Capt'n Q

It’s so very nice to meet you.

Hi, I’m Quintin Carlson, but feel free to call me “Q” — most everyone does. I’m a researcher and designer based in both San Francisco and Chicago. I wrote this User Experience Research Field Guide (UXR Field Guide) to help designers, product managers, and leaders at all companies feel confident conducting and evangelizing user research across their organizations. No matter if they are a solo designer, on a small team, or inside a larger corporation.

Why you can trust me

I’ve conducted thousands of hours of user research across every continent outside Antartica. (Though don’t count it out just yet.) I have experience conducting research a wild variety of environments from high-end user research labs to gorilla research riding shotgun with truck drivers outside Istanbul.

Right now, I’m a co-founder and the Chief Product Officer of The New Money Company of San Francisco, a YC-backed startup improving global trade.

Previously, I was the Senior Vice President of Design at project44 — building platforms that saved the supply chains of your favorite brands from the pandemic.

Before that, I was the Vice President of Design for Hologram— a global cellular carrier for IoT devices. And I led design research for Flexport — a freight forwarder, non-vessel operating common carrier, and customs broker.

Prior, I’ve worked as a designer for ed-tech giant Quizlet, upstart cloud publishing company Inkling, and the big, green, note-taking elephant known as Evernote. I’ve also helped out at a number of small, usually YC-backed startups. Earlier, I graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, with a degree in Human-Computer Interaction and Decision Science.

Acknowledgements

This guide was greatly influenced by amazing designers, researchers, and product managers I’ve had the chance to work with. Particularly Gabby Marcu, Meagan Timney, Sophia Bender Koning, Amalia Nelson, Mary Becica, Molli Simpson, Jason Parker, Gentian Edwards, Becca Ling, Mikey Wey, Joseph Williams, Megan Ward, Skye Selbiger, Alyssa Kreer and the incomparable Sean Nelson. As well as designers I respect the greatest, including Angela Liu, and the wonderful Adil Majid.

Get in touch

Of course, I would great appreciate any feedback you have – from errors (and typos) to topic suggestions. Find me on twitter and instagram @qcintheair or email uxr@quintin.org. My blog is available at nonoinflight.com.