Brian Miller

With no affiliation, sharing this as I know it will be good. Peter Merholz's ideas have been instrumental in my shaping of design teams. As iF Design point out here - the right environment around the design team is key to producing a successful team. The role of the leader is to create that environment.

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In MaxDiff, respondents are shown a set of items (e.g., product concepts) and asked to identify the most-preferred item and the least-preferred item. It seems to me that this research approach misses an opportunity to capture (and use) much more information. That is, ask the respondent to rank the items in the respective set of items. For example, if a respondent were exposed to only two questions (ranking tasks), with each task containing five items, that would yield 10 responses to be analyzed. There are logit models to analyze this data that estimate the probability of a given item (any of the items in the study) being ranked first, second, etc. Analysis of this data yields more granular findings than MaxDiff, e.g., a product concept ranked second-most often may be so ranked more frequently than the concept ranked first most often. Or the product concept ranked first most often is also the one ranked second-most often. 

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Shaping the Future of User Research at IDC 2025 On Thursday, Sept 19 at 12:20 PM, Lextant’s Marty Gage will take the stage for his second talk at the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)'s International Design Conference at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI. In his rapid-fire keynote, Marty will share how research leaders can translate deep user insights into brand strategies that drive impact. Expect practical takeaways on uncovering meaningful needs, bridging research and brand, and making insights truly actionable for organizations. #lextant #IDC2025 #IDSA #userresearch #ux #design #innovation #experiencemetrics

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GV (Google Ventures) have a long history of hiring former designers and design leaders to support their portfolio companies. Folks like Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Kate Aronowitz, Daniel Burka, Braden Kowitz, Vanessa Cho, and Tom Hulme. In my latests podcast interview, Kate Aronowitz explains why this is, and what designers bring to the table. Interestingly it's not about craft, but rather the way they see the world with a beginners mind.

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Last night several Carolina-based designers (UX Researchers, Product Designers, UX and Content Strategist) came together for an IxDF in-person meetup in LoSo Charlotte. The discussion was lively as we navigated pain points we are all facing in the tsunami of tech. Tension between the ethos of “user-centered design” and the push to ship is coming to its peak. Designers are frustrated that their (and others) depth of talents are being left on the table, in the name of “good-enough” “faster” and “more”. Businesses are panicking in the AI horse race. There must be answers. We are after all, designers. Otherwise called solution-seekers and experience makers. Taking a step back, the big picture reveals a view we are standing so close to that it’s easy to miss. Humans need humans. We need each other for purpose, for connection, for growth. THIS is what designers can embed in a project, product, tool, or system. Instead of starting with “what can AI do”, let’s start with “where or how do humans need humans”. It’s the starting point of humanity centric design - one that values the outcome of living well within our bodies, minds, and souls first.

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Most enterprise leaders treat design as an aesthetic luxury. But as CDO at eleopard, I see it differently. When your software is clunky, you aren’t just looking at an ugly interface. You are looking at frictional loss. You are paying for your employees to fight their tools instead of using them. I’ve seen companies waste millions on "pretty" templates that don't scale and "quick patches" that just hide deeper architectural failures. At eleopard, we’ve drawn a line in the sand. We don’t do patchwork, and we don't do "flashy" for the sake of trends. In my latest article, I break down our engineering-first approach to UX: ✅ Custom over Templates: Why "off-the-shelf" is a long-term liability. ✅ Design as a Blueprint: How we use Figma to eliminate the "interpretation gap" for developers. ✅Risk Mitigation: Using interactive prototypes to kill bad ideas before they become expensive code. ✅Implementation Freedom: Why we favor WordPress + Elementor to keep your architecture out of "walled gardens." If your enterprise software has become a bottleneck rather than a bridge to growth, it’s time to stop patching symptoms and start solving root causes. Read the full manifesto here: https://lnkd.in/gDAW4fuV #EnterpriseUX #ProductDesign #ROI #eleopard #DigitalTransformation #Leadership

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Still skeptical about AI in UX research? That’s exactly who this course is for. I was right there myself, until I ran “AI vs. human” benchmarking studies side-by-side. Since then, I’ve focused on helping researchers use AI as a collaborator—without sacrificing rigor or empathy. That’s why I built AI for Customer Research. Over 4 weeks, we cover: – Prompt engineering for UXRs (including meta-prompting and advanced structures) – What AI-moderated interviews actually get right (and what they miss) – How to use AI for synthesis – saving time, but not losing nuance – The real story on “synthetic users” for concept testing – How to rebuild your workflow to scale, without cutting corners You’ll get live access to enterprise-grade research tools, candid demos, and a peer cohort of experienced researchers. That means: try things, critique, ask questions, and get practical with your workflow. This is a Maven Top 100 course, and the #1 UX research course on Maven. Over 7,500 have joined my free lessons, and the reviews speak for themselves: “He and his team have spent hours comparing different AI-powered research tools... He shares what he has learned and gives you hands-on activities to try several of them yourself.” — John Gusiff, CXO, Customer Centric Solutions “A valuable sampler on using AI end-to-end across research projects… reframed AI from a competitor to a powerful collaborator.” — Becky White, Head of Research Design, Canva “A fantastic opportunity to stay ahead in the evolving research landscape.” — Nivi Singh-Frenger, Principal UX Researcher, Citizens Bank “The course was very helpful for getting my mind around the current state of AI tools and techniques for UX research.” — Suzanne H., UX Researcher The next cohort launches soon – and there’s an early bird discount: 33% off until July 25. (That’s less than a week.) If you want to see how AI can make you faster, more credible, and ready for what’s next, the link is in the comments. I hope you'll join me! John

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I had the chance to explore a question close to my heart: How do we weave what’s human into AI patterns? For me, intelligence is more than computation—it’s empathy, creativity, and ethics. As designers and leaders, we have the opportunity (and responsibility) to shape AI in ways that honor humanity, not just efficiency. Hear why design culture matters more than ever in the age of AI, and share your perspective: What values should we insist on weaving into the future of AI?

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This is what investing in AI in design looks like. As with many other job families, the design industry focuses on what might the impact of AI be: will it lower the quality with slop? Will it replace humans? Etc But I don't see much focus on to understand and really capitalise on the potential AI brings to design. We are largely treating it as any other tool: a way to get incrementally better. At best it's a short course for the designers, at worst it's expecting designers to already know how to use it. But AI has the potential for making radical shifts and leaps. I'd love to hear, and learn, from anyone who is making significant strides to drive AI transformation in design.

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One of the big milestones in design maturity is moving from tactical work to strategic influence. That shift requires more than aligning with the business goals; it’s about understanding the business dynamics. And one of the most important dynamics to pay attention to is how decisions get made. Are we optimizing for speed? Managing risk? Prioritizing user satisfaction? Every org is different. But when you understand the decision-making landscape, you can navigate it with purpose, and help your team have greater impact, faster.

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The iPhone 17 Air takes center stage today," Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, said in a statement. "It is also the first step in a strategic design makeover, paving the road to a #foldable iPhone possibly next year. While it may not drive mass volume, it is not meant to. It will draw in users who prioritize a lighter and sleeker device over function, expanding Apple's user appeal and demographic. There are plenty of consumers eagerly waiting for the slim and sexy new iPhone Air." IDC IDC Asia/Pacific IDC | India IDC Europe CNET #iPhone #iphoneAir #iPhone17 #AppleEvent

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