Overview
User experience and interface research, information architecture, and design guidance to help teams build and improve clear, usable digital products.
How to access
Teams can engage Product and User Experience support through the DevEx team or by contacting the team manager.
If your team is unsure where to start, the DevEx team can help determine the right level of UX support for your project.
Helping teams design and improve digital products
Our work focuses on understanding how people interact with systems and translating those insights into clear, effective interfaces and workflows.
We partner with teams throughout the product lifecycle. Sometimes that means helping define a new product or feature. Other times it means evaluating and improving an existing system. By combining research, information architecture, and design guidance, we help teams make informed decisions that improve usability and reduce friction for the people who rely on UCSF tools every day.
What we deliver
Depending on the needs of a project, teams working with Product and User Experience may receive:
- User research summaries and insights
- Discovery findings and recommendations
- Product requirements documents (PRDs)
- Information architecture diagrams and navigation models
- Low and high-fidelity wireframes or interface concepts
- Usability evaluation reports
- Design recommendations and implementation guidance
Deliverables are tailored to the needs of each project and are designed to help teams move forward with clarity and confidence.
Providing support at multiple stages
Step1
Discovery and Planning
- Discovery planning and early product exploration
- User research to understand needs, workflows, and challenges
- Product requirements documents (PRDs) and product definition
- Identifying user problems and success criteria
Step2
Structure and Design
- Information architecture and navigation structure
- Interface and workflow design
- Wireframes and design concepts
- Design reviews and usability feedback
Step3
Evaluation and Improvement
- Usability evaluations and testing
- Built-in feedback loops
- Identifying friction in existing systems
- Prioritizing improvements based on user needs
- Iterating on designs as products evolve
Bring UX into your workflow
We are here to help teams explore user needs, structure information, and evaluate usability as part of their product process. We support teams who want to bring user insight into planning, design, and decision making.
Build better for your users
Product and User Experience helps teams avoid costly usability problems and unclear requirements by bringing user insight into product planning, design, and development.
We encourage teams to engage us when you want to:
- Clarify product requirements
- Identify friction early
- Improve the usability of internal tools and digital services
- Make product decisions grounded in user insight rather than assumptions
Frequently asked questions
You can engage us at any stage of a project. We are often involved during early discovery and planning, but we also support teams that want to evaluate or improve an existing product, workflow, or interface.
No. Many engagements begin before designs exist. We can help with discovery, defining requirements, structuring information, and identifying user needs early in the process.
Yes. We frequently work with teams to evaluate and improve existing tools, workflows, and digital services. Usability evaluations and user research can help identify areas for improvement and prioritize changes.
Engagements vary depending on the needs of the project. They may include research sessions, usability evaluations, information architecture work, design reviews, or support with product requirements and planning.
Developer Services supports the tools and platforms used to build and deliver software. Product and User Experience focuses on understanding user needs and helping teams design and improve the experience of the systems they build.
UX helps teams identify usability issues, unclear requirements, and workflow challenges before they become costly problems after release. Early insight into user needs can prevent teams from investing time and effort into features that do not work as intended.
The level of support depends on the scope and complexity of the project. Some teams request a design review or usability evaluation, while others collaborate with UX throughout discovery, design, and improvement.
If research or usability evaluation is part of the engagement, access to users or user representatives can be very helpful. If that is not possible, we can help identify alternative ways to gather insight.
Product and User Experience can complement the work of designers by supporting research, information architecture, usability evaluation, and product definition. We often collaborate with teams to provide additional perspective and help validate design decisions.
Projects that require UX support may use an existing recharge arrangement or establish one through DevEx.
How can we help you?
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