Have you tried a UX Research canvas?

A few weeks ago, I was asked to present a research plan for a company — and every decision I made had to be justified. Since my plan needed to align with the company’s vision, strategy, business goals, and other background information I received, I started wondering how I could present my ideas clearly and keep all the reference material at hand to support my reasoning.

The first thing that came to mind was the Business Model Canvas. I had this visual idea of how I wanted to organise everything: something creative and smart. And when I say smart, I don’t mean flashy — I mean something that would make more sense than the traditional presentation flow, where background information comes first and the actual solution (or in this case, the research plan) is only revealed at the end. By the time you get there, people often don’t even remember the earlier context.

That’s where the UXR Canvas came in.

I searched for existing templates but didn’t like any of them. So I created my own, directly in Miro (see below). I like using Miro because I can move freely across the board, guiding the audience through my thinking and easily pulling in supporting information from nearby slides when needed.

I started the presentation with my UXR Canvas but also referred to surrounding slides with tables and analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data provided. Alongside the canvas, I included a more detailed work plan — outlining key questions for each method, specific considerations, and important notes for every stage of the research process:

The feedback was very positive, and I found the format extremely helpful. I’ve decided to adopt it as a standard tool for presenting research proposals moving forward. I also shared it with a few colleagues who have already started using it in their own work.

If you think it might be useful for you too, I’ve included a template for download below. Feel free to customise it or build your own version — it can be a surprisingly fun and reflective process.

Have you tried something similar? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

UXR_Canvas_Milena_Lopes.pdf

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