How would you approach gathering user feedback during the product design process?

During my final year project, I worked on designing a mobile app for student organization management. To gather user feedback, I created an online survey targeting fellow students to understand their needs and expectations. The survey included questions about features they found most useful and any pain points they experienced with existing apps. After analyzing the responses, I identified the top three features that students wanted, such as event reminders and group chat functions. This feedback was instrumental in shaping the app's design, and we ended up receiving positive reviews during our project presentation for addressing specific user needs.

While volunteering for a local non-profit, I helped organize a community health fair. After the event, I gathered feedback from attendees using informal conversations and a simple feedback form. I asked participants what they enjoyed, what could be improved, and any suggestions for future events. The insights revealed that people wanted more interactive workshops and longer hours. I reported these findings to the organizing team, which helped us plan better for the next event. This experience taught me the value of listening to users, even in non-digital contexts, to enhance future offerings.

In my first job as a junior product designer, I was involved in a project where we were launching a new feature for our web application. To gather user feedback, I facilitated usability testing sessions with a group of our existing customers. I prepared test scenarios and observed how they interacted with the new feature. After the sessions, I collected their feedback through follow-up interviews. This process revealed areas of confusion and provided valuable insights that led to design tweaks, ultimately improving the feature's usability before its official launch.