At the start of the session, our prototype incorporated two central parts: a large map at the top of the page, showing nearby advertisements and beneath it a more extensive list containing the actual ads. With two iterations behind us, we noted a certain trend during our evaluation: users didn't use the map as much as expected.

We could have just opted to remove the map altogether and go with the conventional list of advertisements. Because we’re focusing on location based advertisements, this didn't really seem like a great idea. Instead, we tried out a map-only design and tested the following:

Can we shift the user’s focus to the advertisement’s location without compromising the ease of use?

This is what our original version looked like. For the map only design, we reoved the listing below, only keeping the top half.

version 2

We asked our test subjects to execute certain operations, such as creating a new advertisement, searching for a certain advertisement, displaying their own advertisements and editing their profile. We observed whether they had difficulties doing so. If the design caused them to click a wrong button or icon, we asked they why they thought that was the right one.

After having 4 test subjects evaluate the new prototype, we only had one person unable find how to add a new advertisement. Currently, it can be found under the my advertisements section. We agreed that a dedicated button would be a better choice.

Overall, we came to the conclusion that the map based prototype did not introduce a higher level of difficulty, compared to the list design. At least not within our group of test subjects, namely students computer science.

Furthermore we observed that a few of our users had some trouble with the map being not as interactive on paper as an actual, digital version. Dragging the map for example was hard to simulate using our paper prototype. Keeping this in mind, we feel our paper prototype is reaching its exhaustion point. Because of this, future tests, using a group of less tech-savvy test subjects, will be conducted using a digital interactive design.

Lastly, it was clear that searching for a certain advertisement took a lot longer than with the previous design. Every ad shown on the map requires at least one click to expand it. We’re working on adding titles to the markers on the map, and using colors to indicate which items are free.