guest lecture on guerilla usability testing and paper prototyping
DESCRIPTION
A guest lecture by Rebecca Topps who is a UX designer at Sigma. This lecture was presented at The university of Central Lancashire and was about about guerilla usability testing and paper prototyping. Tasks were set for the students to do in the lecture including writing their own user testing tasks; carrying out a small usability test and re-designing a website based on their test findings.TRANSCRIPT
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:
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: [email protected]
LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/rebeccatopps/
Twitter: @beckytopps