Design Research expert and digital leader

  • Personas for Barclays investors
  • Card sorting - investor behaviour - Barclays

Design research: my philosophy

My approach aligns with the core principles of design research; that is, understanding people’s needs in order to identify opportunities and deliver useful, delightful solutions.

I believe that by developing deep empathy with their users, organisations can become more innovative, more responsive and more profitable. In this way the right research, done well, becomes an essential strategic resource.

I also believe that by putting the user first we are contributing to a more productive, healthier and sustainable world for ourselves and for the future.

With 25 years in design research and digital leadership, I am seasoned enough to adapt to pretty much any organisational situation and any research need, but I have never lost that curiosity that drives a passion for learning about people’s needs.

Projects

  • Participant profile - money management

    Money management - Barclays

    The brief

    Explore financial management behaviours in the context of existing app-based money management services

    My approach

    1. Lab-based interviews
    2. 4 week diary study
    3. Home visits
    4. Extended 10-week diary study

    Successes

    This research informed design of numerous money management ‘tools’, the first of these was launched in Q1 2019 on the Barclays app.

  • Stakeholder engagement workshop NCS

    Engaging teens - NCS

    The brief

    Optimise conversions of expressions of interest to meet growth targets and deliver value for money

    My approach

    1. Stakeholder interviews and workshops
    2. Field research in schools/call centres
    3. Interviews/workshops with teens + survey
    4. Built personas and customer journey maps

    Successes

    - Great reception from NCS: further work was commissioned
    - Personal development: working with teens/new methods

  • Social robots - poster for ACII 11

    Social robots for older adults - UCL

    The brief

    To investigate the suitability of social robots to promote wellbeing in the elderly

    My approach

    1. Participant workshops
    2. Contextual research and diary studies
    3. Participatory design workshops
    4. Published academic report

    Successes

    Report published in the Journal of Affective Interaction, 2011. Still being cited in 2025.

  • Designing investor personas - Barclays

    Understanding investors - Barclays

    The brief

    Provide product owners with insights on investor needs and behaviours, to inform product strategy

    My approach

    1. Meta-analysis of existing research
    2. Assumption mapping workshop with stakeholders
    3. In-depth interviews
    4. Persona development

    Successes

    Stakeholder buy in was a big win
    Personas were already in use as a decision tool even before the project was complete


  • Analysis and synthesis for BMJ

    Customer needs research - BMJ

    The brief

    1. Improve understanding of users and identify opportunities
    2. Discover whether linking products more coherently might enhance sales revenue

    My approach

    1. 17 stakeholder interviews
    2. 28 customer interviews
    3. Stakeholder workshops to identify future needs and opportunities

    Successes

    Stakeholder engagement and buy in to process and insights was high, despite initial reluctance

  • Screenshot - data taxonomy Miro board

    Data taxonomy redesign - Economist

    The brief

    Inform redesign of data tree architecture and labelling for the EIU’s Economic Indicators product

    My approach

    1. Iterative cycle of unmoderated and moderative tree testing using Optimal Workshop
    2. Continuous reporting/feedback via live Miro board
    3. Product testing and feedback with stakeholders

    Successes

    - Project delivered well within timescales
    - Significant improvement in usability of this core EIU product

Specialisms

B2B research in technical domains

  • Recruitment of users who are not also customers

  • Getting up to speed in highly technical domains

  • Conducting interviews with experts

  • Engaging stakeholders who are new to UX research

EXAMPLES: Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Lombard Asset Finance, British Medical Journal (BMJ)

In-depth generative research

  • Ethnography: diary studies, contextual interviews

  • Ground-up analysis

  • Visual outputs e.g. personas, journey mapping

  • Identifying opportunities to drive innovation

EXAMPLES: Barclays Money Management, Barclays Investor research, Social robots at UCL, Teens engagement at NCS

Vulnerable participants

  • Research with teens, older adults and visually impaired/blind participants

  • Gaining trust with vulnerable participants

  • Research ethics & protection of participants/researchers

    EXAMPLES: NCS (teens), UCL (older adults), Various (research with blind and visually impaired participants

Key skills

  • Listening icon

    Generative/strategic research

    - Interviews
    - Contextual research and observation
    - Diary studies
    - Surveys
    - Card sorting

  • Lightbulb icon

    Evaluative/tactical research

    - User testing - lab based and remote
    - Lightweight methods including RITE testing & rolling research
    - Tree testing
    - Expert reviews

  • Engagement icon

    Stakeholder engagement/advocacy

    - Stakeholder engagement workshops
    - Presentation of research insights
    - Stakeholder-user ‘speed-dating’
    - Personas and proto-personas
    - Customer journey mapping

  • Mentoring icon

    Leadership and management

    - Experienced team leader & manager
    - Mentoring and coaching
    - Product management
    - Project management

GET IN TOUCH

Clients

  • ebay logo

    Ran a host of research projects for eBay with research agency UX24/7 from 2020-2024

    Also worked full time on their Rolling Research programme through 2024, from the initial pilot sessions through to final handover from agency to client

  • BMJ logo

    Ran a 6 month in-depth research project for the BMJ in 2019-20 to help them rethink their digital education portfolio.

    Interviewed 25 medical professionals, NHS leaders and librarians as well as 15 internal stakeholders, and presented results to the senior leadership team

  • logo - Barclays

    At EY-Seren, was lead researcher for the Barclays retainer, for Investments, Savings and Wealth, 2018-2019

    This involved not only designing all the research for the Barclays teams, but managing stakeholder relationships and flying the flag for UX research

  • Logo - Economist Intelligence Unit

    Ran research projects for EIU in this highly technical B2B environment from 20-21:
    - Tree testing to redesign the taxonomy of a data service
    - Discovery research to inform innovation of ‘Risk’ products
    - Fast paced, iterative evaluation of product pages during relaunch

  • Homerun logo

    Homerun is an innovative UK startup looking at ways to reduce traffic on the School Run.

    With no UX professionals on their staff they were struggling to understand their user base: I ran workshops for them to help them focus on their user needs and kick-off their UX journey

What my colleagues and clients say

  • "It has been my privilege to work with Suzi over a number of years and I can’t think of anyone with more experience, knowledge, commitment and limitless energy. Not only fully capable across the breadth of design research, time and again she managed the most challenging of stakeholders, politics and business needs."

    John Dumas - Independent Design Research consultant

  • "Suzi is one of the best researchers I've worked with. Her moderation style is flawless ... she's adaptable and can flip between agile methodologies and waterfall planning as project needs shift. She builds bonds with stakeholders and up-skills other team members."

    Oliver Shreeve - Principle User Experience Researcher

  • "Suzi was an absolute joy to work with. We worked together on a year long project and she enabled me and my team to really get to understand our users in an in-depth and human centered way. We collaborated with ease I was impressed by her resilience and keeping up momentum in a high pressure environment. I would love to work with her again sometime! "

    Josephine Spencer-Geoghegan - Product Design director

  • "Suzanne was a delight to work for. Although her team were a great bunch of people they were also a set of alpha males with a obsession with music. Handling people like that can be tricky but Suzanne managed this team with great senstivity, aplomb and sure footedness."

    Nick Reynolds - Business Development Manager