Drake Durflinger

UX researcher · SCAD ’27 · Savannah

Somewhere in here is the answer. Let’s go find it.

I’m Drake Durflinger, a UX researcher. I find what a room full of people won’t say out loud, and turn it into what teams build next.

Field notes

0 of 5 found

Five people in this crowd are carrying my work. Nobody’s wearing a name tag.

It’s dark in here. Move your light through the crowd, or press Tab. It’s dark in here. Tap around the crowd. Tip: watch who isn’t going anywhere.

All of them. Most people walk right past. There they are. Hover or tap anyone in color. That’s the job →

Those circles are your scanpath: every place your attention paused.

Red Dot Award 2026 winnerIDEA 2026 Finalist

Find them · or scroll

Selected work

Selected work · five objects, five rooms

  1. 01 · TreeTestAi.com · Live product · 2026

    A free UX research platform, built by the students who needed it.

    Research tools cost more than students could pay, so Kate Besel and I built a free one: card sorts, tree tests, usability tests, surveys and interviews in one place.

    Take a closer look →

  2. 02 · COSMOS.so redesign · 2026

    Designers collected on Cosmos, then left to do the real work.

    342 notes, three moments where the workflow leaked, and a vibe-coded redesign that took usability from 56 to 91.

    Take a closer look →

  3. 03 · Soteria · Red Dot 2026 · IDEA finalist

    Deciding what not to show a firefighter.

    An AR mask and command tablet. The research decided what the visor keeps quiet until it matters.

    Take a closer look →

  4. 04 · AMBL · 2026

    A daily briefing, not a dashboard.

    A smart shoe for people with Parkinson’s, and the research behind what it tells them.

    Step inside →

  5. 05 · ShopGoodwill.com · IA redesign · 2026

    Thrifting without the frustration.

    A redesign of shopgoodwill.com’s categories, from thirty top-level menus to seven, tested twice in the tool that became TreeTestAi.

    Take a closer look →
  1. TreeTestAi
  2. COSMOS
  3. Soteria
  4. AMBL
  5. ShopGoodwill

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More work →

The two of us on a white garden footbridge, smiling, under an old oak hung with Spanish moss.

Who I am

Engineering taught me to take things apart. Research lets me do it with people.

In high school I took a lot of engineering classes and a couple of construction ones. I loved AutoCAD and Inventor, and building houses from floor plans: breaking things down, building them up, understanding why they work.

UX research is the same job with people: why they do what they do, and where it hurts.

Studying
BFA, User Experience Research, minor in Business Management & Entrepreneurship · SCAD, class of 2027
From
Austin, TX · studying in Savannah, GA
Methods
Interviews, usability testing, affinity mapping, card sorting, journey mapping, heuristic evaluation, SUS, field testing, competitive analysis

Speaking

I’ve put TreeTestAi in front of a real room.

Kate Besel and Drake on stage at UX360 North America, in front of the conference banners: Drake, in a black shirt beside the lectern, mid-explanation; Kate, in a lilac blazer, smiling.
Photo: UX360 North America

UX360 North America · Atlanta · April 2026

TreeTestAi, on stage with Kate Besel

A group of SCAD UX design and research students went to UX360 in Atlanta. Kate, my co-founder, and I were invited on stage to demo TreeTestAi, then to join a panel on how we use AI.

We built it as students, because the industry’s tools cost more than most students, or their schools, can pay. It started as research tools by students, for students. Now anyone can sign up for free, and it’s still built for students, wherever they are.

Contact

Looking for a UX researcher? Let’s talk.