Building a Scalable UX Research System

Virtusize is a B2B size-and-fit solution used by global fashion brands to help customers find the right size and reduce returns. The product integrates into client e-commerce sites to provide accurate, data-driven size recommendations.

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The Problem

Before this project, Virtusize’s design and product decisions were driven almost entirely by client requests and internal stakeholder opinions. There was no structured UX research system, no centralized repository for insights, and no consistent approach to validating ideas with real users.

This led to:

Features being built based on assumptions, not user needs
Repeated design revisions due to unclear problem definitions
Fragmented insights stored across Slack, Notion, and emails
A lack of user voice influencing product decisions

The company needed a unified, scalable UX research system to support evidence-based design and ensure product decisions reflected real user behavior—not assumptions.

The Process

Since Virtusize lacked any formal UX research structure, I created a customized research process tailored to the company’s size, tools, and workflow.

My Process Included:

Identifying research gaps through interviews with PMs, designers, and CS
Defining goals for a scalable research system
Creating a standardized research framework
Establishing a repeatable workflow: planning → research → analysis → output → integration
Building a centralized knowledge base for all insights
Rolling out the process internally through workshops and documentation

The goal was to create something that was repeatable, easy to follow, and valuable to every team.

The Research

To understand what the new system needed, I conducted three key research methods:

Interviews: Spoke with internal teams and users to uncover gaps in both the product and our existing research approach.
Surveys (English & Japanese): Collected quantitative and qualitative data through SurveyMonkey to identify user behaviors and pain points.
Usability Tests: Ran video and in-person sessions with 10 participants to evaluate current flows and surface recurring issues.

Key Findings:

No single source of truth for insights
Repeated user issues were not documented
No standard process for when or how to conduct research
Insights lived in people’s heads, not shared tools

These findings confirmed the need for a formal, structured UX research system.

Mockups & User Flows (Pre-Design Work)

With insights in hand, I created user flows showing how the new research process should operate—covering initiation, planning, participant recruitment, execution, synthesis, and documentation.

Key elements included:

Research request flow for product teams
Standardized templates for interviews, surveys, and tests
Insight tagging system for easier retrieval
Decision-making touchpoints for PMs and Designers

These early flows helped stakeholders visualize how the system would function end-to-end.

Wireframes & High-Fidelity Output

Although internal branding constraints limited visual design, I still created:

Wireframes for the UX knowledge base
Layouts for the research dashboard
Annotated templates for future studies
High-fidelity interface components for consistent documentation

These designs made the system easy to adopt and reduced friction for teams performing research.

Additional Work (Client Interviews & Feedback)

To ensure research also supported business goals, I conducted client interviews to understand:

Pain points retailers experienced
What insights they valued most
What information helped them sell more effectively
How they used Virtusize on their site

This additional layer of feedback helped shape the research system into a tool that not only improved user experience—but also strengthened client relationships and sales discussions.

Insight Creation

I built a centralized UX Knowledge Base that included:

User insights
Usability findings
Client feedback
Cross-team observations
Data-backed recommendations

Each entry was searchable and labeled by:

Persona
Feature
Severity
Opportunity type
Supporting evidence (quote, metric, test result)

This system allowed teams to validate assumptions instantly and ensured no feedback got lost.

Integration to the Design System

To ensure longevity, I layered research checkpoints into every stage:

Discovery: Interviews + data review
Concepting: Rapid user validation
Prototype testing: Usability tests + feedback loops
Post-launch: Monitoring actual user behavior
Iteration cycles: Updating the knowledge base

This created a culture of user-led decision making.

Adoption & Impact

Tangible Results:

80% of insights were used in roadmap decisions
Reduced design iteration time by 30%
Improved alignment between Product, Engineering, and Growth
Increased confidence in feature direction
More informed client conversations backed by user evidence

Instead of designing based on assumptions, we designed based on real user voices.

Next Steps

To continue maturing the UX research practice at Virtusize, the next steps include:

Expanding research coverage to more verticals and markets
Introducing localization for Japanese and Korean participants
Automating insights tagging for easier discovery
Integrating research tools into the design system
Running quarterly research cycles tied to product goals
Continuous refinement of the knowledge base as new insights accumulate

These next steps ensure the research practice remains scalable, efficient, and deeply embedded in the product development lifecycle.

Learning

This project taught me how to navigate a large, cross-team initiative with varying expectations and priorities. It showed me the importance of planning, documentation, and clear communication, especially when transforming a company’s design culture. It also revealed how essential technical understanding is when building scalable systems, inspiring me to deepen my skills in product development to collaborate even more effectively in the future.

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