prototyping and usability testing your designs
Post on 17-Oct-2014
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Learn how to use prototyping and usability testing as a means to validate proposed functionality and designs before you invest in development. SOMETIMES there is a huge disconnect between the people who make a product and the people who use it. Usability testing is vital to uncovering the areas where these disconnects happen. In this symposium you will learn the steps to conduct a successful usability test. This includes tips and real life examples on how to plan the tests, recruit users, facilitate the sessions, analyze the data, and communicate the results.TRANSCRIPT
PROTOTYPING AND
USABILITY TESTING
Elizabeth Snowdon
Business / Web Analyst Consultant specializing in User Centred Design
About me
Senior Business / Web Analyst Consultant
Specialization in User Centred Design
Over 12 years experience in high-technology companies leading software implementations, usability testing and web site design projects
Conducting usability tests since 2003
Clients/projects include:
Sage
PMC-Sierra
Vancity
Royal Bank of Canada
Key takeaways
Benefits of usability testing
When in the software development lifecycle to
apply usability testing
Prototyping to test design concepts
Learn the fundamentals of usability testing
What is usability?
ISO 9241-11
“the extent to which a product can be used by specified
users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness,
efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use.”
Usability Professionals Association
Is an approach that incorporates direct user feedback
throughout the development cycle in order to reduce
costs and create products and tools that meet user
needs
What is usability?
Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think
“..making sure that something works well: that a person
of average (or even below average) ability and
experience can use the thing --- for it’s intended
purpose without getting hopelessly frustrated”
Commonality of usability definitions
A user is involved
That user is doing something
That user is doing something with a product, system,
or other thing.
Tullis and Albert
User Centered Design
Focus on users’ needs, tasks, and goals
Invest in initial research and requirements
Identify your target audience and observe them
Let users define product requirements
Iterative design process
Observe real target users using the system
What
When
Usability testing
What is usability testing?
is a technique used to evaluate a product by testing
it on representative users.
test users will try to complete typical tasks while
observers watch, listen and takes notes.
Can usability be measured?
Using usability metrics
Most common metrics:
Effectiveness – being able to complete a task
Efficiency – amount of effort required to complete a
task
Satisfaction – degree to which the user is happy with
his/her experience
5 E’s of usability
Effective: How completely and accurately the work
or experience is completed or goals reached
Efficient: How quickly this work can be completed
Engaging: How pleasant and satisfying it is to use
Error Tolerant: How well the product prevents errors
and can help the user recover from mistakes
Easy to Learn: How well the product supports both
the initial and continued learning
When to usability test
Usability testing throughout the product lifecycle
- Rubin and Chisnell
Agile / Usability Testing process
Source: The Ladders
Usability test types
Why test?
Testing benefits
Usability testing
Informing design
Identify and rectify usability deficiencies prior to
product release
Intent to create products that:
Are useful to and valued by target audience
Are easy to learn
Help people to be efficient and effective
Are satisfying (delightful) to use
Eliminating design problems and
frustration
Expectation that products are high quality and easy
to use
Demonstrate that goals and priorities of customer
are important
Release a product that customers find useful,
effective, efficient and satisfying
Improving profitability
Creating a historical record of usability benchmarks
for future releases
Minimizing the cost of service and support calls
Increasing sales and the probability of repeat sales
Acquiring a competitive edge
Minimizing the risk
Who
How many
Usability Testing
Follow the principles
“Many usability tests are worthless.
Researchers recruit the wrong kind of
participants, test the wrong kind of
tasks, put too much weight on people's
opinions, and expect participants to
generate design solutions.”
David Travis,
Mar 7, 2011
Test participants
Participant’s background and abilities should be
representative of your product’s intended user
user profile – person with the relevant behaviour,
skills, and knowledge who will use your product.
Visualize the test participant
We want to find out where in the process of creating
an expense report employees meet obstacles to
completing and submitting their reports [the test
objective]. The user of our employee expense
reporting system travels about four times a year,
attends one conference per year and creates about
ten different reports a year. He or she is comfortable
using computers and likes the ability to submit reports
remotely.
How many users to test?
6-8 users per test or 5 users spread over multiple tests
little ROI in testing more than 9 users
Source:
Jakob Nielsen
Quantitative tests – test 20 users
Experts recommend that you test at least 20 users for quantitative studies.
Source: Jakob Nielsen
Where to test
Usability testing
Testing locations
Lab
Office
bar, café
remote testing
Usability lab
Testing in a conference room
Informal usability testing
Remote testing requirements
Moderator / Note-taker
Screen sharing: WebEx or web conferencing tool
Recording: Morae, Camtasia
Speakerphone
Participant
High speed internet access
Speakerphone or headset telephone
for more info, go to Remote Testing Presentation http://bit.ly/7RYwSO
Prototyping
Benefits of prototyping
Prototyping is generative.
Communicates using show and tell
Reduces misinterpretation
saves time, effort and money
creates a feedback loop, which ultimately reduces
risk
Dimensions of fidelity
Fred Beecher
Appropriate Fidelity
“There is no such thing as high or low fidelity, only
appropriate fidelity.” Bill Buxton
Depends on
where you are in the product development cycle
your goals and your audience
Sketch / Mock-up / Final Prototype
Low Visual and Low Functional Fidelity
can be made swiftly, changed without repercussion,
and still help visualize a concept.
answering large structural questions:
Does the system have all the features required to
support the user’s goals?
Does the workflow make sense at a high level?
Which UX concept works best?
Coming to consensus on a UX concept with stakeholders
Paper prototype example
Low Visual and High Functional Fidelity
interactive, HTML interactive wireframes
Evaluating the usability of proposed designs for new systems
Exploring isolated interactions as a proof-of-concept
Validating UX design direction with stakeholders
Validating the implementation of requirements with stakeholders
Supplementing printed documentation for development teams
Performing remote testing
High Visual / High Functional Fidelity
Not usually worth the time and effort
Useful for:
Evaluating the usability of proposed UX designs for an
existing system
Performing usability tests with non-savvy user groups
Supplementing printed documentation for offshore
development teams
Prototyping tools
Paper
Visio
PowerPoint
Dreamweaver
Axure
Omnigraffle
Ilustrator
Balsamiq
How to test?
Test planning
Usability testing
Usability test process
Planning
Test
environment
Recruiting
Test
materials
Test conduct
&
debriefing
Analyze
results
Report &
Presentation
Planning your test
Decide what to test
What are your objectives
What data will you collect
Who is your target audience?
Write a screener
Decide on test location
Remote, lab, conference room, coffee shop
Write tasks that meet your objectives
Deciding what to test
Understand requirements
What do users want to accomplish?
What does the company want to accomplish?
Determine the goals
What tasks does the web site or application support?
Decide on the area of focus
Tasks that have the most impact on your site
Typical tasks
Most critical tasks
Test plan
Purpose, goals, and objectives
Participant characteristics
Method (test design)
Task list
Test environment, equipment and logistics
Test moderator role
Evaluation measures (data to be collected)
Report contents and presentation
Source: Rubin and Chisnell
Recruiting users
Recruit internally or outsource to agency?
Sources of test candidates
Your own company’s list of existing customers
Referrals from sales and marketing
Advertising on Craigslist
Company’s web site or blog
Societies and Associations
Prepare test materials
Orientation script
Background questionnaire
NDA and recording consent
Pre-test questionnaire
Data collection tools
Task scenarios
Post-test questionnaire
Debriefing topics
Task types
First impression questions
What is your impression of this home page or
application?
Exploratory task
Open-ended / research-oriented
e.g. Find a cellular phone plan for yourself
Directed tasks
Specific / answer-oriented
e.g. Find contact information for customer support
Metrics
Task success
Task time
Errors
Efficiency
Number of steps required to perform a task
Self-reported metrics
Likert scale
Do you prefer A or B?
Questionnaires
Prepare the prototype
Freeze code one week prior to test
Run through the scenarios
Dry run prior to test week
Conducting a Test
Test moderator conduct
Put the participants at ease
Give participants time to work through hindrances
Offer appropriate encouragement
Ask non-leading questions
Observe user behavior
Listen to user feedback
Facilitator stays quiet, observes, take notes
Test one user at a time
Mainly qualitative
Debriefing
Exploring and reviewing the participant’s actions
during the test
Goal – understand why every error, difficulty and
omission occurred for every participant for every
session.
Debrief with observers too.
Analyze results
Present
Analyze and present
Contact information
If you have any questions regarding this presentation or usability
testing, please feel free to contact me.
linkedin.com/in/elizabethsnowdon
@elizSnowdon
Email: [email protected]
Web: elizabethsnowdon.ca
References
Tullis, Albert (2009), Measuring the User Experience .
Rubin, Chisnell (2008), Handbook of Usability Testing.
Usability.gov http://www.usability.gov/
Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/
Usability Professionals Association http://www.upassoc.org/
Jeff Sauro – Quantitative Usability http://www.measuringusability.com/calc.php
STC usability site http://www.stcsig.org/usability/
Warfel, Todd Zaki (2009), Prototyping
Nielsen, Jakob, and Landauer, Thomas K.: "A mathematical model of the finding of usability problems," Proceedings of ACM INTERCHI'93 Conference (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 24-29 April 1993), pp. 206-213.
Q&A
Thank you for listening.