User experience, design and business are perfect fields for anthropological practice, but what does it look like to work in them, and how do you get there in the first place? Amy will share her journey as a practicing anthropologist, touching on her transition from academia, work experience, use of anthropology skills, project examples, career reflections, and advice for those who are interested in this particular line of work. Amy Santee is an independent user experience and design research consultant based in Portland, OR. Her work spans a breadth of sectors and industries, including retail, e-commerce, healthcare, computer hardware and software, consumer technology, automotive, insurance, home improvement, and community development. In addition to freelancing, she has worked within corporate, agency and start-up design teams. She combines her anthropology training with a user-centered design approach to solve real problems, advocate for people and their values, and help businesses feel confident in their decisions. She received her MA in Applied Anthropology from The University of Memphis (2011) and her BA in Anthropology from Eckerd College (2009). She blogs about business, design, anthropology and careers at www.anthropologizing.com.

1. PRACTICING
ANTHROPOLOGY
in User Experience
Design
& Business
Amy Santee, Independent Consultant
January 6, 2016

2. Agenda
1. A bit about me
2. Education & career history
3. UX, Design, Business & Anthropology
4. Project examples
5. Final thoughts

3. @amysantee
@AmericanAnthro

4. A bit
about me

5. 1
2
3
4

9. Practicing
Anthropologist

10. Educational
& career history

11. Consumer Researcher
(corporate)2011-2012
UX Researcher / Consultant
(agency)
2013-2014
Lead UX Researcher
(corporate/start-up)
2014-2015
MA Applied Anthropology2009-2011
2004-2008 BA Anthropology
UX Research Consultant
(independent)
July 2015 to
present
Amy Santee

12. MA Applied Anthropology2009-2011
Consumer Researcher
(corporate)2011-2012
UX Researcher / Consultant
(agency)
2013-2014
Lead UX Researcher
(corporate/start-up)
2014-2015
2004-2008 BA Anthropology
UX & Design Research
Consultant (freelance)
July 2015 to
present
Consulting
FoundationalLearning
{
RealWorldLearning
{
= Level of
Understanding of
Doing Anthropology

13. user experience,
design & business
Working in

14. My role:
User Experience (ux)
Researcher

15. User Experience Research
Research that is done to understand and inform the experiences
people have when interacting with a product, service or system.

16. User-Centered Design (UCD)
The most well-designed products and services result from
understanding the people who will use them.
UCD puts people at the core of design decisions.
It considers their needs, goals, values and feedback in the
design process.

17. In buildings like this…
(used to work here)
On corporate campuses like this…
(used to work here, too)
A lot of design and
business decisions
get made in rooms like
this…

18. Many of the most successful organizations employ a UCD process

19. • Not a straightforward path
How I got into this field of work
• Undergraduate
• Qualitative research
• Grad school
• Culture and consumerism
• Recession
• Consumer Research at State Farm
• Exposure to User Experience and Usability
• Explored this further
• Portland
• Empirical
• SpendWell
• Freelance
Photo: Isaac Sachs

20. User Experience Research
Research that is done to understand and inform the experiences
people have when interacting with a product, service or system.

21. … Who are the people who (might) use our product?
What are they like?
What do they care about?
What are their needs, preferences, values, goals, motivations?
… How might the product/service solve their problems?
… What would make it relevant and meaningful (i.e., valuable)?
… Is it usable and learnable?
… How do people currently interact with and experience the product/service?
UX & Design Research seek to address the following questions:

22. The outputs of UX research are
information, insights and tools for
design and business decision-making.

23. Why do User Experience Research?
10 Outcomes

24. Outcome #1
Get people a seat at the table with business,
technology and design.

25. Outcome #2
Design or improve a product or service based on
an understanding of the people who interact
with it.

26. Outcome #3
Make sure the things we design meet people’s
needs, solve their problems, and fit into their lives.

27. Outcome #4
Validate and disprove our assumptions about
people and the value of a product or service.
Design based on data, not guesses.

28. Outcome #5
Identify problems and opportunities that are not
obvious.

29. Outcome #6
Have a better idea of how to design a product or
service, and know what not to do.

30. Outcome #7
Provide direction for design and business
decisions to minimize risk, maximize success,
and differentiate from competitors.

31. Outcome #8
Save money. It’s more expensive to fix things after
they’ve been designed or developed.

32. Outcome #9
Remind ourselves we are not designing for . . .
ourselves.

33. Outcome #10
Build a culture of empathy within organizations.

34. anthropology &
UX, design + biz

35. Anthropology is the study of the human
experience. It’s about understanding people.
Anthropology Design
Value
Usefulness
Relevance
+ =

36. photo of book pile

37. Perspective
Approach
Skills & Tools
project examples

38. Perspective
Holistic
Empathy
Interpretive
Cultural/social
Cross-cultural
People-centered
Insider/outsider
Healthy skepticism
Detail-oriented
Process-oriented
Results-oriented
Open-minded
Value-added
Contextual
Curious
Ethical

39. Approach
Critical
Iterative
Creative
Systematic
Advocacy
Collaborative
Participatory
Multi-method
Inductive
Deductive
Immersive
Resourceful
Engagement
Problem-solving
Systems thinking
Knowledge-building

40. Skills & Tools
Theory
Concepts
Research
Storytelling
Rapport-building
Learning
Observing
Planning
Analysis
Listening
Managing
Digging deep
Pattern recognition
Understanding and
framing problems
Making sense of
complexity

41. Contextual interview
Contextual
observation
Photo
diaries
1:1 Interviews
Video diaries
Research Methods
Card sort
Usability test
Participatory
design research
Task analysis
Remote
interview
Group
interview
Surveys
Analytics

42. project examples

43. Redesign of Medical
Terminology Editing
Software

44. Wine Shop
Customer Experience

45. Ethnographic Study of
the Relationship Between
Social Capital and Health

46. Prototype Testing
and Vehicle Owner Interviews
in Shanghai, China

47. Various Usability and
UX research studies for
mobile and desktop hardware

48. Digital Stylus Use
for Productivity, Art and Design

49. Area Rug
Shopping Experience

50. Insurance Agent Office
Ethnography
Call Center
Process Improvement
Online Insurance
Shopping Experience
Product Naming

51. Exploratory Study of
Android Developers in
Germany, China and Brazil

52. Various UX and Usability
Studies for
SpendWell Health

53. What’s helped me
along the way

54. Learning skills that anthropology didn’t teach me
Immersing myself in UX, design, business, technology
Collaborating with other roles
Professional events, meetups, conferences
Understanding business culture
Adapting methods and approaches
Explaining research to non-researchers
Learning to convince people to pay for it
Actionable, tangible results
Variation in experience, roles, industries
Being flexible and OK with uncertainty
Reminding myself that I’m there to fill a business need
Letting go of the ideal
From Anthropology to UX, Design + Biz

55. Academic anthropology is “pure” anthropology.
Applied anthropology isn’t theoretical enough.
Applied anthropology isn’t intellectually stimulating.
6 Myths
Business is evil and you’re a horrible person if you work there.
You can’t make any money doing anthropology.
Florida doesn’t need more anthropologists - Rick Scott.
WRONG

56. Doing Meaningful Work
Using my anthropology training to solve challenging problems
Being creative and working with technology
Having an impact with my work
Helping design things that are valuable, useful and relevant,
that meet real needs and solve real problems
Advocating for people, convincing others to listen
Helping businesses succeed in a competitive world

57. I encourage…
students to explore a
career in UX, Design
and Business
professors to learn
more about this field
businesses to hire
more anthropologists

58. amylaurensantee@gmail.com
@amysantee
www.amysantee.com
.com
Thank you!