Stephanie DeFranzo

Hello and welcome

I'm Stephanie DeFranzo, a product designer & ux researcher.

I cultivate strong relationships across teams and build user empathy across projects.

I have over 8 years of experience working on product teams of varying sizes at both large companies and startups in the San Francisco Bay Area. I value candor, kindness, and curiosity in the workplace and in life.
product designuser research

I'm not able to share artifacts of my work here, so here are generalized descriptions of real studies I conducted. To see how I incorporate research into my work, check out my Primary.Health platform redesign case study.

“Cooking with your Phone: A Contextual Interview”

contextual inquirygenerative

Remote contextual inqury, conducted over Google Meet. Participants prepared food while being observed via video call from their home kitchens. The goal of this study was to better understand user tasks, pain points, and opportunities for cooking with their phones.

“Planning vs. Improvising: A Diary Study of How People do Dinner”

diary studypersona developmentgenerative

Remote diary study, conducted with dscout. Two groups of participants (screened for the “planner” and the “improviser” personas) recorded daily videos of themselves demonstrating how they plan and execute meals in their households.

“Usability: Mobile Widgets for Weather & Shopping”

semi-structured interviewusabilityiterative

Remote usability study, conducted over Google Meet. I explored research questions about the usefulness of different widget designs as well as users’ mental model for widget location, functionality, and content.

“Evaluating Notifications Across Mobile Surfaces; from Home to Lock Screen and Beyond”

usabilityevaluative

Remote usability study, conducted over Google Meet. Evaluated multiple notification variants across multiple “surfaces” on mobile to answer questions around when and how users want to be provided with information and when they want to take action.

“Contextual Learning: How and when do users want to learn about the tools they use?”

usabilityiterative

Remote usability study conducted over Google Meet. Simulated use of a popular navigation tool to evaluate designs for contextual learning and in-app suggestions across different scenarios.

“Candid Conversations with Google Assistant”

literature reviewstorytellingsummative

Leveraging the playful analogy of users having therapy-like conversations with the product to inspire team empathy, this literature review summarized a large body of diverse research in an entertaining way. Presented themes and learnings across more than 30 user research studies.