A Tweak To A Modern UX Classic: Rainbow Spreadsheets With Numbers!
I first heard about Rainbow Spreadsheets from lane halley and then learned about them through experience, with the help of this article by Tomer Sharon: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/04/rainbow-spreadsheet-collaborative-ux-research-tool/
Let’s focus on the “Observation” sheet, in which you can see a colorful pattern of behavior emerge across multiple participants. Here’s the sample “Observation” sheet from Tomer Sharon’s article linked above:
One advantage of these spreadsheets that Tomer describes is:
The visual representation of observations helps people quickly understand what’s important.
While I appreciate and use this qualitative view of importance, I still find myself adding up the colored cells across rows to have an actual number of participants that behaved in a certain way. So a few months ago I made a small change.
Put A One On It
Add a “1” to each top-row participant cell and create a column that sums the participant rows. I think this update aligns with three of the advantages Tomer describes:
It involves the entire team.
Research results are turned around quickly.
There is no formal report. When was the last time you heard someone say, “Yes! I get to read a report today!”
Hide Those Ones
This works great, but unfortunately it clutters the rainbow, which muddies the qualitative, quick-glance value of the visualization and is also a bit of an eyesore. So here is the final iteration:
The last step is to set the text color to equal the background color of colored cells. This way the rainbow is beautiful, usable with its initial intent, and there is a sum for quick quantitative reference.
Using The “Observation” Sheet
When I use this sheet during research I copy the colored top-row cell of the current participant and paste it into the relevant row. I find this to be the quickest way to mark observations — versus, say, highlighting the appropriate cell and colorizing it. When I introduce the tool to teammates, I suggest this method.
With the added “1” in each top-row cell, the process of recording observations remains a copy and then paste of the current colored participant cell, but now the paste carries a value of one as well.
