Project Instructor
Prof Aakash Johry
DDL7007 | Research
Methods for Design | IITD
Participants
Ankita Badade |
Sumeet Bagwe |
Tanishq Chandolia
A contextual inquiry based research to study how people use ChatGPT beyond simple Q&A and proposed design interventions based on the insights gathered from research.
Research Initiation
Observing users interacting with ChatGPT in their Natural Environment.
01Understanding their setup including device, workspace, and internet access.
02Noting interaction patterns such as opening the tool, writing prompts, editing queries, and verifying responses.
03Collecting Artefacts like prompts, links, images, screenshots and files used during the interaction.
04Study Participants
Observing users interacting with ChatGPT in their Natural Environment. Understanding their setup including device, workspace, and internet access.
Usage:
Need:
Better ways to manage long conversations and different contexts of use.
Workspace
Sometimes I use ChatGPT like a workout partner or for mental health check-ins. Other times it's just a thinking partner for my research.
Usage:
Need:
More efficient ways to organize information and tasks.
Workspace
If something can be done faster with AI, I'd rather use it and focus on learning the bigger picture.
Usage:
Need:
A structured workspace with better privacy control.
Workspace
AI tools are great for productivity, but I still want control over my data and workspace.
Usage:
Need:
More structured responses and easier prompt guidance.
Workspace
I like trying different AI tools and combining them to automate as much of my workflow as possible.
Each researcher was assigned a role while conducting contextual inquiry to make sure all relevant pointers were covered during each session.
Ankita Badade
Documented key observations, important keywords from responses.
Sumeet Bagwe
Led the conversation, probing questions based on user responses, and encouraged participants to think aloud.
Tanishq Chandolia
Quietly observed behavioral patterns, prompts typed, responses received, artifacts used etc
Now that we have collected notes, prompts, and screenshots from our contextual inquiry with users, now we will be analyzing the data and will be identifying the key patterns of how people use ChatGPT.
As participants worked through their everyday tasks in ChatGPT, we followed each interaction to understand how their experience evolved over time. Rather than focusing on isolated usability issues, the journey reveals moments of confidence, confusion, and recovery, highlighting where expectations aligned with the product and where friction interrupted their workflow.
Those individual stories revealed a pattern. We then mapped every observed behaviour and concentrated into themes.
Insights from our research were translated into opportunity areas that addressed the most recurring user frustrations. Each observation was reframed into a How Might We question, allowing us to move beyond identifying problems and explore solution concepts that could improve the overall ChatGPT experience.
Users plan tasks, fitness, and work through ChatGPT but have no way to set reminders or track goals inside the tool.
How might we let users set reminders inside ChatGPT so plans don't disappear when the chat ends?
Planner
Integrated calendar and reminder system. Notifies in app and by email
Daily Briefing
A recap card at session start showing tasks from previous chats
Task Pins
Pin any response as a reminder that resurfaces later
Long chats become impossible to navigate. Users lose earlier ideas and scroll endlessly to find what they need.
How might we help users jump to key moments in a long conversation without scrolling through everything?
Chat Navigation Tabs
Auto generated topic tabs to jump between sections instantly.
Conversation Search
In chat keyword search to locate any response immediately.
Milestone Markers
User placed bookmarks at important moments in long chats.
Users manage personal and work identities separately but there is no account switch feature they log out and back in manually every time.
How might we let users keep personal and work chats separate without breaking their flow to switch accounts?
TnC Privacy Prompt
A short privacy notice before sensitive chats so users feel safe in one account
Profile Toggle
One tap switch between work and personal profiles without logging out
Incognito Mode
A private session that runs off the record and leaves no chat history
Users rewrite prompts 3 or more times per task pausing, experimenting, and refining just to get a usable response.
How might we help users write better prompts the first time so they spend less effort on phrasing?
Prompt Helper
Guided builder with role, context, and format fields for stronger first attempts
Prompt Templates
Pre built skeletons for common tasks like research, writing, or planning
Refine Suggestions
After a weak reply, GPT suggests how the prompt could be improved
Users assign ChatGPT roles like professor or coach to get better responses but every new session resets to default
How might we preserve a user's preferred roles and tone so ChatGPT feels consistent across sessions?
Saved Personas
Named role presets (Professor, Coach, Researcher) that activate at chat start
Role Menu
A role selection panel shown at the beginning of every new conversation.
Memory Toggle
Users choose what ChatGPT remembers about their preferred interaction style.
To determine which concepts were worth pursuing, we evaluated each idea against its expected user impact and implementation effort. This helped us prioritize solutions that delivered the greatest value while remaining feasible within realistic design and development constraints.
Here is our research on how the people use ChatGPT. Based on these insights, let's design the interventions that we think are the most favourable.
ChatGPT planner plans ahead with you, stays accessible across all your devices despite your OS, reminds you before you miss a deadline and most importantly if you’re ever stuck and don’t know what to do next, the AI steps in it looks at your existing tasks, understands your situation, and suggests the most relevant next step for you.
eg. lets consider a hypothetical situation where you forget an assignment submission deadline :D
What can ChatGPT Planner do for you in this situation?
A ground-up redesign and rebranding of multi-asset investment-tracking platform, turning a powerful but dense product into a clear, guided experience, then rebuilding its marketing website to match.
Using strategic UX design methods and persuasion techniques for designing products that need user’s as well as business needs
