_"How did I get so lucky to have a day job like this?"_ ... In her first year as a UX researcher, Janet reflects on challenges, growth, and unlocking the art of balancing business goals with user needs.

At EchoUser, we value transparency in client relationships. Through clear communication, understanding client needs, and building trust, we collaborate effectively to achieve optimal UX outcomes. We grow and learn together to make a difference in the UX world.

At EchoUser, our "Client-Partner" philosophy is based on transparency, collaboration, and integrity. As a boutique firm, we prioritize direct client relationships, fostering trust, awareness, and empowerment to ensure successful engagements.

Throughout this series, I joined my colleague Chloe in examining empathy in UX, creating an "Empathy Cocktail" to represent empathy's various aspects. The recipe symbolizes empathy for users, clients, and ourselves, highlighting the importance of curiosity, acceptance, and continuous learning. Here's to embracing empathy's complexities!

In our latest post on Empathy, we reflect on the journey towards self-empathy, which one of us realized after becoming a mother. We learned that working from a place of relaxation is just as effective as working from a place of stress and anxiety. We hope to encourage others to develop self-empathy and provide some resources for those who wish to learn more.

The upcoming blog posts shift to a personal perspective on how empathy shows up at home and within oneself. We reflect on the challenges of empathy in parenting, including the need for understanding before correcting or solving, and acknowledging our own fallibility. The post is part of a larger series on exploring empathy.

EchoUser team members have various personal and professional goals for 2023. These include embracing change, immersing oneself in non-noisy places, building self-confidence, basking in details, leveling up, bringing clarity to the research and design process, being present and building connections, and living more intentionally.

In this article we explore the challenges of maintaining empathy in client relationships as a UX researcher, particularly when clients request changes to the research plan. We share personal experiences and highlight the importance of understanding the client's perspective to promote empathy and achieve the best possible research outcomes.

I realized early in my career that genuine compassion for users is essential. By immersing myself in the users' experiences, I gained valuable insights that helped create more effective and user-centric solutions. Balancing empathy with professional boundaries leads to more meaningful connections and a greater impact on the lives of those we serve.

In this post we reflect on empathy, a core value of EchoUser, and share a personal journey in growing capacity for empathy. We plan to write a series of blog posts from different perspectives and hope to encourage readers to reflect on their own empathy.

I worked on a project with a client developing AR/VR technology for workplace collaboration. We overcame challenges with a customized research protocol and learned that applying UX practices to emerging technologies requires an innovative approach.

Despite what society seems to expect of me, I don’t really want to talk to anyone. I am an introvert. However, I found a career where I can make “conversation” and I absolutely love it. I am a UX Researcher.