06 Oct The Faces Behind Fluent: Charlotte Beatty
In celebration of Fluent Research’s 20th anniversary, we’re highlighting the people whose experience, ideas, and perspectives have helped shape our company. This week, we’re featuring User Experience Researcher Charlotte Beatty.
Charlotte was drawn to Fluent’s focus on research that makes a positive difference in people’s lives. Her work brings together user experiences (UX) research, design strategy, and a particular enthusiasm for turning findings into visual stories. Whether she’s collaborating with young people on digital design or exploring how people use new technologies, Charlotte values staying open to unexpected findings and perspectives beyond the majority view.
Get to know Charlotte in our latest Q&A, including her background in ballet, the artists who inspire her, and the surprising role a jellyfish livestream plays in her workday.
1. Charlotte, what inspired you to join Fluent Research?
I was inspired to join Fluent because of its impressive range of work and focus areas. I really believed (and still believe) in the company’s ethos as a research firm – we work with partners that not only seek to improve products and systems for end users, but really produce positive impacts, whether that is making tech safer for children and families, supporting adolescent and young adult self-expression, or improving education systems. Fluent approaches the intersection of tech and human interest in a way that really resonates with my own interests as a researcher.
2. What’s your role at Fluent, and what does a typical day look like for you?
I am a UX Researcher who focuses on design strategy, UX testing and foundational research. I am typically managing multiple projects at once, so a normal day can look like designing methodology and research structure for an upcoming study, collecting data for a study that’s in the field, analyzing data sets, writing up synthesis, or figuring out how to design and visualize findings (my favorite).
3. What’s been your most memorable project or moment at Fluent?
I loved our partnership with Pinterest a few years ago researching youth wellbeing. I feel like we uncovered a lot of unique findings that really highlighted the nuance in youth identity construction and wellbeing and how that can translate into product design. It’s also always so much fun to get to collaborate with young folks on how they want to see digital spaces designed for them.
I am also really proud of our partnership with the Google Vids and Pics team. We’ve been working together for a few years now and it’s been so much fun to support different iterations and launches of their products over time. Conducting research alongside active design iterations and product launches is always really exciting for me.
4. How has Fluent evolved since you joined?
Fluent has grown so much! There are many more talented and awesome people on the team since I joined four years ago. I really appreciate all the knowledge and diversity of perspective the team brings. Everyone has a different background and set of expertise. I think we all help inform each other’s work and make each other better researchers.
5. What’s one thing you’ve learned about research that surprised you?
Being open-minded about your findings is really important, and so is valuing unusual, outlier or fringe data. It’s essential to try and stay objective as possible when you’re analyzing something and think about your findings in relation to the product or system they are intended to reveal something about – not in relation to your own perspective and opinions, or even that of your client’s. Bias can never totally be untangled from research, but I’ve learned that our work becomes much more effective and impactful for our partners when we take all of our data at face value and ground it in what it reveals about the products, systems, or end users we are trying to understand, rather than merely trying to confirm or deny a research question or focus on a majority opinion.
6. What’s your favorite part of working at Fluent, Charlotte?
I love the people and our range of work! Both make my day to day life much more interesting. Everyone is willing to help each other out, hop into different projects, and share perspectives on different project areas. I think because our work and our team covers such a wide range of topics and industry areas, it lends itself well to giving everyone a cross-disciplinary perspective and three-dimensional approach to research design and application.
7. What’s a fun fact about you that most people don’t know?
I was a preprofessional ballerina for my entire childhood and adolescence (3-18) and I still take ballet classes for fun on occasion, though I have shifted my movement practice to other mediums nowadays. I’ve performed many different ballets and variations but my favorite ballet of all time, to watch or perform, is Giselle.
8. If you could have dinner with any public or historical figure, who would it be and why?
So this would be panel, sort of an esteemed council or Socratic seminar situation if you will: David Lynch, Clarice Lispector, SOPHIE and Lady Gaga. I am really inspired not just by the art that all four of them have created, but the different relationships they all have to the creative process. I think they are all completely unique and each made paradigm shifting, trail-blazing work that has not only completely shaped who I am as a person, but the world and culture at large. They all have philosophies and outlooks on art and creation that I find to be incredibly guiding and resonant. And they all know how to walk between polarity – I think there’s a palpable sense of joy in the work they all create that exists alongside more somber realities they may be simultaneously examining.
9. What’s a book, movie, or podcast you’d recommend to everyone?
Critics at Large by The New Yorker is my comfort podcast. I love their cultural analysis and the literary references they bring to their discussions.
I have way too many favorite movies to list here, but in relation to research, I recommend Arrival.
It’s about a linguistic researcher, and I could never ever spoil it, but it examines really beautiful
themes of being open to the unknown. I cry from happiness almost every time I watch it.
My favorite book I’ve read this year is Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. The writing is beautiful, the way Akbar structures time is so poetic and flows so well, and I thought the themes of pursuing art, finding family, and facing death were all really beautiful and well-executed.
10. What’s your go-to productivity hack?
NTS Radio, YouTube DJ sets, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Jelly Cam – a livestream of the jellyfish tank. Also one pomegranate Yerba, bricking my phone, and getting 8 hours of sleep.
11. Charlotte, if you weren’t in research, what career would you have pursued?
In my wildest dreams I would be painting all day next to a large body of water or DJing with my friends.
12. What does Fluent’s 20th Anniversary mean to you?
It means I am but a small speck in a large and illustrious history! And that the founding team really built a strong structure for designing and executing essential research.
13. How do you see Fluent evolving in the next 20 years?
I think Fluent is a critical force in the safe and effective development of new human-centered technology and I hope we continue to expand that role across the design landscape, particularly in relation to product trust and safety.
14. What’s one word you’d use to describe Fluent Research? Why?
Precise – we are intentional and directed in our work.
15. What’s your favorite way to unwind after a busy day?
Yoga or Pilates.
16. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
I am going to Morocco later this year for a surf camp with some friends. It’s always been on my bucket list, and you can only watch Surf’s Up so many times before you must take matters into your own hands.
17. What’s your favorite snack or drink to have while working?
Trail mix or a cardamom bun.
18. What’s a hobby or activity you’re passionate about outside of work, Charlotte?
Cooking! I am obsessed with my grill and my dutch oven and using them to make new recipes. Also my garden – I am currently growing tomatoes and basil and hope to expand to some other veggies and herbs soon.