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Usability for Designers and Developers

I've recently spent a lot time on usability testing and have found it extremely valuable, so my first WebDU session was on this topic.

by Jens C. Brynildsen Session presented by Brandy Fortune
Brandy's been in the business for quite some time and now works for Cingular Wireless, the United States largest wireless carrier. They've recently done a usability project on the Cingular internal sales portal and she used this as an example.

What is Usability Testing
Usability testing is an iterative process that can be done at almost any step in a web project, but you'll gain a lot from starting this process early. Usability testing can be done in many ways depending on how far your project is ahead. In the Cingular project, they started long before the site itself was designed. Using mood boards based on agency input they let users select from several compositions, saying what they liked. A Mood Board is just a piece of paper with images and texts sticked to it that indicates a feel for the site. It's by no means a finished design. Based on input from this session, four different site designs were created.

By using four different designers, the next round had a nice spread design-wise. A new set of test-persons were now asked about these designs and based on their feedback one was selected. Based on this test, the redesign was implemented and a new set of user test sessions was set up. For these sessions, a two-room setup was used.

The testing setup

In the first room, the test subject would sit with a person that will assist the user, give tasks and ask required questions. You can't just ask any question. These have to be carefully thought out and they cannot be leading in any way for the test to be useful.
So how should you ask the questions? Never ask "what do you think a bout this and that". This will make the test subject think this is an important element and focus too much on that. You can however ask after the session if they noticed certain features. Always ask open ended questions. Always let the user try for themselves, never lead them unless they are absolutely stuck. If they get stuck, don't say "do this" but rather ask "Is there another way one could do this?". In some testing facilities, they also have an eye-tracking device that is really interesting since you will see exactly how users read each page. The funny thing is that they usually only skim the headings on a page, they do not read the full text

This room could have a camera showing the people in the room plus software that records the session. What happens on the test subjects screen is also shown on a screen in the other room. In this room, people will sit and make notes on how the testing turns out. Every problem is written down and when (not if...) the user has problems, these are written down and described. It is important to test several users to get decent results. After the test sessions a report is usually written that is given to management and designers for a new iteration.

For her testing sessions, Brandy bought the required equipment herself. She said that it could be around $3000 for a test kit if you buy it yourself as opposed to up to $10.000 if you buy a package from a firm. She also gave a couple good pointers:

- Don't try to do more than 1 hr sessions
- Don't use the word "test" as this will make people nervous
- Make sure the test subject knows that you are not testing their skills, but rather a design

Brandy had a nice book-list on one of her last slides:

As said initially, I've just done a lot of Usability Testing lately for a multimillon dollar project and as soon as that project is finished, I'll write up a thorough story of how Usability Testing saved this project from total failure.

Written by Jens C Brynildsen (March 2007)