guest lecture on guerilla usability testing and paper prototyping

Usability testing and paper prototyping

REBECCA TOPPS

UX DESIGNER

SIGMA

What is usability?

“”

Usability really just means making sure that something works well – whether it’s a website, a fighter jet or a revolving door.

Steve Krug

Usability is affected by:

The users - who is using the product? e.g. are they highly trained and experienced users, or novices?

Their goals - what are the users trying to do with the product - does it support what they want to do with it?

The context of use - where and how is the product being used?

Usability Testing:

a technique used to evaluate a product (e.g. a website) by testing it on users

http://www.mediamatic.nl/49341/en/usability-testers-manualImage credit:

Guerilla usability testing

Doesn’t involve Gorillas!

Guerilla user testing is a low cost method of user testing. The term ‘guerilla’ refers to its ‘out in the wild’ style, in the fact that it can be conducted anywhere e.g. cafe, library, train station etc, essentially anywhere where there is significant footfall.

Advantages Quick and easy to

perform Inexpensive so can

afford multiple tests Results can be fed

back into the design process almost immediately with no loss of signal

Disadvantages You have to recruit

participants, arrange locations and write tests yourself

Familiarity with the website may introduce personal bias

Recruiting participants: Think about who your target audience

is

Ask friends, family, tutors or students

Ask people at coffee shops or a public place where your target audience will be

(Ensure you get permission before testing at events or public places)

Use social media to advertise for participants

Create flyers and posters advertising for participants

Image credit: http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/the-art-of-guerilla-usability-testing/ /

Setting up the testing environment You need very little resources to set up a good

testing environment.

Make sure to reserve a room that you can test in a quiet environment without a lot of distractions.

You will need: One laptop (or computer) with recording software

Silverback for Macs or Bandicam for Windows

A USB-mouse, for ease when people don't like using the trackpad

Separate paper slips which include every scenario

A notepad for keeping notes during user tests

Something to drink (and to eat)

Planning Book a room (e.g. Media factory meeting rooms) Recruit participants Schedule in times and dates with your participants Create tasks and scenarios Write a usability testing script Conduct a risk assessment on your testing environment Organise your equipment Download usability testing recording software (Bandicam or Silverback) Print out copies of the tasks for the user and permission forms

Creating usability testing tasks

Bad example:Search for a bookcase

Good example:You have 200+ books in your fiction collection, currently in boxes

placed around your living room.

Find a way to organise them.

Task 1A (15 minutes)

1. Choose a website

2. Write down 3 tasks for a usability test on the website

Being a facilitator

A facilitator is the person who carries out the usability test

They guide the participant through the entire test, including greeting the person

The facilitator should listen to the participant, including asking them what they think about the website and how they would use it when at home

Guidance on what a facilitator should say: http://www.sensible.com/downloads/things-a-therapist-would-say.pdf

Task 1B (30-40 minutes)

1. Get into pairs

2. Choose a person in the pair to be the facilitator (and the other person will be the participant)

3. Facilitator conduct a usability test on the participant using the website and tasks you created earlier (if it helps take notes of the main findings during the test)

4. After you have completed the usability test swap roles and carry out the usability test again

Paper prototyping

A usability testing technique which is used to observe the human interaction with user interfaces even before these interfaces are designed and developed

http://usabilitygeek.com/paper-prototyping-as-a-usability-testing-technique/

Image credit:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wQkLthhHKA

Advantages Fast way to mock up an

interface — no coding required

Finds a wide variety of problems in an interface

Allows an interface to be refined based on user feedback before implementation begins

A multidisciplinary team can participate

Encourages creativity from the product team and users alike

Disadvantages Does not find all classes

of problems with an interface

Can affect the way users interact with the interface

Makes some development teams nervous because they fear users will think it unprofessional

Has stronger benefits in some situations than in others

POP

POP is an iPhone application that gives you the ability to take photos of your paper prototypes, make them interactive and test the prototype on users.

https://popapp.in/Image credit:

Task 2A (30 minutes)

1. Read over your findings from the usability test you did earlier

2. Draw a new design for the website - You can choose any pages you think need re-designing and draw them out using the desktop and mobile templates provided.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pop-prototyping-on-paper/id555647796

Image credit:

Task 2B (30 minutes)

1. Use your own (or a university) phone/tablet and download the POP application

2. Take photos of your designs on POP

3. Link up your designs on POP

4. With the pairs you were in earlier, take turns to ask the other person to click around your prototype

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pop-prototyping-on-paper/id555647796

Image credit:

Resources

Usability recording software

http://www.bandicam.com/http://silverbackapp.com/

Useful Books

Useful links

Steve Krug website

Website usability testing tools

Video of a Sigma employee’s guerilla testing presentation

An article about the art of usability testing

Information from Gov.UK on guerilla usability testing

Slideshow from Silverback about guerilla testing

Slideshow explaining how to run your own guerilla usability test

Any questions?

Get in touchEmail: rebecca.topps@sigma.se

LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/rebeccatopps/

Twitter: @beckytopps