UXR IN INDIA

A Historical Perspective

Achyutha Sharma
Credits:

Key Contributors: Dina Dastur Mehta, Apala Lahiri Chavan, Anjeli Kelkar 

Book design: Arjun Asokan

Interviewees: Apala Lahiri Chavan, Dina Dastur Mehta, Shashank Deshpande,

Nimmi Rangaswamy, Eshita Priyadarshini, Ripul Kumar, Unmesh Kulkarni 

Proofreading: B. R. Rajeev 

Supported by: Priyal Srivastava

ISBN: 978-93-5917-395-5

Copyright with © Achyutha Sharma

This is a historical p e r s p e c t i ve on h ow UX R e s e a rc h evo l ve d in India. The findings in this book a re

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UXR IN INDIA
A Historical Perspective

by

Achyutha Sharma

INDIA
"Study the past if you would define the future."

- Confucius
Index

Index
Note from the Author
01
 

Introduction
03
 

UXR Decades

1960 - 1980
07
1980 - 1990
12
1990 - 2000
16
2000 - 2010
24
2010 - 2020
44
 

Way forward

56

References 68
Note from the author 1

Note from the author

When I look at movies, branding, advertisements, marketing, business
presentations and so on, the common thread between all of the above
areas hinges on a narrative, a human story or emotions. It helps the
audience connect with what we are communicating or selling, every
business or consumer decision is not just a rational but an emotional
decision too. This aspect becomes even more important in the technology
industry. Technology has become our way of life and not just an interface
between people. Yet we are often reminded through academia,
entertainment or business channels that technology is “only a tool” or a
medium, and the true value lies in people and humanity. The balance of
technology and being human is strikingly becoming a popular conversation
in our social network and our minds. User research is representing in some
ways the balance of technology and being human, it is representing our
living room and workspace conversations, dialogues inside our mind of
maintaining balance. Hence, understanding human motivations, needs, and
behaviours, and carefully interpreting and applying them in a technology
context is not just necessary but also imperative. This is why user research
is a fascinating discipline to me. Pity that leadership and teams in many
organisations across geographies have limited understanding of this
discipline. They tend to be also unimaginative about how user research can
be truly leveraged for business growth or sustainability.

But my endeavour is not to focus on why user research is important or

valuable to business based on the history of UX research. It started with the
fundamental idea inspired by Sri Aurobindo, "The past is for learning; the
future is for striving." My curiosity to learn from the past is grounded in the
idea that our past and origins could help us reflect on what we can do
better. With tech layoffs in 2022 - 2023 impacting researchers worldwide,
the burst of AI and its implications was a coincidental timing to learn from
Note from the author 2

our history. It requires us to be constantly proactive about the future of this

discipline through sense-making and foresight, the strength of quality
researchers. This mini-book is my attempt to gain a historical perspective
and share it with you all. I hope that some of you may choose to dig deeper
and do a better job than me and some of you could interpret this historical
perspective differently while adding diversity to the future perspective of
user research.

I want to acknowledge my gratitude towards a few people who made this

project possible. It was not an easy process to reach out to people online
and offline, facing rejections, delays and being turned down for help with
the project. In this struggle, I also found my support and pillars for this
project. My deepest gratitude goes out to Dina Dastur Mehta who has
consistently been a pillar of strength to me in this project and all my
initiatives. My deep appreciation of Apala Chavan who has contributed to
the book throughout the project and a great support to my endeavours. A
big thank you to all the interviewees who took out the time and effort to
support this project, especially Anjeli Kelkar & Shashank Deshpande for
reviews. A special shout out to Arjun for his design vision and commitment,
his idea to create AI generated imagery for the book is well timed and
aligned to the content of the book. My heartfelt thank you to Priyal, who has
worked tirelessly on this project & URI along with me, and Vishnu for
providing support. 

A special thanks to my biggest strength, my inspirational artist mother,

Rama Sharma, along with Aditya (my brother) and Jagjit Singh for their
support.

I dedicate this book to my late father, Shyam Sunder Sharma whom we lost
in February 2022 during the time I was working on this book. Thank you for
your motivation and strength, sending my love to you.

- Achyutha Sharma
Introduction 3

Introduction
It is important to document a historical perspective on how User Experience
Research (UXR) has evolved in the sub-continent, to better understand the
user research ecosystem in India, today and for tomorrow. History of User
Research (UR) involves a study of disciplines such as anthropological,
sociological and psychological evolution in India tracing to colonial times or
even before, requiring a much larger, concerted and institutional effort. UR
is a much broader and complex area yet to be documented in a historical
context so, we decided to trace the history of UXR in India. In determining
the future of our practice, it is important to know its history. It helps
determine whether history unfurls randomly or whether it proceeds along
more discernible patterns. In an area that has been ahistorical, this book is
the first attempt to identify the origins of the practice.

This is a story and a narrative; a broad documentation with anecdotal

insights, research trends, players and companies from 1990s to 2020s.
Some of the constraints in this project were:
No documentation on UXR praxis in India available online or in the public
domain and primary reliance on anecdotal inputs and quotes which limits
our understanding of UXR practice.
Due to limited evidence and anecdotal inputs, and no concrete way of
validating inputs or gathering evidence, few insights might be viewed as
biased (although we have minimised biases during synthesis).
Many agencies and practitioners active from 1990 - 2020 were under
water-tight NDAs with clients and couldn’t publish or share any project in
public. Some of these agencies are constrained even now to share
certain information publicly or be quoted in this book. 

It is hoped that academia and practitioners build upon this construction of

the history of UX research in India based on their own experiences and
knowledge of pioneering companies and practitioners and using sound
historiographical tenets.

Introduction 4

India & Technology

India has a fascinating and rich history of its relationship with technology. This
relationship has been documented based on themes from the lens of
anthropology, social sciences and impact on development. We still need to
unearth insights on how early disciplines of ethnography, sociology,
psychology and scientific research have converged with technology across
the history of India and cultures in the sub-continent. Broadly we could have
looked at two major parts of evolution where studies of users and technology
evolved into UX research:
Human behaviour studies (Anthropology, Sociology & Psychology)
evolution
Technology evolution across main sectors or STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Maths) evolution across sectors

Part 2 might provide context and continuity to how technology advancement

(including STEM advancement) across sectors merged with the Human-
Computer Interaction discipline and the emergence of UX. What we
extrapolate based on this book is that parts 1 & 2 developments converge in
the 2000s for what we now understand as UX Research as an intersection of
Human-Computer Interaction with users. Tracing development parts 1 & 2
would have required a bigger scale and resources to track this history and
evolution across sectors. For example, media technologies were appropriated
much earlier and print technology can be traced even before the Dravidian
movement in the 1930s, although the technology was applied in politics and
propaganda it also permeated into other areas. Motion picture technology for
political propaganda apart from films/ entertainment also throws interesting
insights into the “people-technology interface”. Another example of a rich
history is biometric technology which can be traced early from colonial times
from identification to Aadhar. In Pursuit of Proof, traces biometric technology
in India from an ethnographic lens since colonial times. Hence, it can become
more complex and multi-layered. 

We deliberated on how we could build an engaging perspective on the history

within our limited resources and bandwidth. The next section elaborates on
our process and viewing lens of interpretation and storytelling for the
historical perspective on UXR in India.
Introduction 5

Viewing lens & Process

The lens we have chosen is UX Research which specifically looks at human-
interface interaction (Human-Computer Interaction is limiting in the current
context) as a need that led to the creation and growth of user research or
UXR discipline. There are three primary lenses we have used to synthesise
our understanding:

Indian social, economic & political context for tech sector/ industries:
We attempt to trace some of the parallel trends in India that impacted
the evolution of UXR in the technology sector based on economic,
social, political/ policy changes. These trends across areas had
causation and correlation effects that are intertwined and complex so
we have articulated with a simpler approach that is comprehensible to a
larger audience. These areas (social, economic, political) impacted
specific sectors/ industries or collectively on technology introduction
and its development. We are unable to attribute specific trends or
patterns that led to certain development and will require deeper analysis
to claim clear and deeper insights from history.
HCI & UX (Discipline) development: UX research scope evolved based
on needs and objectives that impacted how UXR disciplined evolved.
The industry viewed the discipline from technology interaction to
understanding user experience and this led to evolution of UXR.
Understanding the UXR thread from this lens helps us contextualise the
history and how we might adapt UR beyond UX, with new emerging
technologies that will disrupt or impact our future
Ethnography & Qualitative Research: The traditional qualitative
research lens covers ethnography and market research that was active
decades before the emergence of design research (the coined term UXR
became more common only later) and UX in India. An area within the
market research scope covered ethnography applied in business or
technology that used qualitative research methods adapted to the Indian
context. This also led to many experimentations of qualitative methods
applicable to Indian users and environment, methods and project
approaches adapted from ethnography and application of such methods
Introduction 6

in UX research projects. Tracing the evolution of qualitative research which

we found as examples from 1980 - 2020 demonstrates that UX research
didn’t evolve only from the HCI lens but from broader applicability to Indian
users, especially in the B2C segment.

Indian trends

& Technology evolution

HCI & UX
Ethnography

& Qualitative Research UX Research/ User Research

The process for this project started with a time-stamp approach to

developments in UXR practice that overlapped with the global technology
trends, its import to India, domestic technology development and Indian
context of social, economic and political/ policy development across
decades. Currently, there is no accessible documentation in the public
domain on the evolution of UX Research in India. 

We conducted qualitative research along with secondary/ desk research to

synthesise and corroborate our findings and insights. We conducted in-
depth interviews with a few researchers that were actively contributing to
the UXR ecosystem in India from the 1990s. They helped us understand,
cross-validate and corroborate trends, events and time-stamp a few
projects/ works in UXR that can be mapped across three decades (1990 –
2020). This sample set is not exhaustive and needs to be explored further
to build more depth and map the history of UXR in India to make the book
more exhaustive. 

1960-1980
1960-1980 8

1960-1980
The idea of qualitative research can be traced in the history of market
research. And the need for qualitative research started based on the
need to understand consumer perception or response to
advertisements. This period of 1960 to 1980 witnessed local businesses
launching domestic FMCG brands apart from few international brands or
companies trying to sell products in India. It was also based on demand
creation as much as market demand that continued from the legacy of
the British colonial rule in India

The origins of market research in India can be traced to its supporting

role in gauging the efficacy of advertising. Examination of the history of
advertising leads to the conclusion that marketing research arrived in
India in the decade of the 1950s, initiated by Burmah-Shell’s need for
market research. "Towards an early history (1955-1975) of marketing
research in India" by R. Parameswaran and K. Parameswaran (2018) is
the first attempt of documenting the history of marketing research
similar to this book’s endeavour. This paper also helps us understand
that the term “market research” emanated from “marketing research” as
it started the scope from determining advertising efficacy to overall
marketing efficacy (across mediums/ formats).
Reference from the paper: In the early 1970s, marketing research was
a part of advertising (a continuation from 1955 when Burmah-Shell
initiated market research for advertising Shell in India). In the 80s,
full-fledged agencies had entered the landscape of research which
contributed to efficient marketing management. Using different
research techniques with the availability of varied statistical tools
helped the marketing personnel to measure the socio-economic
strata and gain cultural context which reflects ethnographic research
outputs. Subsequently, its scope got envisaged into various other
needs like mapping the need for customer demand, new product
1960-1980 9

development or new usages of existing products. This transformed

the industry from measuring ethnography to behavioural patterns

Author’s note: There are interesting takeaways if we study the
evolution of market research, what value it delivers to the business
and its impact on the business if it doesn’t exist. I have mentioned in
the “way forward” chapter that if user research needs to be
invaluable or indispensable to the organisation, then we need to
figure out how we can deliver value to the business directly (not
indirectly or based on the waterfall effect of value). In the
organisation structure, we also need to report to a function that is
closest to business or business teams directly

The National Institute of Design (NID) was set up in 1961, and the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay introduced an industrial
postgraduate programme in 1970. These institutions spurred early forms
of human and industrial “functionality” focused research that informed
design decisions and development. 

National Institute of Design 

IDC at IIT Bombay 

(Image courtesy of NID Archives) (Image courtesy of IDC Archives)

For decades, international design, engineering and technology

institutions had a strong influence on Indian design and engineering
academia through pedagogy, teacher training, international exchange
programmes and so on. Apart from this international influence in India,
ergonomic research as a discipline was also recognised by the industry.
This was because of an increased demand for local design and
1960-1980 10

engineering skills during this industrialisation period. Design goals such as

functionality, ergonomic friendliness and applicability in design,
engineering and technology contexts were some of the areas where
professionals have to do some research, especially in the form of testing.
This gave birth to research requirements in the form of enquiry,
observation and synthesis of behaviours and systems, which was loosely
representative of contemporary UX research practice.

Large industrial companies like Kirloskar, TATA, and Godrej to

manufacturing businesses steered innovation, design and development
of products in India. These companies generally commissioned external
projects or fostered internal research that was informal and integrated as
part of the design process. Engineers would, in the majority, take up the
scope of research and execute it in these large industrial design and
engineering-focused companies. Based on anecdotal inputs, the
research was primarily evaluative in nature of testing a prototype or a
product before launch for design or during production iterations.

The first batch of vehicles bearing the ‘T’

insignia rolls out of TELCO Works. 

(https://www.tata.com/newsroom/heritage/tata-
motors-diamond-jubilee)

IDC at IIT Bombay 

(Image courtesy of IDC Archives)

1960-1980 11

These two decades could be considered an “early period of design” in

India, where designers might have practised early forms of research that
weren’t formalised or recognised separately as a discipline. Many design
research projects were executed and commissioned by the domestic
industry and international companies entering the Indian market.
Academia also spurred more research and projects that had not just
theoretical approaches and scientific applications but also encouraged
industry-focused actionability or applicability.

The first Indian ergonomic lab was set up in 1963. NITIE had started
research in ergonomics, working from the origin of psychology. Focused
on testing, and controlled lab experiments. There were similarities
between development in ergonomic lab and how usability labs and few
design research practices developed early on in the HCI context. For
example: Similar evaluative criteria of task completion, frictionless
experience or usage comprehension of products.

All three National Emergencies in the history of India occurred during

this period that had a larger impact across political, social and economic
landscape of the country. Its consequences were felt in 1980s in scaling
technology faster in commercial and consumer focused sectors in India.
1980 - 1990
1980 - 1990 13

1980 - 1990
This decade for India was a mixed bag of turmoil with the political
upheavals that slowed the economy down. This led to a delay of growth in
businesses in key sectors but there was a continuation of innovation, the
introduction of new technology and exploration in academia which got later
commercialised and scaled in the following years/ decade.

The academia continued to incubate and experiment with ideas/

innovation in engineering, design and technology space. Engineers in IITs
and other technology-focused institutions continued to build human-
friendly designs and often tested prototypes or existing products to
improve technology or new product development.

Engineers and designers continued to research and test digital products

and machines that required systems thinking, ergonomic and mechanical
research. These research projects were all tied to improvements in the
design and functionality of industrial products and systems

Design colleges continued to grow along with the setting up of the

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) which fostered further
design research and innovation.

Classic ergonomics as part of a research discipline picked up in the

latter part of the 1980s, especially in academia like NID. Professors also
covered studies around cognitive ergonomics that overlapped with
human psychology and its interaction with physical objects/ systems.

Sectors such as India’s Space development under ISRO grew stronger

with the successful launch of satellites that continued depth in
technology research and its applicability.
1980 - 1990 14

The history of computers in India is a combination of imported

technology or devices and the indigenous development of devices in
India. The development of a computer device in India was formally
named as TIFRAC by PM Nehru in 1962. Later in the second half of the
1980s, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi rallied for the adoption of computers
across India. He pushed for reforms that led to liberalisation towards
production and imports of computers and other electronics. These
reforms and changes led to the growth of computer presence across
companies and industries before it penetrated consumer markets as PCs
in the 1990s.

Professor Rangaswamy Narasimhan

demonstrated the first Indian digital computer to
Jawaharlal Nehru and Homi J. Bhabha at the Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research

(source: https://www.tifr.res.in/~endowment/
prof-r-narasimhan.htm/ )

Source: Anonymous on Twitter

During the second half of the 1980s, anecdotal quotes direct us to

studies conducted largely focused on testing people using computers
and what kind of software could be made for them. Some of these
initiatives were steered by companies such as Kirloskar and Wipro to
name a few.
1980 - 1990 15

Meanwhile, Market research continued to grow although at a slower

pace. Market research and qualitative research were actively carried out
without the term ethnography attached to it. The scope of research
covered wider areas such as product or brand value proposition, user
motivations & barriers, service design/ process, and longitudinal
research embedded in early practices. Many of the psychographic inputs
were not just used for product testing or user needs but also for
marketing and advertising. The advertising industry in India thrived on
ethnographic insights from market research agencies.

Source: https://www.passionateinmarketing.com/
relaunch-of-liril-soap-brand-by-hindustan-
unilever-case-study/
Source: https://www.facebook.com/
Old.Indian.Ads.Official/
1990 - 2000
1990 - 2000 17

1990 - 2000
The economic liberalisation of India in 1991 was pivotal for the country's
growth and its impact was felt till the 2000s. This was also pivotal for the
technology sector in opening up India to the world and vice versa. We have
attempted to group and summarise the trends across the areas below
based on anecdotal inputs from interviewees. Deeper research of this
period could give us more insights into the diversity of research, and its
practices across industries.

Global & domestic trends

PC revolution: The 1980s events delayed the actual PC revolution to the
1990s in India timed with economic liberalisation that led PC giants to
build a stronger presence in the country.

The Internet was introduced to the world publicly in 1993 that became
more widespread in the late 1990s and early 2000s in India with higher
adoption of the world wide web (www) for websites

Internet service was introduced in India in 1995 by VSNL but coincided

with its growth in the 2000s with global trends.

Miheer Mafatlal in 1994 got three beta accounts

for Apple’s eWorld service. Photo: Napol Stock
Image. Source: https://www.livemint.com/
Industry/R3kgewhIhKscbiELV1sHZM/The-birth-of-
the-Internet-in-India.html
1990 - 2000 18

The railway sector under the government initiatives in the 1990s went
through the digitisation of ticketing systems led by Sam Pitroda who
continued to evangelise new technology and innovation amongst
policymakers until the 2000s. There were large-scale ethnographic,
qualitative and evaluative research studies conducted for the
applicability and scalability of the digitisation process in railways.

There was large-scale commercialisation of key sectors that had

generated more scope for qualitative research to understand users
interaction with technology or devices. It led to rapid growth for research
projects across sectors such as telecommunications (phones, satellite,
TV, etc.), media, biotechnology, FMCG, electronics/ gadgets, software,
computers and the internet. Each sector spurred depth in research and
widened the scope for longitudinal research projects and across
categories of user research.

Sector based research growth

BPO & IT sector: Growth of BPOs especially with companies such as
Wipro invested in research and development of BPO services. The
growth in this sector led to more systems research, process and system
thinking plus mapping that involved diverse methods and
experimentation. BPO companies had to follow/ adhere to standards and
protocols that were prescriptive which had to be localised or had to be
developed in context to local employees that needed to be followed.
This led to early research scope for processes and systems thinking
resulting in final outputs of process design and development,
standardisation and training material development for better business
impact. The IT sector was at a nascent stage of software development
and an outsourcing hub for professional services in IT in this decade.
This still comprised engineers and developers building software who
would carry out informal research and few large companies would hire or
contract projects for tech research.
1990 - 2000 19

Image: Press Trust of India

Source: https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/govt-should-frame-policy-for-bpo-
sector-roadmap-parliamentary-panel-118080901508_1.html

FMCG sector: The liberalisation spurred high growth in market research

which incorporated ethnographic research methods apart from product
testing, inputs for marketing teams on branding, design/ packaging,
product testing, Ads and marketing insights based on consumer
research.
All major FMCG brands during this period scaled market research
projects with agencies in conducting qualitative and evaluative
research across stages of physical product development.
Immersion research was conducted often by agencies to build user
empathy and value of research for client leadership. Research clinics
and mobile labs were initiated by researchers and agencies to
conduct research and immerse stakeholders in learning/ experience
of field research.
The FMCG sector was instrumental in the growth of ethnographic
research in the commercial sector ensuring the practice evolves with
the market. This was in parallel to design research and development
of practice.
1990 - 2000 20

Testing Labs by global and large Indian companies: Ford was doing
“Car Clinics”, testing cars, evaluating prototypes that involved Indian
researchers along with visits of global/US-based researchers.
GE Healthcare had in-house labs & research at HQ, but also
outsourced research work in India to evaluate gadget and interface
interaction for users. GE Healthcare was one of the first known labs
that were scaling evaluative research across healthcare products but
hired engineers, designers and technical professionals familiar with
testing.
There might be more companies that would have outsourced or
commissioned projects that focused on Indian users relevant to their
products. These products were primarily industry-focused
computers/ gadgets, commercial electronic products and gadgets.

International brands & global companies: International brands such as

MTV actively invested in consumer research that built its media traction
and success in India. Global tech companies did invest in research
projects but primarily international teams or researchers would visit India
to conduct research or have local partners for logistics and support. But
global researchers couldn’t do their research in India easily and required
localisation, so they started actively hiring local/ Indian researchers on a
project basis. Kirloskar Multimedia has also conducted some in-depth
research projects (we are unable to quote specific case studies and
examples publicly due to NDA constraints of interviewees). 

Electronics & gadgets: There was growth in research for Indian

consumer goods especially electronics and gadgets that emphasised
functionality, durability and accessibility areas of user experience and
interaction. This was also because of the growing consumer demand for
electronic projects that symbolises prosperity and progress for Indians.
The scope for research included end-to-end product testing and
usability of digital interfaces within the product. The research outcomes
led to modifications and changes in the products catering to Indian
consumers.
1990 - 2000 21

Software Technology: NCST** which is now called C-DAC, was a

separate lab set up in 1991 to develop software and applications in India.
An indigenous Fontographer called Vinayas, was developed with a
multilingual font interface and a DTP software called Vividha. These
products went through multiple rounds of usability testing and other
evaluative research during design iterations and product
development. Computer Mental Corporation Ltd (CMC), acquired later by
TCS in 2015 was one of the prominent tech Indian companies that
designed and developed various software, interfaces and applications
for Indian businesses and PSUs. Key projects:
Nhava Sheva Port, a Government PSU, had commissioned the
design of a new application that covered three main needs: 1. The
storage of information about the port & ships, 2. Ship loading
planning, 3. Logistics of containers shipped out of the yard.
In 1994, CMC also built the first online trading stock exchange
called BOLT launched in March 1995, Bombay Online Trading
Exchange for BSE India. The scope was to design and develop a
“Character-based application” that didn’t have a Graphical User
Interface, the application allowed users to only input characters to
trade, sell & buy. The research scope was ethnographic and
evaluative research of single keyboard mapping, time and motion
studies.
**NCST stands for "National Centre for Software Technology", which was a computer
research organisation established in Mumbai, India, in 1985. The centre was later
merged with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in 2003.

Indian industries:
L&T was heavily invested in some research through the electronics
division. Example: Program & Logic Controllers for machines (PLC)
needed an interface to be designed and developed. Designers made
visits to cement plants & process industries to talk to users & understand
the physical/environmental constraints before designing the software
product. L&T understood the criticality and spent resources to do these
observational studies.
1990 - 2000 22

Bajaj Motors in the 1990s - 2000s also had industrial, automobile

designers who were conducting various types of generative and
evaluative research.

UXR Practice
With uptake on commercialization that led to higher spending on
marketing and advertisements, Indian market research agencies grew
faster and expanded their scope of research. The concept of testing &
evaluative research also emerged from such a volume of work within
market research with products apart from ethnography
Design institutions in India were primarily focused on functionality or the
usability of a product. “Design” research in various disciplines was
already practised in areas of ethnography, ergonomics, system design,
process design etc. Context: Engineering and technology institutions
continued to focus on a scientific approach and traditional approach
rather than integrating design research methods or approaches in
studies.

“UX or Design research practice was generally rolled in or merged

with design and development scope for industrial projects in the
1990s. There was less focus on user research during the pre-design
stages and more effort on building and designing tech products. It
was very hard to push any research during the 90s in India.”

- Shashank Deshpande, CBO, Cubyts

Usability and functionality are one of the earlier forms of research in the
design industry. Ergonomics was used to look at usability and took
centre stage in how research in design was developed.
1990 - 2000 23

“In the late 90s, user research wasn’t an established practice in

companies and hence was difficult to pitch for consulting projects
for user research. Many stakeholders didn’t understand why user
research is required before the design or development of a
product and why it is important for end users… The norm at that
time was to build and test from a technological angle, not from a
user centred perspective.” - Apala Chavan

Image: Usability Testing in a jewellery store in Tier 1 city in India

Source: Convo research / Convo.org

IBM as part of global practice encouraged wider adoption of evaluative

research in India. They pioneered “build and test” practice not just as
part of the design process but also as part of the company culture.

This was pivotal from a historical context for two main reasons:
Global companies were taking Indian consumers and markets
more seriously as a growth opportunity and were willing to modify
product features that suit the Indian context. This had a direct
impact on research outputs and influence, both qualitative
(ethnographic) and evaluative in scope.
This was the early stages of User Experience (UX) research which
was later formally coined as UXR with the growth of tech
companies in India. So, definitions and vocabulary evolved but
methods and research practice were still similar.
2000 - 2010
2000 - 2010 25

2000 - 2010
This decade was one of the more definitive periods for UXR where the
scope started to grow and was an emerging discipline in India. There were
multiple trends, milestones and key events that shaped UXR and we have
been able to capture a limited view of these events and patterns. The
period 2000-2010 will be divided into two parts: The early period (2000 -
05) and the latter half (2005-2010) within the themes mentioned below.

Global Trends: 2000 - 05

Web revolution: The rise of the global internet in the early 2000s led to
Web 1.0, a turning point in how we connected with the world and the
online world allowed companies to look at HCI beyond the hardware or
software. Indian government policy on broadband for the internet in
2004 led to the wide-scale adoption of website design and development
as a start to the digital revolution.

The Internet was widely used for mailing lists, emails, e-commerce and
popular online shopping (Amazon and eBay for example), online forums
and bulletin boards, and personal websites and blogs which were
growing rapidly. This led to more usability and testing scope as part of
UXR practice globally and in India. This early development stemmed
from the need to measure and standardise usability for scaling design
which was a global and domestic demand.
2000 - 2010 26

Image: Early years of e-commerce platform, Amazon. 

Source: https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/amazon-website

In parallel to the internet revolution, there was a device revolution

brewing in the telecommunications space that brought mobile devices to
the world and India in the early 2000s. This spurred consistent growth of
UXR projects across companies covering scope like physical device
improvement, functionality and feature improvements of mobile devices

The Indian government in the 2000s under PM Vajpayee was pro-reform

and carried forward the 1991 liberalisation policies. This spurred foreign
investment and global companies setting up their base in the Indian
market. It brought global tech and FMCG giants that provided an impetus
for UXR scope further with local talent hiring, lab set-up for evaluative
research and establishment of research departments/ functions in India.
2000 - 2010 27

Global trends: 2005 - 10

Mobile revolution: Smartphones enlarged the scope of UXR and

integration with the web/ internet was truly a game changer from 2005 -
10 onwards. UXR grew exponentially once the internet was connected
with smartphones leading to a burst of Apps. This trend impacted and
overshadowed any other trend that was adopted worldwide and across
all industries. Due to the complexity of multiple trends that can’t be
attributed specifically to a company or sector, we could map to a few
larger companies or sector-specific trends as an effect of this.

With innovation in gadgets, devices and electronic products, there were

other major transformations in parallel developed on the ground, to
name a few of them
Space technology: With more successful launches of satellites and
space tech innovation, telecommunications didn’t remain the same
and its integration with the internet allowed transformation of our
user interaction and experience.
Internet infrastructure: Internet access transformed from dial-up,
broadband to 1G - 3G spectrum with the support of satellite and
telecommunication infrastructure
Digital infrastructure: It went through a large-scale transformation
which also reflected how we consumed information, entertainment
and media. Physical data and device storage required innovation and
reinvention. Floppy disks to Compact Discs (CDS) to Pen-drive/ Hard-
drives is one example of transformation and redundancy of
technology occurring within a decade.

Few global companies recognised UX research as a discipline under UX

as part of a user-centricity culture. They hired researchers at scale and
set up the function.
Researchers and non-researchers from diverse backgrounds and
qualifications started exploring the UX research discipline through
industry and self-initiated projects.
2000 - 2010 28

b. Design research and UX research became part of prominent design

institutions under HCI courses in the US and Europe.

Global Tech Giants in India: 2000 - 05

Mobile devices & telecommunications: Brands such as Nokia, Ericsson

and Motorola started commissioning UXR projects but Nokia was
especially instrumental in bringing the initial volume of UXR projects in
India.
Nokia started contracting agencies and consultants for a limited
scope of a few exploratory and more evaluative research projects.
Tennet group (telecom) brought international researchers to conduct
several ethnographic and UX research in rural and semi-urban areas
of India.

Image: An agency doing research for Nokia 

Source: https://uxreactor.com/ux-case-studies/nokia/
2000 - 2010 29

Tech MNCs & International organisations:

The setup of Microsoft R&D India in 2002 was pivotal for scaling large
UXR projects. But why set up in India when they already had centres
in the US, UK, Brazil and China?
Indian users and the market gained visibility in global markets as
the emerging market to look out for with high consumption
behaviours but little understanding of user motivations and
behaviours with technology
Apart from the economic spotlight, there was the intellectual and
academic buzz around India, especially when IIT as a brand for
technology got the attention of Tech giants.
HP set up labs for testing and UXR practice in India with a structured
approach. HP labs funded diverse ethnographic, exploratory and
evaluative projects. HP Labs had also partnered with IIT Madras from
2002 - 04 for key projects.
Intel was funding several large research projects from smartphones,
laptops to cars where Intel was used. UXR projects also covered
wearables and other products, beyond website/ interfaces.
Yahoo pursued UXR projects focused on Indian users such as chat
rooms, yahoo mail and other yahoo digital products/ features.
MIT Media Lab brought Human Factors International (HFI) India to
lead ethnographic research work in rural India and solutions from the
research outcome were led by Tapan Parikh.

FMCG goods, Media & Electronics: With economic growth and India’s
prominence as the top emerging market, FMCG and consumer product
giants pumped in more investment to expand their portfolio.
A shift in FMCG giants’ approach in the 2000s from previous decades
was to build more depth in consumer behaviours and attitudes for
targeted marketing and expansion. Unilever, P & G were focused on
consumer retention and brand recollection which required more
depth of insights in consumer behaviour and market research.
Early stages of research on Indian user behaviour, intent and needs
with social media networks such as Hi5, Orkut and MySpace.
MTV fuelled diverse ethnography and exploratory projects to
understand youth in India during this period.
Philips set up a lab and took up a large scope of exploratory,
 Early stages of research on social media networks such as Hi5, Orkut
and MySpace.
2000 - MTV
2010 fuelled diverse ethnography and exploratory projects to 30
understand youth in India during this period.
Philips set up a lab and took up a large scope of exploratory,
ethnographic and evaluative research across its product portfolio.
They also collaborated with designers and researchers closely on
such projects that built visible design research portfolios
Diverse research projects were executed for international electronic
brands entering Indian markets. These brands and their portfolio of
gadgets required extensive generative and evaluative research for
products such as washing machines, music systems and car screen/
systems. The scope for research included product testing, feature
adaptation and product customisation focused on Indian consumers
for better business growth and market share.

Medical devices: The companies from the US while entering the Indian
market wanted to study how Indians viewed illness and healthcare and
how it impacts them. Example: A peritoneal dialysis unit will be used by
Indian doctors and patients, how usable it is? Products were designed
for US markets. Do they understand instructions clearly or relook at
instructional design? Impact of illness and its perception by Indian users
for effective communication (being different from US patients).

Global Tech Giants in India: 2005 - 10

Mobile devices & telecommunications: Nokia continued to scale UXR

projects in India but other brands realised Indian market opportunities
and started conducting UXR for their products too.
Nokia started hiring Indian researchers directly, contracting agencies
and consultants for diverse objectives and methods in UXR.
Nokia research scope journey:

Product-Market Fit > Usability > Learning > Ethnography or

Generative research > Last mile testing > Go to market strategy

2000 - 2010 31

Samsung started conducting market and competitive research apart

from their product research and testing specifically with Indian
consumers.
Samsung Korea got HFI to do many cycles of usability, evaluation,
usability testing and exploratory research. They wanted to check if
the new phones would be suitable for the Indian market. What would
be the impact on consumers if Samsung introduced new features?
What were the expectations and needs of users in India? HFI created
personas, amongst other artefacts, to help them understand
consumer expectations/ needs.
Sony and other mobile brands started conducting local research and
testing for a competitive advantage. New models and designs were
launched and the portfolio of designs and features expanded for
diverse Indian consumers.

Hardware & Software tech MNCs:

Microsoft/ MRSI expanded its team and scale research projects with
diverse backgrounds of scientists, academicians, engineers and
ethnographers.
UXR and ethnography-related research were scaled across
Microsoft teams, with multiple short and longitudinal studies.
2007: Explored in-depth ethnographic research to tap Microsoft
TV as an Indian opportunity and conducted research for the MSTV
product team. The team explored diverse problem statements like
wanting to understand how families watch TV (anthropological
lens) and how they use the remote, operating buttons or turning
channels (UX & Usability len
HP was more foresight driven where they wanted to know what could be
developed as future products for such emerging markets. India was a
good pilot and product success in the Indian market can be scalable to
other emerging markets too. With this clear intent, HP wanted to
conduct rural-to-urban research where teams were embedded in a local
context. They did more exploratory and ethnographic research.
2000 - 2010 32

Intel had an internal team conducting diverse research projects and

testing. Intel scaled research practice during this time.
Intel initiated longitudinal studies, several ethnographic research and
evaluative research with iterative designs. Intel also collaborated with
Microsoft on bringing ethnography practice together with teams from
India interacting with international teams in Redmond.
They funded large-scale research projects for smartphones, laptops
and other consumer goods such as cars where Intel was used.
They also conducted diverse research studies on wearables and
other products, beyond websites/ interfaces
Dell also initiated in the early 2000s and scaled UXR projects for devices
and laptops/ PCs especially when they were targeting direct consumers.
Xerox started a lab in 2010 bringing testing and ethnography studies,
PARC lab for research was set up in India.
Medical companies developing B2C devices and B2B products hired
local researchers or brought teams to conduct research studies for the
Indian market and users.
SAP also pushed for UXR practice and conducted UX research across
products during this period.

Websites: European and American companies wanted to conduct Asia-

focused research with an emphasis on India and China. They explored
the customisation of devices/ products and the vernacularisation of
websites for each geography across Asia.
Companies designed websites across 10 countries. There will be 5
tasks that need to be completed so should we design tasks the same
way for each country or different for each country as the users would
interact with it differently? Should sites be different across cultures
Nike and Adidas came for research of websites as the online medium
was becoming a big revenue channel of consumer conversion for
retail brands.
2000 - 2010 33

Domestic trends: 2000 - 05

Banking sector: The Indian banking sector was introduced to

computerisation by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1993 and in 1999,
electronic banking was introduced through digital products such as
ATMs, Debit/ Credit Cards, Mobile & Internet banking.
Indian banks started building and testing electronic products,
especially ATMs and Websites which needed customisation for Indian
users. They actively hired UXR agencies for such projects.
International banks such as CitiBank brought global products to
Indian users with few/ no changes at the early stages.
Kern, an Indian research agency published a report targeting the
banking sector on the need for UXR, its potential value and its impact.

“Our initial clients were all from the Indian banking industry as
they were one of the first movers in digitising their products for
end users in India. They understood early on that if they were
going to design digital products where they expect people/ users
to start adopting online/ internet banking then it better be very
usable. It didn't matter whether it was pretty, but it had to be
usable. And if there was a scientific or measurable logic (usability)
behind that, they were very interested to know what that science
was. And if there was a way to design using cognitive science-
based principles that made online banking easy and intuitive for
banking customers resulting in reducing the call volumes at the
banking call centres, then the banks would be very keen to fund
these design initiatives.”

- Apala Chavan, CEO, HFI India

2000 - 2010 34

Websites: There was high growth in website design and development,

especially in B2B as the majority of companies wanted an online
presence and this pattern was found in India during this early period.
The large scope of website design and development that required a
“user-friendly” experience led to UXR projects taken up by agencies
and researchers
Tech institutions with design courses like IITs, and other engineering
colleges introduced educational modules in the development, design
and testing of websites. This was the early stage of understanding
frameworks for “user-centricity” and design research.

Indian BPO & software companies: There might be early forms of UX or

tech research bundled with the design and development of IT software
by companies such as Infosys, TCS and Satyam. We haven’t found
anecdotal evidence or documentation in these areas. BPO services
continue to grow and carry out similar scope from the previous decade.

Design Thinking (DT): With the popularity of IDEO and other design
firms in the US and globally in 2000 - 05, Indian researchers and
designers were also engaged to facilitate or lead design thinking
services for global projects. The engagement of Indian professionals
with international universities/ colleges, MNCs, global non-profits and
other organisations led to the import of these services and skills.
These services started from HQ engagement with Indian offices of
global companies. This led to higher adoption and gained popularity
amongst business stakeholders as a quick, efficient way of engaging
“creative thinking” for problem-solving or ideation.
With the gain in popularity, DT services between 2005 - 2010
onwards became common in the form of workshops and hackathons
apart from longer duration or a project lifecycle of DT.
This led to the growth of DT services in Indian/ domestic design firms
as part of their full stack service from 2006/ 07 onwards.
Certification programmes and workshops were also rolled out by not
just educational institutions but also design firms for non-designers
to be equipped with such skills.
2000 - 2010 35

Domestic trends: 2005 - 10

FMCG & Electronic goods: The sector in India continued to grow with a
high volume of competition and market research apart from brand
perception and positioning scope in research studies. The depth of
understanding of Indian consumers gained traction and more companies
were willing to invest in consumer research studies extensively.
There was growth in a variety of electronic products, gadgets,
devices and wider choices of brands (international & domestic
brands), both in the country.
UI/UX on the interface of electronic gadgets and devices became
important criteria of success which led to a high volume and
frequency of evaluative/ usability studies.

“As technology became more pervasive and ubiquitous across

different populations, cutting through more traditional socio-
economic, gender and literacy barriers, researchers began to rely
more on ethnographic and user research methods than the
traditional focus group approaches. This was not restricted to the
use of tech products but across all traces of life that involved
technology. And, the trajectory in India was unique, characterised
by mobile and shared devices. This affected product, design and
also the research praxis where organisations needed new tools for
effective and non-intrusive research.”

- Dina Dastur Mehta, Co-founder, Convo Research

2000 - 2010 36

1960-70 1980 1990 2000 2005 2010

Computers +
Personal
Internet +
Web interaction
Smartphones iPad +

Devices with Computers Websites +

(email, blogs) +
multiple devices
screens Mobile phones Laptop adoption

Description: Timeline of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) evolution in India

Websites: As mentioned before, many European and American

companies wanted to cater to the Indian audience. They focused on the
usability and customisation of features within larger sites and the
vernacularisation of websites
Reliance conducted research with SFO Labs from the US in India to
explore the application of Internet TV and telecommunications.
The Dot-Com bubble and the global recession in 2008 negatively
impacted UXR projects in India. Many tech companies were shut down or
phased out of India, teams were laid off, and labs were shut down in
India. This also led to UXR agencies shutting down or pivoting their
business models to survive.
2000 - 2010 37

UXR practice: 2000 - 05

Usability and evaluative research started booming as part of the UXR

discipline. The rigour was to test the usability of products/ interfaces with
end users and this became embedded as part of the UX process of design
and development.

1960-80 1980 - 90 1990 2000 2005 2010 2015

Physical
Products with Digital interface on Mobile devices + Smartphones + Apps +
Payment +
products electronic elements physical products + Gadgets + Digital platforms Social media
Service Apps
+ Electronic devices Gadgets + websites + Ecommerce
Computers

Description: Tracing the evolution of usability or evaluative research in B2C segment of

Indian consumers

Large companies like Microsoft, Intel, HP that had physical products and
interfaces expanded their scope of research. These companies did more
exploratory research and ethnographic research. Such projects allowed
researchers and agencies to customise methods as per objective. It allowed
them to move out of a structured research method (usability) to a more
discovery approach with research methods.
Problem statements for futuristic products were articulated for research,
foresight driven research towards, what can we do with this idea? Sending
culture probes to rural areas and diverse regions.
Sending media devices and observing how rural folks interact with the
product, what do they interpret, how do they see value? If they struggled
to communicate, we would sketch it out for them, “This is what you
meant?” Researchers captured the aspirations and desired features of
users for a futuristic product which made research scope and outputs
more rich.
 product, what do they interpret, how do they see value? If they struggled
to communicate, we would sketch it out for them, “This is what you
meant?”
2000 - 2010 Researchers captured the aspirations and desired features of 38
users for a futuristic product which made research scope and outputs
more rich
Nokia and Samsung during this period were more feedback focused and
usability driven.
Apala Chavan’s work on culturally customising research methods (for
example, the Bollywood method) got attention via the ACM CHI and other
conferences. Design scholars from MNC-based research groups started to
ask for these methods to be used in research being done across emerging
markets
Market research agencies conducted large-scale research for diverse
product categories. A greater emphasis on not just functionality and
usability but also on packaging and branding that is rooted in Indian
identity and aspirations. Hence, a lot more psychographic studies were
conducted on the attitude and perceptions of Indian consumers.

“By 2005, we recognized ethnography as a growing field of

consumer research that was useful in uncovering and identifying
emerging, unarticulated and unmet customer needs. Because it
draws from a range of research methods, ethnography is more of
an approach than a defined research method, that is open to
change and refinement throughout the process, as new learning
shapes future observations, and can be flexible as a result.
Ethnographic methods we adopted included living diaries or
journals, observations, shared blog spaces, shadowing,
immersions, interviews and the documentation of "traces" that
people leave as they go about their everyday lives. What made
these most effective is if we as researchers could adopt the
cultures of use of our target respondents in our collection of data -
it brought us so much closer to them. This then extended to the
UXR space.” - Dina Dastur Mehta, Co-founder, Convo Research

Although we still need more examples and case studies of diversity in

research methods or problem statements, it was clear that the expansion and
exploration of methods relevant to Indian users had started in this decade.
Indian researchers were experimenting with probing techniques relevant
to the Indian context, especially in ethnography practice.
2000 - Indian
2010 researchers were experimenting with probing techniques and39
methods relevant to the Indian context, especially in ethnography
practice.
There were many co-creation research and design techniques explored
at that time which later was recognised as participatory design.
Diary studies were also practised in early 2000.
Rich artefacts and research materials were collected through
combination and hybrid methods of research

By 2003 - 04 onwards, we also witnessed more “design and innovation”

firms that started in India offering services that included ethnography,
qualitative research, design thinking and innovation-focused facilitation.
International organisations, academia and businesses partnered with
Indian design thinking firms or freelance researchers to conduct
qualitative research and facilitate workshops.
These agencies and firms catered to growing businesses and sectors
in this period that also witnessed a retail boom in India between 2005–
2008.
The agencies were also closely working with business teams directly
offering end-to-end design services along with research scope. They
also took up the scope of foresight and trends that were company-
specific or industry-specific.

UXR practice: 2005 - 10

With the diversification of projects and companies entering the tech

market, diversification of methods and UXR practice began to roll. Phone
companies were aggressive with research scope and timelines.
Companies like Nokia specialised in vernacular messaging. They
introduced the Hindi version with a vernacular keyboard, conducted
usability of feature introduction, solution validation and testing before
execution. Would Indian users be able to use this keyboard? Can this
device be effectively used or this feature will work for users
Companies introduced voice interfaces in this period after testing
Websites were becoming more local like Times of India, Taj Hotels, etc
that were catering to Indian end users and wanted to ensure their
websites were “user-friendly” or strong in usability.
HFI India also started user research across Asia and Africa based on
their traction and body of work in India. An interesting trend emerged
2000 - 2010 40

(during 2005 to 2015) where MNCs were asking the HFI Indian team to
decide on the research methods and conduct research in various Asian
countries. Large African banks were the first movers in the space of UX
and welcome HFI India’s team to do user research in Africa.

Image: HFI India team conducting ethnographic research in Kenya. 

Source: Human Factors International India/ Apala Chavan

Leadership teams from US and Europe would visit India to understand

the end users or consumers. Agencies and researchers would organise
frequent field visits to build stronger empathy for users and research
outputs.

“We would bring top leadership for immersion research to build

not just empathy with users but also empathy with the problems
or research outputs. It led to better collaboration and the value of
research increased much more among stakeholders.”

- Dina Dastur Mehta

Some of the early problem statements:

The problem statements evolved from physical product usage to >
how to reduce bulky size/ less clunky to > Can we make it functional
2000 - 2010 41

for daily usage (fit into pockets etc) 

b. How to bring features like camera, music and calendar into devices. The

scope was from feature concept, design to usage.

“I cannot forget when we were doing ethnographic studies during

the mid-2000s, Boombox days when speakers for smartphones
were a thing! We would interview kids in slum areas who were
using Chinese phones in India. One kid looked at our then top-of-
the-line Nokia phone disdainfully and claimed his phone was
bigger than ours - he had 16 speakers in his phone when in fact
they were just 16 holes in the speaker at the back of the device.”
- Dina Dastur Mehta

Some of the early problem statements:

The problem statements evolved from physical product usage to >
how to reduce bulky size/ less clunky to > Can we make it functional
for daily usage (fit into pockets etc)
How to bring features like camera, music and calendar into devices.
The scope was from feature concept, design to usage.

The process of research was getting more crystallised among agencies

and stakeholders such as the one below acting as a continuous
feedback loop:
2000 - 2010 42

By the end of 2009 - 10, companies had to conduct deeper research not just
for each product and its problem statements but also for cross-device
functionality and cross-interface adaptability for user experience. This was
pivotal for UXR praxis to scope more complexity apart from the breadth and
depth of research studies.

Although this decade was important for UXR practice to emerge as a

discipline, Companies were still not willing to hire professionals focused on
UXR exclusively. They expected them to deliver the design as much as or
more than the research scope.
This pattern emerged in the 80s and continued in the 90s during the early
stage of design and HCI. The research was bundled and considered part
of the design or building/ creation process of a product. It wasn’t big,
impactful and critical enough for the business. Design for creativity/
aesthetics was often separated from functionality/ applicability aspects
which were still considered part of the engineering and technical process.
This trend also impacted and explains why UXR and User research as a
practice hasn’t matured separately and continues to be under design and
why designers also claim this expertise. It was companies and decision
makers that didn’t understand the differentiation, value and impact of UR
and still don’t comprehend in the 2020s.
This challenge continued from 2010 - 2015 when researchers were not
only hired for UXR scope but also to deliver UX outputs.

There was a formalisation of HCI and UX discipline in academia and practice

that gained traction and research was a small module as part of these
courses. Institutions like NID and IIT continue to delve into design research
methods applied in the technology and HCI context.

This decade for UXR practice was pivotal for two main reasons:
Global companies were taking Indian consumers and markets more
seriously for growth opportunities and willing to modify product features
that suit the Indian context. This was a direct impact of research outputs
and influence, both qualitative (ethnographic) and evaluative in scope.
 2000 - 2010 43

This was the early stage of User Experience (UX) research which was later
formally coined as UXR with the growth of tech companies in India. So
definitions and vocabulary evolved but methods and research practice
were still similar.

Author’s note: These early indicators apart from other insights validate that the
scope of tech research in India has always been beyond UX or the current scope
defined by stakeholders. Stakeholders have yet to understand the value of UR
and its larger scope (beyond UX) in generative, exploratory and foundational
research that covers deeper user and system insights from anthropological,
sociological and psychological lenses.

1980 - 2000 1990 - 2005 2000 - 2010 2010 - 2020

Global researchers 
Global research teams 
Global companies setting up 
Indian researchers hired &
coming to India hiring Indian researchers 
Indian in-house research leading research in India/
(for localisation) labs/ team Global companies

Description: Historical timeline of hiring UXR talent

2010 - 2020
2010 - 2020 45

2010 - 2020
The last decade saw the traction of UXR practice globally and in India
where UXR teams were set up across product-tech companies and non-
tech companies with a digital team/ vertical in the business. This decade
also witnessed what 100% remote research looked like across companies
due to COVID until countries opened up post lockdown where the future of
work is transforming. This decade also becomes harder to trace multiple
trends and document an exhaustive list of trends, practices and learnings of
UXR practice. We will cover a broader stroke of trends and practices as a
summarisation.

Image: Over 500 million Indians now use smartphones 

Source: https://www.gadgets360.com/mobiles/news/over-500-million-indians-now-use-smartphones-77-
percent-of-who-are-online-techarc-2172219
2010 - 2020 46

Global Companies

International 
Social Media

Agencies & Media

Giants

Global
Product
Consulting

Sector Players in
Tech
companies
India

SaaS &
FMCG &
IT global
Electronics
giants

Ecosystem of global companies in India

Social Media & Media Giants: The decade was eventful with social
media giants like Meta (former Facebook), X (former Twitter) and
WhatsApp not only entering the Indian market but having their largest (or
one of the largest) user base in India within this decade. They realised
these users are heterogenous and quantitative analysis or data will not
suffice to build user-centric experiences.
Meta had scaled UXR hiring and one of the largest UXR teams with
cross-collaboration across products.
They conducted frequent cycles of research, participatory design
workshops and immersion programs and experimented with
diverse research methods.
Meta also outsourced a high volume and diverse projects across
teams with UR agencies such as Convo, HFI and Peepal Design.
WhatsApp, Twitter and other media apps like Spotify continued to run
research projects from HQ/ outside of India or would outsource to
agencies periodically. The UXR team was generally placed in the HQ
or their international offices.
2010 - 2020 47

Wikimedia had taken up a large scope of UXR and User Research in India
conducting foundational and generative research. Convo agency also did
some UX and UX Research scope for Wikipedia in 2010-11 on taking
Wikipedia mobile. This was another big trend in India (from desktop to
app/ mobile interaction) at that time, a different trajectory from the rest
of the world as we leapfrogged the desktop era in urban India.

Product Tech Companies: A diverse landscape of product-tech giants

from Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon and Adobe built larger UXR
teams in India and developed the function under the UX department. By
this time, UX// Design function has matured in many of these companies
where design leadership was influential in product development.
Google was one of the only global giants that hired a larger team of
UXRs across verticals. They started hiring for the India office from
2015-16 onwards. The teams had integrated more mature UXR
practices that built a perception of benchmark to follow for many
other companies. It was also one of the first companies that made UX
researchers active decision-makers in product development.
Microsoft has consistently evolved, hired and maintained the UXR
practice since 2003-04 while other companies such as Intel, HP and
Dell phased out their UXR teams. Microsoft has a large UXR team
integrated across product teams and business verticals of Microsoft.
Telecommunication giants such as Cisco and Qualcomm initially hired
UXR teams but later dissolved in India.

FMCG & Electronics with Tech experience: International FMCG Giants

like P&G, Nestle and Consumer electronic brands such as Samsung
continue to run market and UX research scope with internal teams and
external agencies with more diverse projects. Companies like Bosch also
started hiring UX researchers under design practice for experimentation
and innovation of products across verticals.
2010 - 2020 48

Other industries & trends: There was an upward trend of international

companies across sectors such as healthcare, bio-tech, education,
commerce and fin-tech bringing their UXR teams or outsourcing projects
with agencies for iterative design research and generative and
evaluative research.

SaaS & IT Global giants: In the latter half of the decade, the growth of
SaaS platforms and IT global giants that offer consulting, enterprise
products, software and hardware services was felt in India with large-
scale hiring and set up of Indian offices. Companies such as Oracle, IBM
and Salesforce have expanded UXR teams and research scope.
IBM was a pioneer in research scope for insights and foresight from
the 2000s exploring opportunities that required longitudinal studies
and exploratory research.
Oracle has scaled research teams across verticals including
business-focused research and expanded to diverse problem
statements. Oracle research teams have gone beyond UXR by
building wider research scope in areas such as process, systems and
B2B research apart from design and systems thinking tools.
Salesforce, ADP and ServiceNow are a few B2B companies building
UXR practices.

Consulting: The sector can be broadly classified into two parts:

Traditional consulting & audit firms such as McKinsey, PwC, Ernst &
Young, and Deloitte
Consulting divisions of large IT companies such as Accenture,

Cognizant.
Traditional consulting firms have set up smaller UXR teams under
UX functions that consider generative and evaluative research
scope.
Sometimes the team does take up a combination of market and
end-user research. The UXR team also offers design thinking,
system thinking and other tools as workshops and consulting
services.
 scope.
Sometimes the team does take up a combination of market and
end-user research. The UXR team also offers design thinking,
2010 - 2020 49
system thinking and other tools as workshops and consulting
services.
In the latter half of the decade, these firms started developing
their tech products and applications that required more robust
UX research to inform product and design decisions.
The UXR teams primarily service clients for UX and User
research scope but are not rigour or depth-focused due to
client constraints.
c. Consulting divisions such as Accenture, and IBM have their own UXR

teams that service internal product development apart from external

clients. Companies such as Cognizant, Capgemini focus more on

offering these services to external clients.

International Agencies: International agencies in this context can be

categorised in two areas: 1. UXR/ research agencies and 2. Design
thinking/innovation-focused firms.
In the 1980s to 2000s, these agencies generally worked remotely,
collaborated or outsourced projects or made India visits for projects.
Early on international design and UX agencies came to India like other
global Advertising/ marketing were entering the Indian market but as
UXR practice evolved, UXR-focused agencies emerged
Design thinking had a buzz around across industries which led to
large consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG and large MNCs hiring
designers/ researchers who specialised in design thinking and
service design in 2010 onwards. This was also one of the interesting
times when design teams were closely working with business teams
for business problem statements.
Design thinking tools had by now extended from large MNCs,
and consulting firms to global/ large non-profits and social
sector organisations in India.
2010 - 2020 50

“Design Thinking arrived with a bang in India between 2000 - 2005

and exited in a flash within a decade. A large part of the failure of
DT was that it was mostly a wonder and delivered by the design
community who saw it as ammunition to their design arsenal.
Unfortunately, what was not understood, and therefore not
practised was that DT is in fact a mindset approach to problem-
solving that uses a combination of tools from social sciences,
design and business and helps organisations to reframe their
business challenge.” 

- Anjali Kelkar, Director, Studio for Design Research

IDEO entered India approximately in 2011 bullish about the economic

boom bringing their expertise in design solutions and design thinking
services. IDEO exited the Indian market in 2020 for various reasons.

Frog Design also made an entry in 2011 but with a focus on UX rather
than UXR or Research expertise as a core service offering. Frog Design
was acquired by Capgemini Invent in 2021.

The International agencies and overall growth in the Indian market, local
design thinking and innovation-focused firms emerged led by Indian
designers. Design or UX was still the core offering with allied services
like service design & thinking, design thinking, innovation-focused
research & solution.
This trend of design thinking firms or services existed before in the
1980s and 90s but it wasn’t formally recognised or dovetailed as part
of the design process and service. Since the late 2000s/ early 2010s,
a distinct pattern emerged of boutique firms exclusively offering
design thinking, service design and innovation-related services.

Answer Lab as an international UXR agency made an India entry around

2019 with large-scale Google projects. They also exited India by the end
of 2022.
2010 - 2020 51

Domestic Ecosystem

Indian Tech

Companies

Tech
UX +
start-ups Research
Agencies
Domestic
Ecosystem

Social
Consulting
Sector Sector

Ecosystem of domestic stakeholders in India

Indian Tech Companies: Indian tech companies started hiring UX

research separately following international trends and MNCs in India as
best practices rather than necessity.
Older large companies focused on design like TATA brands (Tanishq,
Titan) hired researchers and designers that focused on forecasting
and trend insights apart from Asian Paints and a few other
companies. TATA Elxsi has also been hiring UX researchers and
research practitioners across their digital technology and design
disciplines.
IT services companies such as TATA Consulting Services (TCS) and
Infosys started hiring designers and researchers to demonstrate
user-centricity to clients.
Wipro acquired DesignIt in 2015 and retained designers and UX
researchers to expand the team and practice by offering research
services internally within Wipro and for its clients.
Larger B2C companies in FMCG, Electronics and lifestyle brands
hired market researchers but very few hired UX researchers.
2010 - 2020 52

Tech start-ups (early to mature stage): However, the tech startup

ecosystem in India continues to be heavily influenced by the US and
Silicon Valley approach to everything, emulated quickly to give
importance to user experience by hiring larger teams of designers and
few researchers to build smaller UX practice in start-ups.
The tech startups in this decade were critical players that hired
researchers and built some visibility for UXR although primarily
focused on usability testing and validation-driven research.
Mature-stage startups such as Swiggy, Nykaa, MakeMyTrip, Ola and
Flipkart started hiring UX Researchers from 2015 onwards and
establishing the practice distinctly from the Consumer/ market
insights team.
Growth stage startups across health, real estate, fintech, mobility,
education, eCommerce, B2B and lifestyle started hiring one or more
researchers such as Razorpay, UpGrad, Redbus, Rapido, Dunzo,
Porter, CoinBase, Upstox, Khatabook.

Agencies: Boutique UXR agencies, Design agecnies with UXR services

and freelancers grew in numbers such as Peepal Design, Hureo, UCC
and Turian Labs offering UXR services. Indian agencies continue to face
challenges to survive at scale and many attempted but shut down. There
are design-thinking and innovation-led firms such as Quicksand and
Treemouse, that are working at an intersection with technology and offer
UX research and ethnographic studies as services. The rigour, scope
and competency of researchers in such firms are different from product-
tech or tech industries mentioned above.

Social sector: Social sector is an emerging space where the potential of

user/ UX research is untapped. Many non-profit organisations and social
enterprises (For-profit models with social impact) would gain much from
the research of understanding a billion users and product making. C.K.
Prahlads’ pioneering work about the potential to unlock the base of the
pyramid population inspired both, for-profit and non-profit world to tap
the billion-user market. Social sectors consulting firms such as Dalberg
2010 - 2020 53

and Sattva, policy think tanks and advisory research firms such as Dvara
Research have the potential to bring user-centric lenses for scaling impact.
Social enterprises and larger impact projects that have been funded by
impact investors and philanthropy have leveraged tech through research
and UX but in small bursts and yet to become more of a common practice.
The potential of technology impacting scale is big in India. Organisations
such as Wadhwani AI, EkStep Foundation and Omidyar Network in India are
pushing for more digital and technology transformation in the Indian non-
profit, government and policy landscape. The scope for UX researchers to
be involved in product building and impacting at scale remains large and
exciting. We also have the potential to contribute to open-source digital
infrastructure, personal data privacy and policy and consumer protection
with invaluable insights and solutions for stakeholders.

UXR practice

UXR Practice in India in this decade was still limited to usability testing
and evaluative research, especially among startups. Few startups
allowed or encouraged generative and exploratory research that can
impact product and business teams.
Matured companies explored domain-specific research that led to
researchers influencing teams internally to broaden the scope of
research beyond usability.
UXR teams in many startups have been limited to validation-driven
research and not involved in product making or development which
further widened the gap of UXR practice to evolve beyond methods
and tools.
There are still gaps in organisational maturity to understand and
leverage UR.
Matured UXR practices from global companies such as Google that
made the idea of “Next Billion Users” (NBU) more popular gaining
traction amongst the tech ecosystem in India.
Many agencies and independent researchers during this period worked
on diverse projects across sectors. This opportunity allowed researchers
to experiment and localise methods due to time or project constraints,
scope and objectives.
2010 - 2020 54

Image: Mobile lab set up during research projects by Convo team

Source: Convo research / Dina Mehta

For example, mobile labs for immersive ethnography became popular

with global companies. Mobile kits to mobile labs were set up which led
to mobile ethnography.

Physical Labs

Controlled environment
Usability Headquarters/ Testing specific

Mobile Labs

Contextual environment
Ethnography + Immersive Scaling within/ across regions

Remote/ Digital Labs

Online environment
Method agnostic Location/ Geography agnostic

1980 --------------------------------------2008 ------------------------ 2015 --------------------- 2023 ------------------------

Description: Evolution of UX Research lab in India

2010 - 2020 55

During the COVID pandemic, testing platforms became an important

medium for conducting UXR and running complete remote research as a
practice globally and in India.

Author’s note: The challenge remains that localisation and indigenous

methods of research, especially techniques of probing in India have been
largely undocumented or not publicly accessible. This hasn’t allowed
user researchers in India to develop or evolve their own praxis (or
documented it to build more visibility) independent of global practices.
We have found anecdotally Indian user research methods and
techniques applicable for projects in the South Asian region and Global
South at large. The evidence of our research applicability is projects like
the ones undertaken by the HFI India team in Africa and Asia. Also,
independent practitioners execute or contextualise local (Indian)
methods or techniques for projects in South Asian and global south
regions. Documentation of the above and turning them into learning
material for practitioners and students in user research will be invaluable
resources from the past relevant to our future practice.

Few companies have allowed UR functions to explore foundational,

generative and exploratory research. This has led to the experimentation
of methods, deeper insights and actionable POV.
The effectiveness and impact of UR have been found in companies
due to the high intent of leadership to bring a neutral POV on
decision-making and effective mechanism of product/ business
collaboration with UR allowing insights to be effectively integrated
with product/ business strategy, solution to execution.
From history, we have learnt that examples of companies that invest
in user research with best practices of UXR can be attributed to a
specific time period rather than the overall company’s commitment to
user-centricity depending on leadership and teams.
With the hiring of more UX Researchers, academic institutions laid more
impetus on HCI and UX courses across India while many courses were
offered by industry and private companies too. However, UXR or design
research education continues to be taught as modules embedded within
UX/ design courses in design and engineering colleges.
WAY FORWARD
WAY FORWARD 57

Way Forward
In every discipline of education during school or university, we have
internalised understanding of the history of a discipline that sets the
context of the present practice or trends and how we might navigate in the
future. Hopefully the chapters in this mini-book have not just served an
educational purpose but also given some historical context to UX Research
in India helping us reflect on our own journey in this discipline. It is hoped
that academia and practitioners build upon this construction of the history
of UX research in India based on their own experiences and knowledge of
pioneering companies and practitioners and using sound historiographical
tenets. A more robust and in-depth approach to documenting our history
can help, not just students in formal courses or the education sector, but
also future research practitioners to learn from our past, for shaping a
brighter future for the community.

This is why the history of UXR was a critical starting point for the
User Research India initiative. These patterns and trends from history when
synthesised, allow us to develop a deeper point of view in influencing or
moulding our practice in future. They help us take our praxis forward
enabling us to stay relevant and deliver value in the context of recent fast-
paced technological changes. Based on my observation, experience and
synthesis from this research, I have articulated the way forward in three
parts as past, present and future.

WAY FORWARD 58

Past: Definition of UX research

Disciplines of research have often merged, evolved or branched out from
the market, scientific (in specific cases), sociological, anthropological or
psychological areas of research. Design research has evolved from bits and
parts of the above disciplines and it was championed by the design
community. Designers took up the scope of research or researchers
adopted the scope of design and this led to the “idea of design research”.
UX research further was a “mix and match” version of design research
contextualised in HCI and technology devices in India (also similar to
patterns in other countries/markets). Technology-focused research was
generally part of Research & Development (R&D) departments in large
companies. When the usability of technology moved from B2B or
enterprises to consumers or larger “audiences”, it was a business need
giving birth to UX research. The usability or testing of a product would lead
to more design iterations while building solutions. So UX or product
designers got involved, who would often take up the scope of UX research,
primarily in areas of usability and evaluative research along with engineers
or project managers. This is also why currently UX research is nestled
generally under UX/ Design in an organisation structure. The scope of UX
research was primarily riding on the usability impact that decision-makers
found of value and continued to invest in as a resource. 

In India, we have now been able to broadly trace how disciplines of research
intertwined with our current praxis of UXR through this story, which was
primarily due to technology being persuasive across sectors and
demographics. The B2C sector in India fuelled the scope for UXR as
consumer segments showed steady growth of usage across decades.
Product-tech companies in this space engaged researchers for ambiguous
problem statements to gain product relevance and for complex tech
solutions to be more usable or user-centric. It seems clearer from our past
that UX research, as what we currently recognise in India, was a mix of
three disciplines: ethnography-based qualitative research, market research,
HCI-focused research and usability
WAY FORWARD 59

Our past has demonstrated the value of ethnographic research applied in

technology and how market dynamics influence demographic perception
and attitude towards decisions. The past has thrown light on use cases of
technology “imported” to emerging markets like India across sectors forcing
it to adapt or evolve to fit into the context of emerging users. The idea
started from marketing or retrofitting products for emerging market
adoption to designing new or relevant products and experiences for
emergent users in India. This was the value of UX research to technology-
focused businesses. This certainly doesn’t discount the local innovation,
contextualised user-centricity, indigenous and ingenious design developed
by professionals in India. It is a story to be told in itself.

Present: Re-assess the scope & value of

user research
Although the bias to evaluative-focused research has been prevalent in
India, given the large market potential accessing technology, the scope of
research hasn’t been restricted to UX or interface-based usability. The
present practice as a continuation from the past has been in many forms
“user research” and not just UX research. Why? Because as researchers, we
have not just been studying human interface interactions or usability but
also the application of technology in a larger socio-cultural context.
Understanding human motivations, mental-model and behaviours in the
user's context is a key contributor to CX (Customer Experience) strategy.
Anthropological, sociological and psychological frameworks in our research
help in shaping strategy and decision-making aspects of product and
business. Hence, we are not just “UX researchers”, we are user researchers
that may come from ethnographic, market or psychology-based
backgrounds or exposure that can apply insights in context to technology.

In India, the UX research practice and practitioners are independently

carrying a diverse scope of research that spills into ethnography and
market-focused research too. UX research in the country has grown fast
between 2020 - 2022 in hiring talent to invest in UXR functions by smaller,
WAY FORWARD 60

large product-tech start-ups apart from global tech MNCs. We are also
witnessing UX researchers working in the consulting sector (McKinsey, EY,
BCG), large software & service giants for business research (Oracle,
Accenture) and a group of independent agencies offering research services
leading to design thinking, innovation or foresight focused outputs. Yet the
value, impact and scope of user research continue to be underutilised by
stakeholders for several reasons. As researchers globally are talking about
the UX research reckoning or are re-evaluating the scope of UXR, we too in
India share a similar sentiment. Given the global market sentiment towards
India and its potential growth as the fifth largest economy in the world,
understanding users and technology in-depth becomes critical for business
success. The growth potential for user research in India is not just in the
B2C segment of new internet or billion users but also in the B2B segment.
The B2C segment in the country provides diverse and in-depth research
opportunities in the context of technology adoption or leverage. The B2B
segment has untapped research studies and product development for local
and global companies alike. Both segments have the potential to grow
exponentially but researchers will now have to play an active role in product
building than just providing insights. The question we need to answer as
researchers is, are we ready to adapt with the future?

Future: Adapting user research for effective

impact on business
A speculative approach to the future is perhaps the way forward, as AI
permeates into billions of lives and lifestyles, and disrupts and changes the
way tech-first or tech-enabled companies work. So we divide this into two
parts, comprising what we could do now for the future and what the future
holds for us as speculated. 

Future from the present perspective 

Given the existing business environment, and the way 2023 is shaping up
with the layoffs, we cannot emphasise enough that user research
practitioners in India need to be galvanised as a community.
 WAY FORWARD 61

The challenge is manifold as the research ecosystem is at a nascent stage,

similar to the nascent stage of the UX community in India from 2000 to
2010. Highlighting two such areas where our approach to build more value
and impact of user research amongst stakeholders, businesses and other
organisations.
Bring user research closer to business: Researchers within
organisations need to be closer to business impact demonstrating
research value among stakeholders across departments. Research
teams must deliver impact of research that is closely linked to product
and business goals. This can help decision-makers expand the scope of
user research beyond usability or UX research making the research team
more deeply embedded into the product and business. The closer the
user research team is to business, the more indispensable will research
become to organisations. User research needs to take up the scope in
strategy, foresight and opportunity areas as much as problem definition,
product strategy and development. In order to deliver strategy,
opportunities and foresight, we need to be with or ahead of the product
curve of thinking. This will require collaboration with business teams to

Org Structure Research Value/Purpose

Embedded with CEO Business

Influencing broad business directions
office & strategy Research with foresight, insight & strategy

Integrated with product

Influence decision making/ solutions
development across stages
Product Research Contributing to product strategies &
roadmap

Embedded into
Co-decision making/ solutions
product + design teams
UX Research Influence decision making/
solutions

D escription: Pyramid approach to User Research scope & purpose

WAY FORWARD 62

understand market directions and consistently gain business context.

This will enable us to collaborate with leadership, influencing their
decision-making with insights. The article, “waves of research practice”
very well captures what I’m talking about, with context and clarity.

Improve visibility and understanding of user research impact in the

ecosystem: Given the nature of our work, research teams always have
been “less visible” within an organisation and externally in the
technology ecosystem too. The tech ecosystem in India is also
considerably “young” where the tendency to mimic processes, models
and frameworks from the silicon valley in US is common. This leads to
tech leadership prioritise investments in product, engineering and UX
with not enough understanding of what is user research and how can it
be leveraged more effectively for business success. There is importance
given to customer or user’s voice but they are generally optimised for
gathering insights through product rather than acknowledge that it
requires specialised skills. The business leadership are unaware or don’t
completely recognise that gathering valid insights and interpreting data
which is unbiased for decision making requires specialised or depth of
skills in user research. Majority of businesses aren’t aware that
foresights and strategy for business directions are not as effective if it is
based only on market directions or competitor insights. It also requires
user validation and a customer POV which is unbiased for product
adoption and business success. These are only a few challenges
articulated faced in the Indian ecosystem and this can be addressed by
evangelising user research in the broader tech ecosystem. 

The user research community in India needs to be more visible with its work
and impact on the Indian tech ecosystem. This will require more events,
workshops and engagement opportunities with business, product and
engineering teams. Evangelising within the research or design community
will not be as effective in bringing company leadership to invest in research
for long-term success and Return on Investment (RoI). Research teams in
India often spend more bandwidth or time in helping stakeholders within an
organisation to see the value of user research. An outside-in approach is
WAY FORWARD 63

more effective when you enable your company’s leadership and teams
(business, product, HR, engineering) to engage with other businesses that
have leveraged user research more effectively. Knowledge exchange,
awareness of research impact and its scope within an organisation are much
needed areas of visibility amongst tech stakeholders. This consistent effort
within the tech ecosystem will build an overall organisational and stakeholder
maturity to integrate and leverage user research for the long term.

Future with Artificial Intelligence

As qualitative researchers, we are well positioned among product, business
and engineering teams in the landscape of overwhelming data to check
biases, contortions and misrepresentation of insights. We are already
minimising biases while framing qualitative, quantitative research or data
science interpretations in our current role. The future with Artificial
Intelligence (AI) will become even more challenging to differentiate truth
from lies, reality from simulation. Data sources like Data Science, AI and
Platform analytics will be able to provide only “findings”, i.e. what is
happening? It still cannot provide “insights”, i.e. why is it happening? which
is critical for decision making. These insights or “whys” requires context,
intent and meaning which only researchers can provide. As researchers, we
understand human behaviours and motivations are complex and
interpreting behaviours from the lens of anthropology, sociology and
psychology becomes imperative. Hence, contextualising data, findings and
information to insights will be an opportunity for researchers to influence
decision-making. In future, I would say helping decision makers to
comprehend a genuine insight from a simulated one will be even more
important as a user researcher.
WAY FORWARD 64

“As ethnographers and UXRs, we are best positioned to uncover

and improve our understanding of how AI tools are being used in
real-world situations and share our understanding in terms of the
context and broader stories that bring AI changes to life.
Especially with Generative AI, we will need to learn to recognize
distortions, what some call 'synthetic users', and even in the
extreme, manipulations. We will also be required to learn and
weigh the value of using AI tools in our praxis. AI will not give us
all the answers - while it might enable some processes, we would
be hasty in expecting machine-generated questions to replace
contextual inquiry or research output to replace strategic insight.
AI will need to consider and build in diversity, governance and
privacy issues of our users, and this is one more responsibility of
the researcher in alerting design/ product/marketing teams to
them.”  

- Dina Dastur Mehta, Co-founder, Convo

This is an opportunity for UX researchers to not just expand the scope as
user researchers (conducting research for business and product teams) but
also expand our skill sets beyond research methods. We need to now equip
or upskill ourselves (at least conceptually), with data analytics, LLMs, data
and behaviour models, frameworks and so on. I have seen an overemphasis
on methods and tools of UX research valued among Indian startups which
product managers and designers can or can’t effectively execute. But user
research is not about the methods and tools (one of the biggest
misconception), it is actually about how user quotes, data or findings are
carefully interpreted and synthesised from a psychological, anthropological
or sociological lens with actionability that becomes a “user insight”. More
importantly as researchers, we are not just delivering insights but also
bringing a POV to a product without ownership biases and being involved in
product development across stages. Hence, we are more embedded as
product makers than just researchers. As product makers, we minimise
biases not just in generating insights but also developing a product across
development stages. This will equip us to raise the right questions, go
WAY FORWARD 65

deeper into decision-making, build governance and bring a POV to products

and businesses with technologies like AI.

“How will UX research be impacted by generative AI tools like

ChatGPT? Will it create two categories of researchers – one would
be the dominant category of blue-collar researchers whose job will
be to interact with ChatGPT, and be skilled at efficiently creating
prompts that describe questions business stakeholders and other
non-researcher co-workers have about the segment of people and
ecosystem being researched and then be able to efficiently stitch
together presentations that synthesise the answers provided by
ChatGPT. The other category would be elite researchers whose
critical thinking and other advanced research skills would enable
them to consume the presentations created by the first category of
researchers but be able to interrogate the information and ask
ChatGPT a different set of questions that lead to very
differentiated and high-value strategic insights for business
stakeholders.”

- Apala Chavan, CEO/ Founder, HFI India

The scope of user research also generally includes design thinking and
service design services. Much like the term design research, design
thinking is also part of the larger thinking tools universe such as critical
thinking, problem analysis with deductive and abductive thinking, systems
thinking, pattern match-making. These are tools often used in our work and
we need to figure how to introduce these as part of our offerings in user
research within the organisation and business cycles.  

My sense is that a decade from now (2023), user research may not operate
as a separate smaller function, but as a larger team as “insights and
strategy”. An insights team that will methodically and logically break down
the most relevant insights and inputs that can be dovetailed into strategy
and business/ product roadmap. The insights team will collect diverse
sources of data and insights across teams of qualitative researchers,
WAY FORWARD 66

specialists, analytics, data and behavioural scientists to build a single POV

on an insight that helps decision-making faster and effective. I believe
qualitative researchers are positioned well to lead the insights team as they
have built competencies and experience in checking biases and distortions
in data and insights, both. They can probe with relevant and deeper
questions from the sources to keep up the quality benchmark and
governance of authentic insights for businesses and organisations.
Importantly, qualitative researchers are most proximate in understanding
user needs and motivations to be the vanguards of ethics, privacy and
policy for technology companies that need to establish internal governance.

It is not lost on me that the third takeaway of the way forward, the future, is
much longer than the past and present takeaways from this section. And
this is precisely why our future can’t be understood or speculated better if
we don’t understand our past. Our past tells us that the UX research
discipline emerged out of different disciplines (psychology, anthropology,
sociology, design, HCI) used in bits and parts through methods and
knowledge from practitioners. It was integrated with localised research
methods and tools over a period of time, and not in isolation of only UX/
Design or HCI discipline. Our future may also witness UX research merging
with other disciplines or sources of data to be part of a new or redefined
discipline of insights for businesses and organisations. Our future may also
expand our scope and portfolio of impact (beyond insights and product
building) to user privacy, ethics and governance.

My hope is not just for user research to evolve and thrive but also, as
researchers, we have an opportunity to make a positive impact on users,
organizations, and the world through our insights, products and innovation.
 "The more you know about the past,

the better prepared you are for the future."

- Theodore Roosevelt
REFERENCES 68

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Achyutha Sharma
Achyutha has over 17 years of experience in the fields of research, strategy
and design. He has led large teams in UR/ UXR and closely collaborated
with leadership to drive business impact. He has built depth in research,
design and strategy through his work in the social sector especially among
the billion users demographic across sectors such as livelihoods, education,
environment and B2C products. Meanwhile, his commercial sector
experience has given him invaluable insights into Indian consumers and B2B
markets. Achyutha was a nominee for the British Council's Young Creative
Entrepreneur Award, an Acumen India fellow 2014 and an ex-steering
committee member & fellow of the Australia-India Youth Dialogue. 

He enjoys designing furniture & spaces, exploring paper art and being a
foodie when he is not working