Padlet https://padlet.com/ is based on cards and you can add images and maps
LucidSpakr or Miro https://miro.com/ and JamBoard https://jamboard.google.com/?pli=1 allow you to do a sort of notes, images etc into categories
1. Final Test Plan:
- What do you want to measure with your testing? (Note – how good is my interface is not a specific enough question!)
- What tasks will you ask the user to perform so that you will be able to measure participant’s responses and help answer your questions?
- Decide how you want the user to share their feedback. Will they:
- think aloud, and/or
- fill out a questionnaire, and/or
- complete a post-test interviews, and/or
o all of the above.
Prepare an outline that includes:
- What is the question you are asking? How can you measure this?
- How the user test will be run,
- Written instructions that you will read to the users, and
- Any other materials (e.g. questionnaires, interview questions) that will be used during the session.
Check out the resources for usability testing
- Krug has a range of pdf’s & docs for downloading
- User Focus provides a plan on a page approach which you will need to use in your Deliverable 3 – document here
According to the International Standards Organisation ISO 9241-11, usability is defined as 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.’
. View the Usability Standard and explore the definitions section.
- What are the elements of usability and
- How are they defined?
2. Scan the brief article by Bevan (2009) International Standards for Usability Should Be More Widely Used
- discover some of the standards that inform software usability
- what are the problems and benefits of implementing standards.
- a brief summary of Information technology standards are outlined by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Project: Usability Standards
3. Finally, a Common Industry Format has been developed to report usability issues in software:
- Read about what it is and how it can be used in this article from User Focus: Measuring Usability with the Common Industry Format
- What is picnic?
- What can you do about it?
- Download a pdf that outlines a common format for usability professionals to report the methods and results of usability tests to customer organisations.
Online Testing
Tools exist online for testing eg
- What does the SUS do and how could it be useful to your prototype?
- What aspect of usability does it focus on?
- Would this tool be useful for Deliverable 4? How?
- Would you need to adapt the tool to your context of use?
- What advice does the academic article provide regarding adapting the tool?
sing the DECIDE framework plan your user study. Write up using the plan on a page template below.
1. As a group, decide what aspect of your prototype would benefit from an alternative design. Create a paper or functional wireframe prototype for this.
2. Check if you covered Behavioural and Attitudinal aspects, and use Quantitative and Qualitative
3. What data is Subjective, what is Objective? What is the importance of each?
3. Carry out a pilot study as a team to test your plan (this should include the alternative screens)
4. As a team adjust your plan (if necessary based on your pilot study experience)
Use tools like the System Usability Scale to measure feedback and write up template
5. All team members to conduct a user study or test. (upload individual studies to the submission discussion board or OneDrive
6. Look at user testing online to collect good data for you analysis
https://app.usabilityhub.com/ or https://www.optimizely.com/anz/
7. Collate the results from all user studies and create a set of findings from your research
8. Analyse Results: Taking your qualitative and quantitative data, analyse to features of your design and what should be improved.
9. Submit to Learnline:
- your plan and prototype deadlines
- your individual user studies (including video links)
- your team analysis, and a list of changes to be implemented
As a team
What did you want to find out about your prototype from users? Make sense of your data.
1. Assemble all the data you individually collected for Deliverable #4. This should include your observation notes, videos, photos and any other information documented during the test.
2. Individually share your findings. As each member discusses what happened, the team leader should designate someone as scribe to keep notes of the findings.
3. Review your findings. What are the common themes emerging from the user testing?
4. As a group, decide:
- what did your users think worked (functionality wise) with your prototype
- what did your users think didnt work (functionality wise) with your prototype
- was your second design more effective than the original ideas you have
- what changes need to be made to the prototype
5. Write up your findings. This should include your group’s summary and the individual work from each member acknowledged
7. Submit user results to the discussion board on Learnline if you want ideas for analysis
Adding Visuals
Collating results so farOur results so far
- The visual aspect of your app should match what you have learnt about the users. Be inclusive of different users and their preferences, consider visual disabilities and stay with the design pattern you have developed
You will need to put sample videos where you have videos, and make sure you have sample text where that would be needed. The users being tested need to understand what you see as the information (visual and written) that will be on each page.
Read some references on the approach to visual design . A visual designer is an extension of graphical design considering user interface aspects.
Focus on the five principles of visual design:- Scale
- Visual hierarchy
- Balance
- Contrast
- Gestalt
- Read what these refer to.