David Randall PhD 👋
A Passionate User Research Specialist with 15 years of Experience conducting research in academia and business.
YouTube Re-Branding
Overview
Midway through my internship, I was recruited to lead a sensitive internal intercept study, gathering feedback on major proposed design changes to the YouTube site. Commissioned by senior leadership, the study required a trusted internal audience—non-YouTube Googlers—due to the confidential nature of the designs.
Client:
Google (YouTube)
Advised by:
Heather Breslow - Sr. UX Researcher
Time Frame:
July 2016
Tools:
Google Docs, Adobe Photoshop
Competitor Analysis
As part of a broader review commissioned by senior Amazon leadership, I was tasked with investigating the features and user experience of a leading competitor to a specific AWS product.
Objective:
- 🎯 Gather feedback on proposed design changes from Googlers outside the YouTube org.
- 🎯 Provide validation for design decisions already in place for senior leadership.
Process:
- ⚙️ Collaborated with designers to compile various branding versions for testing.
- ⚙️ Developed a lightweight A/B-style test presenting these designs in randomised order to gather unbiased feedback.
- ⚙️ Travelled to a Google office in another state to recruit participants outside the YouTube org.
- ⚙️ Conducted intercept interviews with a dozen Googlers in informal settings across the campus..
Challenges:
- 🧩 Designed and implemented the study within just two days of being briefed, ahead of travel.
- 🧩 Ensuring full randomisation to minimise bias required careful planning under tight time constraints.
- 🧩 Recruiting a dozen full-time Googlers with no ties to the YouTube org was difficult given the internal overlap.
Results/Conclusion:
The interviews uncovered several valuable insights into the proposed design changes, leading to significant recommendations being shared with management. This study also gave me firsthand experience in running internal intercept research and managing highly sensitive, high-impact work. It was unusual for an intern to be entrusted with a project of this confidentiality and significance—access was restricted even from other YouTube employees—highlighting the trust my mentors placed in me and their confidence in my capabilities. Despite being commissioned on short notice, the study ultimately influenced key design decisions and had a lasting impact beyond my internship.
