The what, when, why and how of usability 16th May 2012

Fiona Harwood SimpleUsability Ltd http://www.simpleusability.com © Copyright 2012 SimpleUsability Please ask for explicit permission before republishing any of this information.

Session

• About me

• What – Is usability?

• When - Process and techniques overview

• How - Techniques explained and how to adapt in-house

• Why - Common usability requirements and how to solve

• Usability examples and questions

About me

• Graduated as Product Designer

• Have worked in various

industries working with IT

projects

• Intranet manager for 5 years

• Trained in usability

• Working full time as Senior User

Experience Consultant for

SimpleUsability Ltd

fi_harwood

About SimpleUsability

• SimpleUsability is a behavioural research consultancy

• We combine a unique methodology with the latest

technology to provide invaluable insight and add value to

our clients’ businesses

• Established in 2001, twelve strong team

• Core experience lies in retail, travel & leisure and financial

services sectors

What is Usability?

• Usefulness

• Learnability

• Effectiveness

• Efficiency

• Memorability

• Errors

• Satisfaction

When to test

How – Overview of usability techniques

• Expert reviews

• User testing

• Eye tracking

• Card sorting

• Paper prototyping

• Field studies

How – Other methods

• Focus Groups

– Don’t always do what they say they do

– Doesn’t encourage the quiet user

– Listening to rather than observing users

• Web analytics

– Don’t know why

• Email feedback / surveys / panels

– Super user, committed to the cause and not the average user

How – Expert Reviews

Pros:

• Catches many usability problems

before testing takes place

• Cost effective

• Actionable report for project team

Problems:

• Needs to be followed up by user

testing

Why?

• How do we compare?

• What’s working, what’s not?

How – User Testing

Pros:

• Testing on real users

• Observe behaviour

Problems:

• Software investment

• Requires trained moderators

Why?

• How easy is the user journey?

• What are the main barriers?

• How is a particular part working?

Screen capture software http://www.techsmith.com/morae.html

How – Usability methodology

• Concurrent Think Aloud

o Encourage the user to say what

they are thinking

o Use unfinished questions, you

were expecting

o Gets feedback there and then

• Retrospective Think Aloud

o Play back video or repeat a path

to the user and ask them what

they were thinking at the time

o Allows user to naturally

complete the task

why what

how

task end wrap

How – Eye Tracking

Pros:

• Totally natural

• Relaxed, detailed feedback

• Proven effectiveness

• Evidence based results

Problems:

• Requires expert moderation

• Investment

Why?

• How do users interact naturally?

• What are users missing?

About Eye Tracking

• Lots of scary ways to do it.

About Eye Tracking

• The non-invasive way

• More accurate

• Works with glasses /

contact lenses

Eye Tracking Monitor

Live View of the Eye Tracking

How – Card Sorting

Pros:

• Get real users to design the IA

• Solve categorisation problems

Problems:

• Needs large number of participants

• Needs analysis

Why?

• How should I structure the site?

• What should I call this label?

Donna Spencer http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/cardsorting/

How – Paper Prototyping

Pros:

• Quick

• Cheap

Problems:

• Needs to be followed up by more

testing of the actual interface

Why?

• How can I quickly check if a

workflow makes sense to users?

Caroline Snyder

http://www.paperprototyping.com/about.html

How – Field Studies

Pros:

• User is relaxed in their own environment

• Can be done in the office environment

• Moderator gets to observe the system

used in situation

Problems:

• Investment in time to go out of the office

• Testing will not be controlled

Why?

• What external effects are there on the user

journey?

How – Moderation

• Be neutral

• Don’t blame the user or defend the design

• Acknowledge

• Let the user get on with the task but encourage them if necessary

• Listen and react

• Know when to intervene

• Don’t let a user suffer but a user struggling to complete a task can give

you the evidence that you need

• Users who want to talk (and not want to talk)

• Watch your language (and your body language)

• Open ended questions

How – Moderation

• The alternative guessing game

– One person is the moderator

– One person is the user

• Rules

– Only questions that will result in an answer of more than 3 words

– Can’t ask a question that will result in the answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’

– Try and ask as few questions in order to guess the object

How – Moderation – How to ask why

• Open ended questions

• What worked?

• Can

• Would

• What

• What didn’t work?

• Is

• Did

Questions

Thank you