Google Play

During the course of my work at Google Play, I conducted monthly usability studies for the Play Books, Play Movies & TV (now a part of Android TV) and Play Games teams.
My studies informed decisions regarding new features and services used by Android users all over the world.

My Role


UX Researcher

Methods


Usability Testing, Surveys, Literature Reviews

Deliverables

Research Reports of Findings and Recommendations

MY ROLE

The Google Play org wanted to conduct tactical research more often to answer questions about releasing new features. I was responsible for conducting monthly usability studies for the Google Play Books, Movies & TV and Games teams. These studies were conducted in-person in a lab and they were moderated.

I also helped senior UX Researchers by doing literature review of research done in the past within each of the teams, company-wide research for common features, analyzing survey results and collaborating with other orgs like YouTube for research on cross-product features.

COMMON RESEARCH QUESTIONS

  • Do users understand what this new feature is and how to use it?
  • Are users able to discover this new feature with the current onboarding?
  • Can users find what they want to with the current flow?
  • Is this feature truly useful to our users?
  • Are they able to understand what these UI elements and titles mean?
  • Are users able to understand the copy?
  • Is the onboarding effective in educating the user?
  • What do users feel about sharing certain personal information?
  • How is the users' prior perception of the company influencing their trust in sharing personal information?

PROCESS

Collaboration

The process starts with talking to Product Managers, UX Designers, Lead UX Researchers to narrow down the research questions to be prioritized and answered.

Then I work with the recruitment team to source the right participants.

The UX Designer and I have some back and forth refining the prototype to test.

I also had to collaborate with teams across geographical locations and time zones.

Research

Finalize research questions to answer.
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Create screener surveys for the recruitment team.

Prepare the research plan and interview script.
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Choose the right participants from the existing pool of survey responses.

Involve stakeholders in the interviews and testing.

Analyze the videos and notes after the study is conducted .

Cross-Product

I collaborated with researchers in YouTube, Play Store and Merchandise and included questions they had in my studies to answer some of their questions.
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I started documentation for studying  a common interaction patterns that is used across multiple Google products, in order to make its functionality more consistent.

Reports

I presented insights and recommendations to different stakeholders including UX Designers, Product Managers, Lead UX Researchers, UX Design and Engineering Leads across different teams and geographical locations.

IMPACT

I helped stakeholders, like UX and Engineering Leads, Product Managers and Designers, understand what design or conceptual changes the product needs.



My research informed and supported senior designers to pitch their ideas to the leads, I was responsible for the research of a new business direction that Google Play Movies & TV was venturing.



My recommendations influenced the experience of the 2 billion people who use Google Play Books, Movies or Games services.

💥🔥💯