Good UX work can still become inconsistent when the process lives
across scattered notes, blank documents and improvised checklists. AI
product teams may forget recovery and permission states. Research
sessions may begin without a decision-focused plan. Portfolio case
studies may show polished screens without explaining the evidence behind
them.
I created three practical, downloadable UX resources to solve those
problems. Together, they help designers and product teams review an AI
experience, plan and run user research, and turn completed work into a
clear case study.
Choose the right UX template
| Free resource | Best for | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| AI & Agentic UX Checklist | Designers and teams reviewing AI-powered experiences | 48 review checks, a risk scorecard and launch test scenarios |
| Complete UX Research Starter Kit | Designers, researchers and product teams planning a study | Research plan, method guide, screener, scripts, notes, severity scale and findings templates |
| UX Case Study Template | UX/UI designers preparing portfolios or interviews | A nine-part case-study structure, evidence prompts and a final quality checklist |
All three resources are available as a ready-to-use PDF and an
editable Word document.
Why these UX templates
matter in 2026
AI has made it faster to generate interfaces, content and product
directions. It has not removed the need to define the right problem,
observe real users or explain why a design decision was made.
Microsoft’s Guidelines
for Human-AI Interaction organize 18 evidence-based guidelines
across initial interaction, regular use, failure and long-term
behaviour. Google’s People + AI
Guidebook similarly emphasizes user needs, mental models, feedback,
control and graceful failure. These principles are useful, but teams
still need a practical way to apply them during a real project.
Research also needs structure. The W3C recommends involving people
with disabilities in evaluation because real-user testing can reveal
usability barriers that conformance checks alone may miss. It also
cautions teams not to generalize from limited evidence. Read the
W3C guidance on involving users.
The templates below turn those principles into questions, fields and
decisions that can be used during everyday UX work.
1. AI & Agentic UX
Checklist
What it helps you review
AI experiences are less predictable than traditional interfaces. They
can infer intent, generate uncertain output, connect to other tools and
sometimes take actions for the user. A polished interface can therefore
hide important risks.
The AI & Agentic UX Checklist contains 48 checks
covering:
- User value and the need for AI
- Capability disclosure and realistic expectations
- User intent, control and reversibility
- Permissions and action boundaries
- Transparency and explainability
- Uncertainty, errors and recovery
- Trust, privacy and safety
- Accessibility and inclusion
- Feedback, learning and monitoring
It also includes a scoring system and eight realistic launch
scenarios. A critical zero in safety, permissions, privacy or recovery
overrides the total score, helping teams identify problems that should
block release.
Who should use it
Use this checklist when designing or reviewing AI assistants,
recommendation systems, generative tools, automated workflows or agentic
products that can act across connected services.
2. Complete UX Research
Starter Kit
What it helps you plan
Research becomes useful when it is tied to a decision. The
Complete UX Research Starter Kit guides a project from
the first research question to a clear readout.
It includes:
- A decision-focused research plan
- A method-selection guide
- A participant screener
- Consent and participant-care prompts
- A user-interview guide
- A moderated usability-test script
- Task templates and session notes
- A 0-4 issue-severity scale
- Synthesis and findings templates
- A research readout with decisions, owners and open questions
The kit separates observed behaviour from interpretation and
recommendations. That distinction makes findings easier to defend and
reduces the risk of turning one participant’s comment into an
unsupported product decision.
Who should use it
Use it for discovery interviews, moderated usability testing,
prototype evaluation and small research studies. It is especially
helpful for designers who need to conduct responsible research without
rebuilding every document from scratch.
3. UX Case Study Template
What it helps you
communicate
A UX case study should show how you think, not only what you made.
The UX Case Study Template helps designers build a
concise story around the problem, constraints, evidence, decisions,
iterations and impact.
Its nine-part structure covers:
- Context and problem
- Role, team and scope
- Research and evidence
- Insights and opportunity
- Design decisions
- Iterations and testing
- Final solution
- Outcomes and impact
- Reflection
The template also includes an evidence planner and a 12-point quality
check for clarity, honest ownership, accessibility, confidentiality,
image quality and two-minute scannability.
Who should use it
Use it when preparing a UX/UI portfolio, documenting client work or
turning a project into an interview-ready story. If research or metrics
were unavailable, the prompts encourage you to state the limitation
rather than inventing evidence.
Use all three as one UX
workflow
These resources are most useful when they support one connected
process:
- Plan the research. Use the Research Starter Kit to
define the decision, choose the method, recruit relevant participants
and prepare the session. - Collect and synthesize evidence. Record behaviour,
issues, severity, findings and limitations before deciding what should
change. - Review AI behaviour before launch. If the product
uses AI, apply the Agentic UX Checklist to expectations, permissions,
control, failure, accessibility and monitoring. - Document the project honestly. Use the Case Study
Template to connect the problem, evidence, design decisions, iterations
and results into a concise story.
This workflow keeps the work practical: research informs the design,
the checklist tests the experience, and the case study explains the
reasoning.
A note on responsible use
These templates are original practical resources, not substitutes for
legal, privacy, security, accessibility or research-ethics review. Adapt
them to the risk, audience and requirements of your project.
If you are reviewing an AI-generated website, also read 7 UX
Problems AI Website Builders Miss in 2026.
Need help applying the templates to a product or website? Explore my
UX/UI design
solutions.
