Field studies

Observe users in their natural environment and see how they engage with your product.

Field studies

Observe users in their natural environment and see how they engage with your product.

Go where your users are

When building or refining a product, understanding real-world context is everything. Where do users interact with your product? What tools do they use to get the job done? Lab studies can only go so far. To uncover the full picture, you can observe people in their natural environment, doing what they normally do.

Go where your users are

When building or refining a product, understanding real-world context is everything. Where do users interact with your product? What tools do they use to get the job done? Lab studies can only go so far. To uncover the full picture, you can observe people in their natural environment, doing what they normally do.

Field studies defined

Field studies involve on-site observation and informal interviews that reveal how people naturally behave with your product, or without it. This helps uncover challenges, environmental constraints, and patterns you won’t find in a lab or survey.

Field studies defined

Field studies involve on-site observation and informal interviews that reveal how people naturally behave with your product, or without it. This helps uncover challenges, environmental constraints, and patterns you won’t find in a lab or survey.

Our approach

Our approach

Define objectives

Together we’ll find your research goals, target audience, locations, and key points.

Build a plan

Our team crafts a guide, including set questions and metrics, or we can take a laid-back observational approach.

Recruit participants

We schedule your users in advance or recruit them on-site.

Conduct sessions

Over several days, we visit users and observe how they work, ask follow-up questions, and document challenges and behaviors.



Analyze results

We’ll compile our findings into a clear report with actionable insights on user needs, behaviors, and environmental factors.

What you’ll learn

Field studies answer questions like: how do users complete tasks and what gets in their way? How do physical environments impact their behavior? What problems are users solving on their own? How can you improve the experience based on what users actually do?

Field studies are valuable when designing for mobile, in-store, or any experience that’s hard to replicate in a lab.

What you’ll learn

Field studies answer questions like: how do users complete tasks and what gets in their way? How do physical environments impact their behavior? What problems are users solving on their own? How can you improve the experience based on what users actually do?

Field studies are valuable when designing for mobile, in-store, or any experience that’s hard to replicate in a lab.