We bring together user research, service design, and strategic planning to help you better understand the experience behind your services
“It was so easy to work with the USDR team. In an emergency situation, that was incredibly helpful. All I needed to do was respond. I had really low bandwidth to shepherd this along, so it was nice knowing that the team's got it."
Make confident decisions backed by evidence,
not assumptions
Through user research and service design, you'll validate problems before investing in solutions, ensuring every improvement addresses real user needs.
Build services people can actually use
Whether it's a public-facing website or an internal workflow, you'll create solutions that work for the people who use them, residents and staff alike.
Strengthen your team's capabilities
Your staff will learn research methods, design thinking, and strategic planning they can apply long after our engagement ends.
Prioritize improvements that matter most
We'll help you identify which changes will have the greatest impact given your constraints, so you can focus resources where they'll make the biggest difference.
Strategic UX guidance without the vendor pitch
We help you figure out what to build before investing in how to build it. You'll get conflict-free advice focused solely on your community's needs and your organization's capacity.
Expert teams matched to your challenge
Mid-to-senior UX practitioners and project managers with experience in the public, private, and academic sectors working alongside your staff.
Deliverables you can actually implement
You'll receive actionable recommendations, wireframes, content strategies, research findings, and implementation roadmaps designed for your team to use immediately.
Knowledge building, not just delivery
We work with your team, ensuring insights and skills stay with your organization when the engagement ends, including things like coaching, 1-1 training, and workshops where needed.
Support across the full service lifecycle
We adapt our approach to meet you where you are and help you move forward.
Public-facing focus
Understand how residents actually experience your services, from discovering information to completing transactions, and translate those insights into improvements they'll notice.
Internal operations focus
Map the processes and workflows your staff navigate, identify administrative bottlenecks, and increase efficiency so teams can focus on serving people, not fighting systems.
We help you ask the right questions first
Before jumping to solutions, we help you explore the problem space. What are residents actually struggling with? What do your staff need to serve them better? We use research to turn assumptions into evidence.
We build sequential partnerships
Rather than one-off projects, we help you move through the full cycle: research findings, wireframes, content strategy, implementation support. Each project builds on the last, strengthening your team's capabilities.
We coach while we deliver
Every project includes knowledge transfer. We don't just hand you recommendations, we work alongside your team so they learn to apply UX practices themselves. Some partners start with us on research, then hire their own UX staff.
We adapt our approach based on where you are and what you need
UX strategy and discovery
- Developing a high level UX strategy and implementation prioritization
- User research to understand resident needs and pain points
- Service design mapping to identify where experiences break down
- Frameworks to help you determine which investments to make
Design and testing
- Wireframing and prototyping for new services or redesigns
- Content strategy to make information clear and accessible
- Usability testing to validate solutions before launch
Capacity building
- UX coaching and mentorship for your internal teams
- Workshops on research methods, design thinking, and service design
- Guidance on building your own UX practice or hiring UX staff
Read about real impact we've helped create across the country
Building Long Beach's UX capacity
The City of Long Beach partnered with USDR on multiple user research projects that uncovered insights transforming public services. Through sequential engagements, the city's team learned research methods while gathering actionable data about resident needs. Read the full story
Making marriage registration inclusive in Boston
USDR volunteers conducted user research with LGBTQ+ couples navigating Boston's marriage registration process. The findings led to concrete recommendations that helped the city implement more inclusive practices—and showed staff how to conduct their own research. Read the full story
Rapid response for Pasadena's Fire Recovery
When wildfires struck, Pasadena needed to quickly help thousands of residents find recovery resources. USDR quickly developed an emergency website content strategy that made critical information accessible when people needed it most. Read the full story
Every partnership starts with understanding your specific challenges and constraints. We adapt our approach to match your timeline, capacity, and goals.
Typical engagements last 8 to 12 weeks.
What happens
1. Understand the problem – We start with your challenges, not our solutions
2. Deliver and coach – Your team works alongside ours, learning while we deliver
3. Build capacity – Leave with both recommendations and skills to continue
the work
What you can expect
1. Regular check-ins and transparent communication
2. Deliverables you can actually use (not just reports that sit on shelves)
3. Knowledge transfer so insights don't leave when we do
4. Options for follow-up projects as needs evolve
Many USDR UX engagements pair your team with experienced professionals who volunteer their time and expertise.
You'll work alongside mid-to-senior UX practitioners and project managers with experience in the public, private, and academic sectors. Our full-time staff oversee every project from scoping to delivery. You get quality expertise at no cost, with sustainable solutions your team can maintain long after we're gone.
