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How to Learn UX Research (for Free)?

How to Learn UX Research (for Free)?

By Paulina Contreras•

I want to leave here the free resources that helped me and others that continue helping me today to understand UX Research and apply it to work. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to choose and where to find quality resources that contribute to our work. I hope this small list of resources serves you as it has served me.

Well, it’s never completely free – you have to invest time and be consistent, but at least you won’t break your budget and you’ll be able to learn a lot.

Table of Contents

Read, Read, and Read Blogs

  • Medium: during my first years as UX and UX Researcher, I read a Medium article every day from different authors. It was part of my daily routine on the subway to and from work (in the alternate reality of in-person work). I read a bit of everything, but I started liking some authors and began reading more of them (including: Indi Young, Jared Spool, Nikki Anderson, Michel Margolis, Samuel Salzer, Tomer Sharon). Today I still read Medium, but I use it more to review something related to a specific topic.
  • NNGroup: I’m subscribed to the YouTube channel and have notifications turned on, so I see it every time they upload a new video. I also follow them on LinkedIn, so I stay up to date with what this reference has to say.
  • Dscout: The “Guides and Resources” section and the “People Nerds” blog are highly recommended. I check them from time to time.
  • Interaction Design Foundation: It has an Open Source library with lots of UX content. The courses, on the other hand, have to be paid for through membership.
  • Design blogs from large tech companies have a variety of articles about work process and collaboration, including Spotify, Invision, Google, Adobe xD.
  • Harvard Business Review: You can see articles on particular topics like Brand Management, Customer Experience, Strategy

Listen to Many Podcasts

I read and listen in English, but with podcasts it happens that I can’t conceive of it in any language other than Spanish (I think it has to do with my diminished attention span), so even though I’ve tried with several references, in the end I go back to listening only to podcasts in Spanish. Here are my favorites:

Watch Conferences and Talks

Many, many. Here are some I watch continuously.

  • Learners In 2020 they held the first remote and free UXR Conference, and it was a success. In 2022 it was hybrid and continued to be great with tremendous speakers. They also have lots of other resources on their page and continually upload more content.
  • Eventbrite Through the platform I’ve registered for several free talks on different UX-related topics, and others more specific to UXR. You can search by topic, date, and type of event (in-person or online).
  • UX Research & Strategy: With an extensive record of the conferences they’ve held.

Be on Social Media

Because social media isn’t just for looking at kittens and delicious recipes.

Participate in Courses

Keep Reading Articles

You can also learn by reading references in the area. Here are some of them:

The following are not exclusive to UX, but when I want to learn something in depth, as I did in the article on How to Build User Personas, I review recent publications and classics on the topic. They have many articles that are open access:

I’d love to know: What resources have helped you? You can leave your references in the following LinkedIn post.

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