The what, when, why and how of usability
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The document provides an overview of usability testing and techniques. It discusses what usability is, when to conduct testing, and how different techniques like expert reviews, user testing, eye tracking, card sorting and paper prototyping work. The author is a senior user experience consultant who provides these services to help evaluate designs and ensure they meet users' needs.
The what, when, why and how of usability
- 1. 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.
- 2. 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
- 3. 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
- 4. 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
- 5. What is Usability? • Usefulness • Learnability • Effectiveness • Efficiency • Memorability • Errors • Satisfaction
- 6. When to test
- 7. How – Overview of usability techniques • Expert reviews • User testing • Eye tracking • Card sorting • Paper prototyping • Field studies
- 8. 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
- 9. 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?
- 10. How – User Testing Pros: • Testing on real users • Observe behaviour Problems: • Software investment • Requires trained moderators Why? Screen capture software http://www.techsmith.com/morae.html • How easy is the user journey? • What are the main barriers? • How is a particular part working?
- 11. 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 how to the user and ask them what why what they were thinking at the time task end wrap o Allows user to naturally complete the task
- 12. 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?
- 13. About Eye Tracking • Lots of scary ways to do it.
- 14. About Eye Tracking Eye Tracking Monitor • The non-invasive way • More accurate • Works with glasses / contact lenses Live View of the Eye Tracking
- 15. 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/
- 16. 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
- 17. 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?
- 18. 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
- 19. 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
- 20. How – Moderation – How to ask why • Open ended questions • What worked? • Can • Would • What • What didn’t work? • Is • Did
- 21. Questions Thank you