Question banks: how to design a better user experience for your interviewee

On Wednesday, I met with a subject of mine for a stroll in DC followed by a casual conversational interview regarding his background in design and music. Just as how user experience is important in applications, web, and etc., it is also important during an interview. My goal was to put the design principles for UX into action and create a more seamless experience for my subject during his interview. To do this, I put away my computer, and had a free flowing conversation that ultimately steered in the direction of where my questions were headed.

Rapid notes taken during my interviews

Prior to meeting with my subject, I created a list of all of the questions that I wanted to ask. I categorized my list into four separate categories with vague questions:

1. Background — everything needed to give me a sense of his upbringing , etc.
2. Day to Day — screenwork habits and the routines that ultimately lead to his creative spark
3. Preferences — tying everything back to music and his work setting
4. Miscellaneous — a set of random questions that reveal his personality at a deeper level (i.e: If you could have dinner with anyone- dead or alive- who would it be?)

While not having a paper or my computer in front of me with the set of questions was a little challenging at the very start, I found that splitting up my question bank helped me control the flow of the conversation a lot better. All in all, it was very successful, and the tricks that we learned in class on how to conduct participant interviews were extremely helpful in preparing for the interview.

The most unexpected thing that came out of it, though is the fact that user experience is something that must be considered in every field and for everything. Often times, we only think of user experience in terms of application or web design, when it’s actually defined as the experience that is produced as a result of a person interacting with a *product. By this definition: the interview +the questions that are asked = the product , and the comfort level of the subject = the experience.

Field notes taken immediately after the interview

The takeaway message in this is that while it may seem important to ask all of the questions that are in your question bank, you must minimize your screenwork in front of your subject, and maximize your human to human interaction. By doing so, you will:

1. significantly increase the quality of your subject’s answers
2. Increase your subject’s comfort level as it won’t feel like a formal interview, rather a casual conversation with a friend
3. Decrease your stress levels. Why stick to a script when you can improvise?

So there you have it, a designer’s creative approach to interviewing.