How I help / Design it
User research. Ask the people who will use it.
I talk to the people who will use your product, website or internal tool, watch how they work and test ideas with them. That way, design decisions rest on evidence instead of the loudest opinion in the room.
Research, design and build in one pair of hands · Remote worldwide
User research, at a glance.
What it is
Learning how people actually work, what they need and where they struggle, through interviews, observation and testing.
Why it matters
Teams often design for an imagined user. A few real conversations early are much cheaper than rebuilding the wrong thing later.
How I do it
Short, well-prepared conversations, watching real tasks, and testing prototypes with the people who will use the result.
What you get
Clear findings in plain language: what we learned, what it means for the design and what to do next.
When research is worth the time.
Research does not have to be a months-long study. Often a handful of conversations and an afternoon watching real work tell you most of what you need to know.
It is most useful before a big decision: what to build, what to fix first, or whether an idea is worth pursuing at all.
A new product or service
Check who it is for and which problem it really solves before committing to a build.
A tool people avoid
Find out why the team keeps a spreadsheet on the side, and what would make the official tool worth using.
Opinions are stuck
Evidence from real users turns a circular debate into a decision.
How I run it.
Agree the questions
What do we need to learn, and which decision will it inform? That keeps the research small and useful.
Talk to the right people
Users, customers, front-line staff and the people who support them, recruited with care and treated with respect.
Watch the real work
Observe tasks in context and test prototypes, noting where people hesitate, guess or work around the system.
Share what we learned
Short findings, examples and recommendations, written so the whole team can act on them. Participants’ consent and data are handled with care throughout.
Why I listen first.
I started in customer-facing work, including customer service and sales roles at Emirates and Ryanair, then moved into sales operations and CRM, where every process had real people at both ends. Listening to the people doing the work has been part of my job for a long time.
Research findings feed straight into my UX and UI design, and into prototypes we can test again.
A sensible first step.
Research often sits inside focused discovery: one defined question, a handful of conversations and a clear solution plan, with a clickable demo to test when that helps.
Larger research across several teams or user groups is scoped separately. Current prices are under Engagements & pricing.
Focused discoveryA useful next step
What do you need to find out?
Tell me about the product or service and the decision ahead. The first 30-minute conversation is free.
You’ll speak directly with me about the problem, the fit and a sensible next step.
Opens your email app with a few prompts.
hello@richardzoltantoth.com
Online meetings worldwide.
No VAT added — I’m not VAT registered.
View the full engagement terms.