Evaluate and Iterate – Usability test reflections
Throughout the week I conducted a series of usability tests on an existing website which addressed task 4 of the Evaluative Research tasks. I had a diverse group of users to test the Thames Rivercruise website;
- Two Year 2 UX design students
- A Year 1 UX degree apprentice
- Two users over the age of 45
After going through the slides and understanding the task, I developed a script to follow which included
- Introduction – why they’re here
- The task – for them to complete
- Questions to ask the user throughout the usability test
After testing the script with the first participant, I concluded that the constrained task allowed them to navigate through the site quickly and complete the task without encountering as many issues as I did.
Based on the research findings I decided to change my task, being more open ended to give the users flexibility and interact naturally with the existing website. This in turn allowed me to expose more usability issues and pain points which I can then later address when redesigning certain aspects of the site. With the qualitative feedback, my usability tests allowed the participants to talk through their thought processes, feelings and opinions. I also improved the way I constructed my script in order to communicate the overall aim of the task to the users better.
I reviewed the screen recordings in Miro for each user, which although being very time consuming, it also highlighted common issues the participants ran into, pinpointing pain points and points of ease. This research solidified and supported the issues I was having with the website. Over the week, I was able to use the results from my usability tests to come up with suggestions and ideas of how to improve the site. Often users would come up with their own suggestions as they were navigating through the website, some suggestions being the same from other users, like having a search bar to allow for easier navigation.
Overall, conducting these usability tests have allowed me to continuously make changes to improve my approach to the process. I am looking forward to making these changes next week, implementing the ideas I have to improve the site through design and examples I find.