About Don Rickert Research & Design (the details)...

We are a Design Research, Consumer Insights, UX (User Experience) and NPD (New Product Development) Firm...sometimes our type of company is called a "full-service Industrial Design" firm.

See our Portfolio of mostly Interactive and Transactional Systems, as well as the other Portfolios using the links on the left of the screen...Interactive and Transactional Systems are a VERY small part of the product universe!

Contact: drickert@bellsouth.net; (404) 713-3750

Don Rickert Research & Design is a division, often called a "DBA" (doing business as...) of Wiederholt & Rickert Partners, LLC. Don Rickert Research & Design helps other companies to create successful goods and services.

We are a Research and Design firm that provides New Product Development (NPD) services to companies that want to create a successful new product (or fix a flawed or outmoded existing product).

Much of our work is in the basic areas of interactive media (e.g. websites) and online transactional systems, such as those used in the financial services and supply chain industries. We do, however, often assist in the development of physical products. We also invent, design and develop our own products.

Often beginning with Ethnography (observing and interviewing people on their own turf), we identify what is missing in your customers' lives—opportunities for you to fill critical gaps between what is and what could be…if you only knew. But we don't stop there—we work with your teams to transform those previously hidden opportunities into breakthrough products. Download Don Rickert Research & Design Ethnography Examples with Design Insights

Much of our work is in the realm of USER EXPERIENCE (UX), with an emphasis on usefulness, usability and appeal (desirability), the three main components of VALUE to customers. Drawing from our extensive experience with interactive products as well as physical goods, we carry out the appropriate QUANTITATIVE, QUALITATIVE and HYBRID (a mix of quantitative and qualitative research, such as usability evaluation...we are one of the rare firms with expert skill in advanced quantitative methods as well as qualitative approaches) consumer research services. Then, we integrate the discoveries from the various approaches into ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS that you can use.

Some of the methods we employ are:

• usability evaluation (more...)
• card-sorting studies and analysis (called Cluster Analysis) to determine optimal terminology (e.g. names for buttons and controls, etc.) (more...)
• observing real people doing real things with current versions of YOUR product and competitors' products (ethnography, depth interviewing, etc.) (more...)
• prototyping, model building (more...)
• interviewing (structured as well as Depth Interviewing)
• questionnaire design, implementation and analysis
• and all the rest... (see Methods & Technical Expertise)

Our work boils down to discovering what you really need to know to win with a groundbreaking product, just as we have helped a number of other companies to create successful goods and services.

We are often called upon to perform one or several critical parts of a much larger initiative. For example, we are often called upon to perform only Real-world Observation (a.k.a. Ethnography), Evaluation (i.e. Usability Testing) and Consumer Research (e.g. survey design and data analysis).

Some Common Deliverables We Are Engaged to Provide to Our Clients

There are a large number of working deliverables that our work generates, such as observation notes, video recordings of observations and interviews, brainstorming diagrams and so forth. In addition, there are research deliverables such as questionnaires, usability testing plans, rough early prototypes and so forth. Listed below are the things that Clients pay us for—the final deliverables.

• Usability Reports and Supporting Artifacts
• User Interface Style Guides
• Personas (‘typical’ users) and Scenarios (what they do.)

Persona profiles embody the important characteristics of actual potential users and stakeholders.

Scenarios are stories intended to illustrate a ‘typical’ user or users (Persona) performing an activity actually observed or described in depth interviews. Usually, scenarios illustrate how deficiencies in a currently available product make the activity more difficult and/or less fun than it ought to be. Scenarios capture the ‘workarounds’ that people invent to achieve their goals with existing products.

• What Are Personas and Scenarios For?

Taken together, Personas and Scenarios illustrate everything learned about target customers through real-world observation and other rigorous consumer research.

If you need to ask why this is important...

• Finalized High-Fidelity Prototypes

The finalized Prototype embodies all of the attributes that will make the new product useful, usable and desirable.

• What are High-Fidelity (Realistic) Prototypes For?

Because it has all of the critical product features, functions and user experience qualities that target customers require, the finalized Prototype is an essential reference for Implementation.

• Finalized Product Concept Document

The finalized Product Concept Document is the documentation of the finalized Prototype. It contains documentation of the product’s technical feasibility as well as evidence of its usefulness, usability and appeal.

• What Is It For?

The finalized Product Concept contains detailed Specifications for form factor, information architecture, aesthetic values, core technologies, materials and manufacturing, as appropriate. The finalized Product Concept Document answers many key questions about the product, including—

• What will it do?
• What will be its rough dimensions?
• What styling features will it have?
• What functional features should It have?
• What is its context?
• Where will the product be used?
• Where will it be stored?
• What other products must it be compatible with?
• How often will it be used?