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Interviews

Build empathy with customers through active listening

Project Stage:
Discover

Who:
Customer
Experts
Decision makers
Service Providers

Design Principles:
01. We will put people first  02. We will design to be inclusive  03. We will design services together  06. We will challenge assumptions & design with evidence 



Interviews help you build a better understanding of service users. They are essentially one-to-one conversations with a service user, in which we ask them about their past experiences, current problems and needs, and thoughts on how we can improve our service. Interviews should take place in teams of 2 or 3; one person leads the interview, asking questions and listening intently. The remaining 1-2 people should be notetakers. This is a really important job. The notetaker(s) role is to actively listen and take notes making sure to capture compelling quotes

Use it to

  • Dig deep with key stakeholders and customers to understand their experiences, problems and needs.

Top Tips

  • To ensure a great interview, you need to make your interviewee feel at ease and relaxed. At their heart, interviews are about taking a genuine interest in learning more about a user and their experience and opinions.
  • There are a few more things we should pay attention to when planning an interview.
  • Here are some tips to get you started:
  • Have a goal in mind – what do you need to learn from this user?
  • Plan your questions ahead of time, and keep them open-ended
  • Hold the interview in a quiet, private space, and ensure it’s not too long or short in duration
  • Listen more than you speak
  • Record the interview (with permission), to focus on the conversation and for later analysis
  • Put the participant at ease, and value their input as experts in their own experiences

Resources

Consent Forms

Related Methods

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Stakeholder Maps

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User Stories

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Wireframing

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