Generating User Insights Under Pressure


Generating User Insights Under Pressure

by Jeff Humble


Dear Reader,

It's the end of a research project, and the presentation is tomorrow.

You've heard that insights are important in research, but yours seem like trash. You look at your 1st insight:

1: "Users are complaining about the new UI update"

🤨🤨🤨 It's definitely a finding, but it doesn't feel like an "Aha!" moment. It feels more like an "Mmhmm" moment, lol.

What are the users complaining about? What changed about the UI? Are there functionality changes as well? I have so many questions...clearly, this insight isn't ready yet.

How to "Distill" UX Insights

Insights are like a fine scotch, and making scotch usually takes time.

When you're trying to force a 3-month research project into 3-5 final insights overnight, you really need to crank up the heat!

The magic in forming insights lies in what happens between collecting research data and polishing your insights.

It normally takes days, but you can speed it up by trying a few things:

  • Cluster and re-sort your data.
  • Start with a "shitty first draft" insight and iterate and iterate.
  • Drop your research data into a Miro board and review it.
  • Do some desk research using the Pomodoro method.
  • Talk through the research with someone outside your org.
  • Look for the "why" behind your findings.
  • Write a quick version and ask Chat GPT to re-write it.
  • Make a quick visual to represent the insight.
  • Review the research goals.
  • Do more desk research.
  • Take a walk.
  • Come back and keep editing.

PIck 3 from the list above and get started. Don't think about it. A blank page is worse than underwhelming insights.

A Template for Writing Insights

If you never want to start with a blank page again, check out the template I made called the Insight Card. It's very pink and very useful.

In no time, you'll be forming insights that taste like a 10-year scotch on a cold autumn night. Enjoy!

If you want to improve your research skills, we have a course called Continuous UX Research: LIVE for mid-career designers who want to lead user research.

This course has helped designers become UX Leads, UX Researchers, and UX Strategists. Ask your manager for the budget before Sep. 30th.


COURSE: Defining UX Strategy
Learn to design a winning strategy that aligns design with business
Basic seats available now
Buy a seat


COURSE: Facilitating Workshops
Learn to design and lead engaging workshops that lead to real results.
Next cohort: Fall 2025
Sign up for the waitlist


Until next week! ✌️

Jeff Humble
Designer & Co-Founder
The Fountain Institute

The Fountain Institute

The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.

Read more from The Fountain Institute

When Your Strategy Slides Hit Silence By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, I’ve shared strategy before, and watched it stall. Not because it was wrong. But because the room didn’t know what to do with it. I wasn’t looking for feedback. I wasn’t asking for approval. I was hoping they’d pick it up and run with it. Instead? Confusion. Silence. They didn’t see what I saw. Not because they didn’t care. But because I’d built the strategy, not the on-ramp they needed to step into it. It’s something I’ve...

Let's Talk about Liquid Glass by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, Goodbye, paper-like design. Hello, moving blobs of liquid glass! Play button blunder from Apple Apple's new paradigm in aesthetics is both cool and potentially awful at the same time. "Rather than trying to simply re-create a material from the physical world, Liquid Glass is a new digital meta-material that dynamically bends and shapes light." -Apple Just when you thought skeuomorphism was dead, it rears its realistic head again. I...

Assumption Olympics: Why I Always Win Gold in Overreacting By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, I once pitched a new workshop format to a team of collaborators. One person nodded slowly and said, “Hmm… okay.” That was it. I smiled. Externally, totally composed. Internally? I sprinted up a mental staircase of conclusions: They don’t like it. They’re being polite. They think I’m not strategic. This was a bad idea. I’ve blown this opportunity. Maybe I’m not cut out for this work. I didn’t realize I was...