Asking Before Designing: When (and How) to Use User Interviews in the Design Process

No matter how seasoned your team is, you are not your user.

You can guess, you can assume, you can even base things on data, but nothing replaces talking to real people.

User interviews aren’t just for UX researchers. They’re a designer’s most underused tool for clarity, empathy, and direction. And when done right, they’ll save you dozens of design hours by preventing wrong turns early.

But when should you run interviews? How often? With whom? And how do they fit into your broader process?

Let’s break it down.

1. Early-Stage Discovery: High-Impact, Non-Negotiable

Best moment for interviews:

➡️ When you're just starting

➡️ When the problem isn't yet fully defined

➡️ When you're designing for a new audience or product

Why it matters:

Early interviews help you understand motivations, frustrations, language, and mental models before a single wireframe is drawn. According to NNGroup, this phase is critical to shaping product direction around real user goals, not internal assumptions.

What to ask:

• Tell me about the last time you tried to [solve this problem].

• What do you do when [X] frustrates you in this process?

• Where do you usually look for a solution?

• How do you define success?

Goal:

Surface patterns in pain points, expectations, and workflow logic.

2. During UX Flow Design: Medium to High Priority

Best moment for interviews:

➡️ When you’ve mapped user flows or key tasks

➡️ When you’re designing MVP features or journey steps

➡️ When you need to test a sequence or mental model

Why it matters:

Once your flows are outlined, interviews can help validate whether people understand and relate to the task structure you’re proposing. According to Maze, user interviews at this stage are especially helpful when paired with prototype testing.

What to ask:

• If you had to complete [task], where would you start?

• What would you expect to happen next?

• Does anything feel confusing or unnecessary?

Goal:

Ensure clarity, predictability, and alignment with mental models.

3. During Visual or Brand Exploration: Low Priority — But Sometimes Useful

Best moment for interviews:

➡️ When testing design direction (especially in rebrands)

➡️ When working with high-emotion industries (health, finance, social impact)

➡️ When you need to evaluate tone as well as layout

Why it matters:

People don’t always articulate how they feel about a color or font, but their words give you hints. According to Stephanie Walter, asking users to describe how a brand “feels” or what it “reminds them of” can uncover valuable emotional signals.

What to ask:

• What does this visual style make you think of?

• Does it feel trustworthy / modern / fun?

• Which of these options looks more aligned with [brand values]?

Goal:

Evaluate emotional tone, not performance.

4. Post-Launch or Pre-A/B Test: Insight Before Iteration

Best moment for interviews:

➡️ After a launch, when looking to optimize

➡️ Before running an A/B test to understand why something works or doesn’t

➡️ When analytics raise questions, but not answers

Why it matters:

As Adobe note in their A/B testing guides, qualitative research before testing can help generate stronger hypotheses. Interviews at this stage reveal friction points or expectation mismatches that numbers can’t explain.

What to ask:

• What did you expect to see when you clicked [X]?

• What stopped you from completing [action]?

• What did you find helpful / frustrating?

Goal:

Validate or refine test hypotheses with real user input.

How to Do It Right (Even Without a Research Team)

You don’t need a lab. Or a formal moderator. Just time, empathy, and the right setup.

Tools

• Maze (for guided interviews & follow-ups)

• Zoom or Meet** for moderated sessions

• Airtable / Notion for organizing insights

• Figma (optional: real-time walkthroughs with early flows)

Best Practices

1. Recruit at least 5 users per segment

2. Ask open-ended questions

3. Don’t lead the witness (avoid: “Do you like this?”)

4. Record + summarize quotes, not just impressions

5. Cluster answers to identify patterns

As NNGroup states:

“Five interviews will surface 80% of user problems if you ask the right questions.”

Final Word: Ask Early, Ask Often, Ask With Purpose

Interviews aren’t “extra.”

They’re essential if you want to reduce rework, improve user trust, and build clarity into your product.

You don’t need to talk to hundreds of people.

You just need to talk to the right five, at the right time.

Want to integrate user research into your design process?

We help teams at every stage — from user interviews and design sprints to testing, brand refreshes, and UI systems.

Book a free discovery call and let’s build better together.