Working With Us

Our depth of knowledge, breadth of experience, and grounded approach make us unique partners in your UX strategy.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO WORK WITH KENNASON?

  • Being strategy-driven, you will get consultant work rather than freelance work — meaning you’ll get expertise and leadership beyond an extra pair of hands.

  • Becca leads every project, which is why Kennason purposely stays small and nimble! If including more people will lead to a better outcome, she’ll talk to you about pulling in trusted support.

  • Kennason has always been a remote-first consultancy. We also do in-person workshops, research sessions, and meetings — locally in the Albany area, or by travel.

  • Our individual projects are typically short, but we enjoy long-term relationships with partners and clients. We often work on repeat efforts — once we get to know your team and product, it’s fun to keep jumping back into things!

THE REAL VALUE OF RESEARCH & STRATEGY

A starting point for understanding the value of design research is identifying the questions or unknowns about your product or service that need clarity.

Here are a few common ones.

Who benefits and who’s underserved? How?

Foundational research helps you develop a solid understanding of the current state of your product or service.

Why aren’t we seeing the usage we expect?

A deep dive into desirability and usability with evaluative research uncovers opportunities for improvement (and a strategy for prioritizing them).

How can we design a better experience?

Explore possibilities with generative research. Gather ideas, co-create with audiences, and test assumptions before you build or redesign anything.

KENNASON’S CORE VALUES

DO NO HARM: With ethical grey areas everywhere in business, society, and tech, we do our best to minimize harm with our work, especially for vulnerable audiences.

TRANSPARENCY: Clear, open communication is super important for building trust and relationships, which is what we believe powers positive change.

HUMILITY: We are experts in some things, and not in others. We’ll let you know the difference.

ADAPTABILITY: Each project is unique, and we have the years of experience to understand how to address each context and audience with care — no cookie-cutter format here.

APPROACHABILITY: Though we are absolutely professional, we are relatable too. We treat partners and research participants warmly as co-creators in the design strategy process.

ACTIONABILITY: You’ll get strategic design insights from us that you can use right away, plus an eye for the long term.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Here are a few questions (and answers) about design research, UX strategy, and working with Kennason.

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  • Each project is totally unique, and we typically have an intro meeting to discuss needs, context, and how our partnership might look. We may then send an outline for a project plan that we can finalize together. And sometimes a quick discovery project sets us up for success before committing together to something larger in scope!

  • It’s really common to recognize that there’s room for improvement, but to not know exactly what to do about it. (Is it UX? Is it marketing? Where do we focus?!) That’s why Kennason offers collaborative workshops to help untangle those webs and get you started. We also offer short discovery projects or retainer agreements if you want someone around to bounce ideas and get guidance!

  • ABSOLUTELY. We love providing training or thought partnership for teams running their own research!

  • Honestly, we love a mixed methods project that incorporates both, but we always recommend what makes most sense for the context. Most projects are qualitative in nature for deeper nuance, often with some quantitative elements like survey responses and ratings or rankings.

  • Often we run research, but not always. We also do expert reviews and recommendations, which might be a first step in understanding what kind of research might be most valuable. Or we can be your strategist to help your team plan, execute, or synthesize research.

  • We tend to work with internal design teams, as well as startups and nonprofits. Becca has also worked as part of a bunch of agency teams for specific projects — leading a design research or content design part of a larger effort.

  • Yes, we work with vulnerable populations and sensitive topics in ways that are as healing, collaborative, and ethical as possible.