"Just Make it Look Good" and Other Ways We're Misunderstood
Summary
Research helps us understand the customer's needs, behaviors, and attitudes, design meets those needs through interaction and visual expertise, and content helps make sure the entire experience is expressed in the customer's language. It seems simple, right? So where does it go wrong? Hear from Compass leaders about how misunderstanding these roles leads to poor collaboration and how we can change the way we work together to deliver incredible customer experiences. Hear from leaders in design, content, and research about the most common ways their role is misunderstood and the impact this has on the customer experience. Learn ways design, content, and research can communicate and collaborate better to collectively create better experiences that scale. Get a better understanding of the unique role design, content, and research play in our customer's lives and how to use each other's secret powers to deliver better customer outcomes.
Key Insights
-
•
User research should be embedded early in the product process, not just used at the end for validation.
-
•
Assumptions baked into product decisions risk missing true user needs—research uncovers these nuances.
-
•
Close partnerships between user researchers, product leaders, and design teams enable aligned expectations and transparency.
-
•
Content design (UX writing) is often under-resourced and treated as a service rather than a strategic partner.
-
•
Starting design with content first wireframes avoids treating words as decoration, reducing last-minute fixes.
-
•
If finding the right words is difficult, this often signals underlying UI interaction problems, not just word issues.
-
•
Ideal content designer to product designer ratio is roughly 1:3, but varies based on product scope and organizational context.
-
•
Hiring junior writers for product writing at the end of the process helps maintain quality and scales content work.
-
•
Finding a champion in leadership and starting with small wins helps teams move towards better research and content integration.
-
•
Collaboration without ego among researchers, designers, and content designers leads to improved product outcomes.
Notable Quotes
"User research is a validation function is a common pitfall, but its real power is uncovering meaningful insights early."
"Our customers actually live in Siberia and they don't want ice cream, they want hot cookies out of the oven."
"If you are spinning trying to make words work over and over, you likely have an interaction problem, not a word problem."
"We often get designed into a corner by trying to fix words at the end instead of involving content designers earlier."
"Start with content first wireframing and avoid lorem ipsum to prevent treating words like decoration."
"A single line of UI text might be a small ask but can have massive impact on customer understanding and experience."
"Collaboration without ego is key to building the right product, not just what one's own interests are."
"Finding a leadership champion and building on small wins creates momentum for integrating research and content."
"Style guides and embedding content systems into design systems help scale content without bottlenecks."
"Content design is nascent and often misunderstood, but embedding content designers improves product clarity and usability."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Online, our bodies become transparent, reducing barriers and allowing for more intimate and open collaboration."
Surya VankaUnleashing Swarm Creativity to Solve Enterprise Challenges
June 10, 2021
"Journalists experiencing the same trauma as samurai during the Meiji Restoration – once warriors, now unsure of their role."
Patrick Boehler Madison KarasThe service shift: transforming media organizations to create real value through design
November 19, 2025
"Our user base is really fun and complex, with different preferences that require nuanced automation approaches."
Andreas Huebner Amy Takata Craig BrookesWhat Is It Like To Be Part of The UX Team at Compass?
March 11, 2021
"The business value of design operations is hidden, unclear, and not even talked about."
Patrizia Bertini Alexandra Mengoni LeónPushing DesignOps’ Influence into New Global Markets
September 9, 2022
"IBM Design Thinking is about collaborating around artifacts and frameworks, not prescribing the process teams must follow."
Phil GilbertA Consistent Culture of Design
May 14, 2015
"I wouldn’t leave AI tools to juniors because it’s crucial to have your own experience to evaluate outputs."
Yulya Besplemennova[Demo] Stress-testing GenAI in user research synthesis
June 4, 2024
"Remote is a design constraint, but what else can we do with it to improve practice?"
Sarah RinkRemote User Research: Dos and Don'ts from the Virtual Field
June 11, 2020
"For many of our tech clients, there’s a demand not just to use AI but to transparently show how and why, to respond to internal scrutiny."
Mujtaba HameedThe new horizon of ethnography: using AI to unlock the full potential of in-person research
March 11, 2026
"People who understand the problem best are set up to do the best work."
Sheryl CababaLiving in the Clouds: Adopting a Systems Thinking Mindset
June 6, 2023
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
How can large enterprises design pilot programs that effectively test new research tools without excessive delays?
How does Rally’s research infrastructure facilitate participant management and integration with enterprise data systems?
How can power imbalances be acknowledged and shared with community members in design processes?