Choose a Singapore design session for usability or concept demand

The problem

A Singapore UX practitioner has a usable prototype but is unsure whether event feedback should examine task completion or whether the proposed service addresses a real need.

Write two different questions

A usability question asks whether someone can complete a task with the design. A demand question asks why they would choose to undertake that task or use this offering at all. List them separately before requesting feedback. DesignSingapore's customer research resource discusses both learning about customers and testing prototypes; the activity you need depends on the uncertainty you are trying to resolve. Write the assigned task, the starting state and what counted as completing it. Beside the result, record the instructions, prompts and example material the person received. “Reached the confirmation screen after a hint” describes a different attempt from “completed without a hint.” Both can reveal useful task information. Neither says why someone would choose this service in ordinary life. State the case-study purpose and limitations so the specific task result does not become an adoption claim.

• DesignSingapore: understanding customers through design ↗ · Source checked 20 October 2026

Record attempts rather than only a success total

Use one row per attempt: assigned task; input and starting state; instructions or assistance; observed endpoint; and unresolved step. Record missing observations as missing instead of treating an unfinished attempt as a confirmed refusal to adopt. If two attempts had different prompts, preserve that difference before comparing their outcomes. Keep participant identity and sensitive material out of a public example unless the actual project permits them. A count can summarise these rows, but it cannot replace their conditions. The blank record is reusable; each real project needs its own appropriate recruitment and material arrangements.

Prepare evidence suited to the question

For task completion, choose a realistic task without teaching the steps in advance. For an underlying need, describe the person's current approach and the circumstance that makes the problem matter. Use a fictional scenario for public practice when your real research is restricted. Peers can improve your study plan without pretending to represent your actual users. Keep an adoption question separate from the task observation: what problem the person actually has, what they currently do, what change they would consider and which role can decide it. Do not infer those answers from following the exercise instructions. An assigned booking attempt can examine the interface without examining whether the participant needs a booking, may approve a purchase or would return later. DesignSingapore’s article supplies customer-research and prototype context; the separate task and adoption records help identify what the exercise still leaves unanswered.

Count a wholly invented four-attempt exercise accurately

All people, inputs and screens in this example are invented. Four toy learners receive an assigned task to select a session and reach a review screen. One reaches it without a prompt, one reaches it after the facilitator names the next control, and two do not reach it within the supplied attempt. The record therefore contains two observed completions, with different assistance, and two incomplete attempts. Reporting four independent completions would contradict it. Reporting that two learners would buy the service would add a question the exercise never asked. The toy count explains how to preserve conditions, not a rate for real users.

Inspect what the event will do

A prototype critique might refine a flow, while a discovery workshop might help you question the proposed problem. Ask whether the exercise matches the question you wrote. An enthusiastic reaction from a fellow designer is neither a usability test with an intended user nor proof of a customer's willingness to adopt the service. Ask what participants will actually do with your prototype, whose material they may bring and what preparation is expected. A design talk, a facilitator demonstration and agreed participant task observation provide different material. Obtain the appropriate arrangement before asking attendees to act as research participants. If only supplied exercises are permitted, keep their task result labelled as exercise evidence. A relevant technical event category can help locate a discussion, but it does not establish recruitment permission, target-user access or an allocated portfolio review.

Keep a later adoption answer in its own row

Continue the fictional case. In a separate supplied conversation, the prompted learner says they currently use another arrangement and would discuss changing it with a team lead. That is a stated situation and proposed conversation, not an accepted adoption decision. The task record still shows prompted completion. The unaided learner’s adoption view remains unknown because no such answer is supplied. Do not borrow one person’s stated interest to fill the other three rows. A later actual commitment, if appropriately obtained, would require its own scope and evidence rather than changing what happened in the earlier task.

Decide which uncertainty the next exercise can answer

If the unresolved task step is locating the review control, prepare a bounded question about that step and its conditions. If the unresolved question is whether the service addresses a real need, a clearer button alone cannot answer it. An incomplete attempt can motivate investigation without diagnosing its cause; assistance may explain how completion happened without invalidating the observation. Preserve the original version and prompts when considering a revision. Do not announce that the revised prototype has solved the task until the relevant permitted attempt supplies an observation. A planned check is a useful portfolio next step while remaining a plan.

Keep the conclusions separate

Record the feedback under its actual question: task confusion, study design weakness or an untested need assumption. Improve the prototype where justified and list the demand evidence still missing. Search Boardzip for the relevant research format, then verify that the organiser provides that exercise. Attending a session does not substitute for conducting your own appropriate research. Keep two next questions after feedback: one about the observed task, another about the unexamined adoption condition. A task revision might need a new permitted attempt to examine the unclear step; an adoption question might need the missing user or decision-maker perspective. Identify whether the missing perspective is the user, buyer or approver, and check which people and conditions the actual evidence covers. Save the actual critique conditions with the attempt record. Search for the format that addresses your gap, and confirm its current access and participant activity before planning attendance.