Overview: I worked with the marketing team from the User Interviews. They provide fast, affordable recruiting for UX research
The UX Research Tools Map is their annual guide that helps UX researchers explore and choose the best tools for their work
For the 2024 edition, my job was to make custom illustrations and design supporting marketing materials. I focused on making everything look clear and visually engaging to keep the map helpful and fun to explore
my role: Illustration, Design of marketing materials
The 2024 edition organizes over 800 tools — a massive challenge to handle. To keep things visually clear, the map was divided into 7 regions with 42 key locations, 27 adjacent categories, and 22 overlapping categories
MAP LAYOUT and style exploration
The User Interviews team wanted to keep the same visual style as in the previous year, so the 2023 UX Tools Map became my main inspiration
To make the 2024 edition unique, I explored old Gothic books, pen drawing techniques, and fantasy worlds like The Witcher, Pentiment, and The Lord of the Rings
For the connection routes, I chose vector lines to contrast with the hand-drawn shapes of the map illustration. Subway maps served as my guide for these clean, structured paths
Concept sketches
I made sure the map could work in different contexts by keeping everything modular — each piece was imported as a separate object to Figma. This made last-minute changes, like moving locations or tweaking the layout, super quick and easy. I also labeled and organized all the assets in Figma so they’re simple to find and use
Supporting marketing Materials
Here’s how everything came together! From the map illustration to the marketing materials, the goal was to create something that looked interesting and made it easy to explore
CREDITS
User Interviews team
🐈 Research, curation, storytelling, and creative direction: Katryna Balboni
💻 Web experience & design: Holly Holden
🖌️ Illustration & supporting design: Jane Izmailova
Font source: Adobe Fonts subscription (Schmaltzy, Courier Prime, Vollkorn)
💻 Web experience & design: Holly Holden
🖌️ Illustration & supporting design: Jane Izmailova
Font source: Adobe Fonts subscription (Schmaltzy, Courier Prime, Vollkorn)
