UX Research is Critical for Product Success: Cansu Kıpırdı, Senior Product Designer & Team Lead at TrueNode

At TrueNode, we believe a validation-first approach and great UI/UX design are a launch pad for building successful products.

In our very first ‘Meet the Team’ interview we introduce Cansu Kipirdi, a Senior Product Designer and Team Lead at TrueNode, responsible for leading the team of designers that work on projects for some of the biggest companies such as TUI and HDI Seguros.

In her answers, Cansu provides tips to innovators working on building their next digital product and shares some interesting facts about her role, her favourite design trends, her favourite book and what is the one thing in the world that she would change if she had the power to.

1. What is your role in helping TrueNode and its partners/clients thrive?

I am a Senior Product Designer and a Team Lead at TrueNode, helping our clients and partners in defining and operationally running their design processes which are established based on both user and business needs. 

2. What is your advice to innovators working on building their next digital product?

Run user tests and interviews as early as possible. 

It is very easy to fall in love with the product idea. But building successful products that will thrive on the market requires assessment of the actual users/market needs. Therefore, gathering feedback from the target audience from the very beginning is invaluable.

At TrueNode, we pay a lot of attention to user research, learning the needs of the target audience and testing our product ideas with real customers to see if we bridge business and user needs. Applying our UX research process has brought considerable advantages to all of our projects. Hence, we advise our partners/clients to include this process in their projects from the start. 

Hopefully, user research will come to mind by default soon for all innovators. 

3. A project you are most proud of? What were the challenges, the solutions and the results? 

JobLat for HDI Seguros, is one of the projects I am very proud to have led. We started building JobLat by understanding the needs of the target audience and, therefore, we worked on creating a solution that meets their desires within an easy-to-use platform. The user flows and customer journeys were not easy to define. There were lots of legal and ethical concerns to consider in the definition of wireframes which challenged us. But, by talking to the target audience, testing the wireframes in each sprint and acting fast on the fix, we managed to figure things out. 

I am also very proud of the collaboration between TrueNode’s and HDI Seguros’s teams. Our seamless communication workflow, transparent feedback and respectful work culture helped make this product a success. Coming from diverse cultures and living in contrasting time zones was not easy, but with the right roadmap, timelines, and meeting setups we managed to complete all sprints on time. I should not forget the collaboration with the developers. They were all super friendly and humble to work with; always ready to take initiative and dive into the design process with their technical comments or suggestions. 

To sum up, I am so glad to be part of this team and to have gone through all the challenges we have encountered. I hope I will get the opportunity to lead more design projects with the amazing team at JobLat in the future.

4. Three most exciting things about being part of the TN team?

• Good communication
• Great team culture
• Efficient and supportive work setup

5. The most challenging thing about being part of the TN team?

As a product studio, we have partners and projects from multiple industries. Building a quick empathy with the target audience in such diverse projects requires a very well-planned and collected user + marketing research effort to get familiar. 

6. Three Design Trends that excite you the most?

• Voice User Interfaces – they are among the fastest-growing and most exciting UX design trends that offer a huge opportunity for us to develop accessible and industry-standard VUI design patterns. 
• Minimalistic UI designs – they will make it easier for us to design easy-to-follow interfaces so that users find what they need. 
• UX Writing – a key element to improve usability and brand visibility to design successful products. 

7. If you had a superpower to change one thing in the world, what change would you make?

I would add a spark of emotional intelligence to people’s minds so everyone learns how to manage our own emotions in positive ways to empathise with others, overcome challenges and communicate effectively. 

8. What is your Pantone Color?

Tardis Blue 2955 C

9. What is your Thinking Hat in Problem Solving?

Blue Hat

10. A book everyone should read?

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Interested in discussing your design project with Cansu?

Book a slot here!