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Research & Discovery

UX design is a story - how values can affect Your project

Long Lecture

🇬🇧 English

About

In research and design activities for new solutions, values are still very often underestimated or treated only as high-level assumptions. We focus on functionality, technical assumptions and we look for innovation, forgetting that using value as a design tool can give the same products a completely different face.

Using specific product discovery and service design solutions as an example, we'll talk about how a product can be impacted by appropriate discovery, research, and then leveraging design values for end-users. We will discuss the advantages and risks, how to combine the perspectives of different types of research, and - step by step - how to start using values as a design tool.

Talk by

Photo of Agnieszka Zygmunt, Lead UX Researcher at 10clouds

Agnieszka Zygmunt

Lead UX Researcher at 10clouds

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From the recording

Talk in brief

A values-based approach to product strategy that connects organizational promises with the experiences people actually seek. Values are not decorative words: they motivate participation and should be visible in choices about content, features, community, language, and delivery. A product may serve several personas with different needs, so teams must identify the shared or prioritized value rather than trying to implement every request. Because people and contexts change, value assumptions need repeated checking. The proposed story moves from a promise, through product decisions, to evidence that the promised value was fulfilled.

Key takeaways

01
Define value as a motivating promise
A useful value statement describes why someone participates and what meaningful change the product commits to support.
Watch from 2:11
02
Connect every delivery choice to fulfillment
Speakers, content, features, and operations matter because together they determine whether the promise becomes real.
Watch from 7:25
03
Find direction across competing persona needs
Teams need a prioritization principle or shared value when several customer groups ask for incompatible outcomes.
Watch from 12:51
04
Translate promises into product-level values
One broad promise may require several concrete qualities that guide feature, content, and service decisions.
Watch from 18:17
05
Recheck values as customers and contexts change
Long-running work can deliver an outdated promise unless teams return to customers and examine what now matters.
Watch from 29:25

Video chapters

2:11What a product value actually means
The opening returns to basic definitions before introducing tools or canvases for values work.
7:25Turning the conference promise into fulfillment
Programme, speakers, and delivery choices are linked to the knowledge promised to participants.
12:51Choosing among different persona needs
Multiple customer groups create a prioritization problem that a list of requirements cannot resolve alone.
18:17From one promise to several product values
A motivating statement is translated into qualities that can guide concrete decisions.
23:28Features and language express different values
An FAQ, community, or naming choice can fulfill different needs despite appearing functionally similar.
29:25Checking whether values still hold
Customer motivations and contexts change, requiring ongoing evidence that the product still delivers.
35:27Tools for a client discovery phase
The Q&A asks how canvases and workshop methods can support practical values conversations.

Read edited transcript highlights

These concise notes were edited from automatic captions and checked against the talk structure. They are not a verbatim transcript.

A value explains why the experience matters

Product values should describe a meaningful motivation rather than a fashionable adjective. Ask what the customer hopes to gain, protect, express, or change and what the organization is prepared to deliver. A clear value gives the team a reason for decisions while remaining specific enough that research can show whether the promise is real.

Watch from 2:11

Fulfillment is distributed across the service

A conference promising knowledge fulfills that value through speaker selection, topics, access, facilitation, and what participants can use afterward. The same logic applies to digital products: no single screen carries the promise. Teams should trace every important touchpoint and dependency that helps or prevents the customer from receiving the intended value.

Watch from 7:25

Persona conflict needs a product principle

Several personas can produce a long list of valid but incompatible needs. Adding all of them creates a diluted product. Identify which value is shared, which audience the current strategy prioritizes, and which tradeoff is acceptable. Evidence should inform the choice, but strategy still requires deciding whose outcome matters in this release.

Watch from 12:51

Promises become useful through concrete decisions

A broad promise may translate into clarity, belonging, confidence, speed, or several other product-level values. These qualities can guide how features are named, which content is created, and whether the service builds a community or simply answers questions. The connection should be written down so the team can challenge work that does not contribute.

Watch from 18:17

Value assumptions expire as people change

A product built over months or years may continue optimizing the motivation customers expressed at the beginning. Return to research, behavior, support evidence, and market context to see whether that value remains important and whether the experience delivers it. Updating the story is responsible product learning, not inconsistency.

Watch from 29:25

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