As a user researcher we talk to strangers as part of the job, but we don’t call it that. That’s because we come from a position of power and we decide the questions and we are deciding how we meet.

Although that can feel like ‘protection’ when we invite relative strangers into our buildings, our computers, it actually removes a lot of the genuine human connection and communication we need to be fostering. 

When we are empathetic, we are learning and understanding what it might be like to experience the world through the experiences of others. Being kind is when we take action from the things we have learned. This is what acts of kindness are, and how how you can improve your design process.

Design of any kind, branding, marketing, interiors, products, UX, services, you name it, are dressed up to be 'customer focused' which is just not true. In fact, most companies go into product development with questions THEY wrote (sometimes from no reasoning) or THEY have assumptions we want to test. 

Researchers aren’t trained to think with ‘kindness’ first and I want to show you how.

The origin story of Be Kind Research. Why we are here, and what we want to achieve.