At the beginning of a UX research and design project a Stakeholder Interview should be conducted to find out the Business Goals, Existing Research including User Research, Competitors and Technological Limitations.
Interviews
Stakeholder Interview — UX Knowledge Base Sketches
The Design of Everyday Things is a best-selling book by cognitive scientist and usability engineer Donald Norman about how design serves as the communication between object and user, and how to optimize that conduit of communication in order to make the experience of using the object pleasurable.