfully embedded research as a core part of product development and strengthened UX maturity across the organization.

Challenge

When I joined the company, I quickly realized that valuable user research was at risk of being lost or underutilized. The previous UX designer—who was the sole person with an overview of past research—was leaving, and with her, much of the institutional knowledge about what research had been conducted, what insights had been gathered, and where key artifacts were stored.

Without a centralized system, research findings were scattered across different formats and tools, as a result:

• Insights were siloed, making it difficult for designers, product managers, and developers to access past research.
• Teams often duplicated research efforts, wasting time and resources on problems that had already been explored.
• Historical context was missing, leading to design decisions that didn’t always build on prior learnings.
• New employees had no easy way to onboard into existing research, slowing down their ability to contribute effectively.

Process

Research & Discovery

To understand the challenges, I conducted stakeholder interviews to identify pain points. However, since research had low visibility, few team members had engaged with it in the past. Fortunately, I had strong support from a product manager invested in growing UX maturity.

I defined key tool selection criteria:

• Ease of use – Minimal onboarding required.
• Searchability – Insights should be easy to find.
• Shareability – Research should be accessible beyond the UX team.
• Taxonomy & organization – A structured approach for long-term scalability.

I sent out an RFP (Request for Proposal) to relevant vendors, allowing for an informed decision based on facts rather than assumptions.

Solution & Implementation

After evaluating multiple tools, Condens was the best fit due to its repository-first approach, while competitors lacked focus on insight storage and accessibility.

To drive adoption, we prioritized visibility over formal training:

• Encouraged team members to create accounts and explore research independently.
• Integrated the repository into existing workflows to make insights part of daily work.
• Created structured research reports with direct user quotes and clips, sharing them across tools and meetings to increase impact.

Challenges & Iterations

Implementing Condens required addressing data privacy concerns. I collaborated with our data privacy lead and an external consultant to develop a GDPR-compliant permission form, allowing us to store interview recordings securely.

Additionally, taxonomy and tagging required continuous improvement. Regular UX team discussions helped refine our system, ensuring insights remained easy to search and connect across projects.

Outcome

Impact & Results

Without hard metrics, we relied on qualitative feedback, which was overwhelmingly positive:

• Less redundant research – Insights were easily accessible, reducing the need to re-interview users.
• Higher engagement – More team members, including management, took the time to watch full interviews.
• Stronger research adoption – Stakeholders found user quotes and video clips more relatable, making insights actionable.

The repository laid the foundation for stronger UX maturity, making research a central part of decision-making.

Key Learnings

• Adoption matters – Making research visible in workflows is more effective than training sessions.
• Taxonomy evolves – Tagging systems require continuous iteration to stay relevant.
• Engaging reports drive impact – Direct user quotes and video clips increase stakeholder buy-in.
• Data privacy must be proactive – Establishing clear guidelines early prevents compliance issues.
• A repository is a UX maturity milestone – This project helped embed research-driven decision-making into the organization.
• List items are a pain to add in html

Next Steps

To continue improving research adoption, we plan to:

• Expand stakeholder engagement by encouraging more teams to leverage research insights.
• Further refine taxonomy based on usage patterns.
• Track repository usage to measure impact and improve visibility.

Mixed-Reality Kitchen Planning

2022

Overview

The Island Labs design team was tasked with designing a fully immersive kitchen design and creation experience for HoloLens 2, specifically targeted towards kitchen sellers. The current process involved using an iPad app to design the kitchen before presenting it on the HoloLens 2 (Microsoft’s MR headset), which could be cumbersome and distracting. Our goal was to simplify this process by allowing users to design and build the kitchen entirely within the HoloLens 2. The project included extensive storyboarding, creative problem-solving and working closely with developers to develop POCs.

Challenge

Designing for XR and HoloLens 2 is a unique challenge as every interaction, from object selection to object editing, has to be carefully implemented with a certain logic. Unlike with other applications, there are no established style rules or best practices, making this an exciting opportunity to push the boundaries of mixed reality design.

Process

Research

To kick off the project, the team conducted research on both XR and flat apps to see what we could learn from existing solutions. This research helped us identify potential design opportunities.

Ideation

To be honest, this part of the process was mostly three designers in a room either waving their hands around, walking slowly around our test kitchen or engaging in serious discussions by the whiteboard. Through these activities, we explored a range of ideas and worked to refine our concept.

Storyboarding

After agreeing on a concept, we needed to get it down on paper so we could communicate it to the rest of the team. Together, the design team created an extensive storyboard covering all interactions that needed to be built.

Design and Prototyping

Following approval of the storyboard, the team worked on designing the UI for the menus our concept demanded. I was responsible for designing the style selector, which allows users to change the materials of the kitchen cabinets. This also included logic behaviors for editing styles globally versus individually, resetting styles, and a filtering system for available styles. With the designs in place, we began prototyping to test the functionality of our designs.

POCs and Testing

The design team worked closely with developers to create proof-of-concept features, testing and refining the concept to ensure that every detail felt intuitive to use. Have you ever thought about which joint of your virtual hand should anchor a loading bar? To find an answer and spare you the trouble, I tested ten different locations and loading speeds for said loading bar. Should you be able to see your finger cursor through a hologram? Our answer: yes.

Given the technical constraints of developing for XR (for the time being), we had to be mindful of unique limitations and work creatively to overcome them during this testing phase.

Outcome

Through this project I gained valuable insights into the unique challenges of designing for mixed reality, including how to communicate design ideas effectively and which interactions translate well into the realm of mixed reality. Working closely with developers gave me an even deeper understanding of the technical constraints associated with designing for XR.

While this product no longer exists, I appreciated starting my UX career working on a product where I needed to think independently about usability instead of relying on best practises.

Rebuilding Product Navigation

2025-

Overview

This project focused on improving navigation in a SaaS platform used to monitor and manage PV power plants. I owned this initiative from problem framing through research, concept development, validation, and developer handover - including responsibilities typically handled by a Product Owner during the feature definition phase.

Challenge

User feedback and prior research showed recurring navigation friction:

• Users complained that everyday tasks felt cumbersome and time consuming.
• Navigation patterns differed between product areas
• Users had to repeatedly re-select plants when moving between sections.

Competitor analysis revealed a key difference in navigation models:

• Our product used area-first navigation (area → plant).
• Most competitors used plant-first navigation (plant → area).

Simply copying competitor patterns would not fit our product structure. The challenge was to design a scalable navigation model that preserved plant context while remaining compatible with the existing architecture and workflows.

Process

Problem Framing & Ownership

I defined the navigation problem space, aligned stakeholders on scope and goals, and shaped the feature direction. I drove the initiative across discovery, concept design, validation, and specification - bridging UX and product definition work.

Concept Strategy

Instead of replacing the model entirely, I proposed a hybrid navigation approach combining strengths of both area-based and plant-based navigation.

Core concept: Introduce a persistent plant list accessible across the product to enable fast switching while maintaining context.

I translated this strategy into three distinct navigation concepts.

Prototype Design

I designed and built interactive prototypes for three navigation variants. Each prototype supported realistic navigation tasks for testing.

Research & Validation

I planned and moderated usability tests using the interactive prototypes.

Research goals included:

• Validate persistent plant selection behavior
• Compare navigation model intuitiveness
• Evaluate plant list usability and discoverability
• Identify workflow enhancement needs

Participants represented a wide range of portfolio sizes to ensure scalability. Prototype order was randomized to reduce bias. This study was conducted using our newly established user panel.

Synthesis & Decision

I synthesized findings across sessions, identified clear preference patterns, and translated insights into product recommendations and MVP scope decisions.

Specification & Developer Handover

After selecting the preferred model, I refined the solution and produced structured documentation for development, including:

• Interaction rules and edge cases
• MVP feature definition
• Recommendations for further iterations
• User stories and detailed documentation

I worked closely with developers to clarify behaviours, contraints, and ensure implementation readiness.

Outcome

Testing strongly validated the value of persistent plant selection across the product. Among the three concepts, one was clearly preferred by the users.

The final concept:

• Reduced repeated plant reselection
• Preserved navigation context across areas
• Balanced visibility with layout stability

The feature moved forward with a validated direction, defined MVP scope, and complete developer-ready documentation.

About me

I’m a farm-raised UX designer with an engineering past and a soft spot for complex systems - originally from Norway, now based in Berlin, Germany with my husband and very opinionated dog, Boo.

I started my career designing HVAC systems for large buildings - which means I used to worry about airflow, pressure zones, insulation, sewage, and other things most people are happy never thinking about. Eventually I realized I was more interested in how humans navigate complex systems than how air does, and moved into UX - another thing people don't want to think about. And yes, my familty still don't really understand what I do for a living.

My UX work spans AR/XR products and SaaS platforms for monitoring and analyzing PV power plants. I enjoy tackling complex domains, building shared design foundations, and turning research and data into clear, usable interfaces.

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