Our journey for this project started with the wish to be more efficient at performing user research. As the UX team we couldn’t perform extensive tests for a longer period without losing our focus.
To initiate this project, we started with several ideation sessions which focused on finding a location within the company, technical equipment, costs and of course a how to market strategy.
We then started looking for best-practices in our region. To our surprise, there weren’t any. This meant that it also could make us the market-leader in the Nijmegen district. Naturally this gave us a boost to make the best out of it.
To get a better understanding of a professional user experience lab we researched several best practices in the country. Thankfully our UX colleagues from amazing companies like KPN, ANWB and the Hogeschool of Arnhem Nijmegen were happy to help us in our research process. We got invited to their amazing labs which inspired us greatly.
Then we started with finding a suitable location for our lab within the company. The best practice research taught us that a professional user experience lab consists out of two rooms. One where the tests are performed and another for a team of observers to make notes. Luckily Proud Nerds had the space. But we didn’t stop there! We wanted to take it up a notch and feature remote testing and viewing as well. Which especially came out handy in the pandemic. We used a PC which runs a streaming software that pushes the content to a secure cloud streaming tool. After several test runs, tweaks and completely decorating the room in a “living room fashion” we were up and running.
