Usability Testing
I got the opportunity to plan out and run a usability testing experiment for the third studio session. It was a very small scale experiment, we were put in groups of three, from there we had to design a usability test that consisted of three tasks that three different users would be doing and within those tasks, we recorded three different data points. Three is the magic number. Our section was assigned to work with an oven of any kind and my group of three decided to have our users bake cookies! They each had to 1.) prepare the oven to bake, 2.) put the cookies in the oven and follow the instructions, and 3.) take the cookies out of the oven at the right time. Within each of these tasks we collected data on a.) whether or not they completed the task asked of them, b.) how long it took them to complete the task, and c.) on a scale of 1–5, 5 being the easiest, how would the user rate the task.
The heat of the game
These are our three users that participated in the experiment. It was very successful and we received some useful information from the tasks we had each user perform. We made sure to ask each one before-hand if they had used an oven and baked cookies before. This is Trish, she had used an oven and had baked cookies by herself.
Each user had some trouble working the timer on the oven, some more than others. They all eventually got their cookies baked. At times, the user seemed confused when asked to do something but I think a better introduction to what we were doing would’ve ceased all confusion. This is Lucas and he had used and oven but had not baked cookies by himself.
We encountered a lot of down time while we were waiting for the cookies to bake and I think it would be fun to have some sort of activity the user could be doing while we were waiting, if it was a real usability test, in this particular situation it didn’t really matter. This is Jon, he has used an oven and baked cookies. He also used his phone for a timer instead of the oven. Interesting. Secretly, he lived in the house we were in so he has used the oven before and knew not to user the difficult timer.
All positive takeaways
I liked that everything didn’t go as planned with this project, the fact that the users were slightly confused so they had to rely more on themselves to figure out what to do, all users having trouble with the timer indicating a poorly designed interface on the Whirlpool oven we used which gives us very informative feedback on the oven, and that now I can imagine how these small usability tests help on a much larger scale than I could’ve imagined before doing this project.
The reality of it
I took a Lyft to the ferry in downtown Seattle last weekend and the driver was asking me questions about what classes I was taking and my major so I told him about this HCDE class and how we just got done learning how to properly run a usability test. He was surprised and said that I could be making a lot of money working for Amazon in that specific field. He made me realize how big of a thing this actually is and I take it for granted. I didn’t even consider how much usability testing Amazon and other big companies like that have to go through in order to get their products on the market and selling at a good rate. It is a crucial part to having a successful product. Without an easy to learn interface and fluid functionality, it’s up in the air whether or not any random citizen will be able to figure it out. And what if you’re in a stressful, time pressed situation and have to use something that’s difficult to figure out. Any sort of transportation that you have to “catch” at a certain time should be made easy as pie, especially places like airport or ferry terminals. I ride the ferry a lot so I know what I’m doing when I walk in there, but some people who have never rode it before are standing in the middle of the walkway very confused. I’ve thought about how they could hang T.V.s around with short video clips on the steps of how to use your ticket. It would make the large crowds less stressful. Usability testing can help make a lot of little and necessary improvements.
