Design Evaluation Using Usability Testing

A one-on-one usability test can quickly reveal an immense amount of information about how people actually use your product.

Usability testing is probably the fastest and easiest way to tease out show-stopping usability problems before a product launches. Usability tests are structured interviews focused on specific features in an interface prototype. The heart of the interview is a series of tasks that are performed by members of your product's audience. Tapes and notes from the interview are then analyzed for the user's misunderstandings, mistakes and opinions. After a number of these tests have been performed, the observations are compared and the most common issues are collected into a list of functionality problems.

Usability tests should be performed throughout the development cycle (not just at the end, where they're commonly used and are least effective!) to check the usability of specific features, to investigate new ideas, and to evaluate hunches. Using usability tests, your development team can immediately see whether people understand your designs as they are supposed to understand them.

During a typical usability testing series we will:

• Collect and organize product requirements. We focus on more than the list of desired functions, investigating the stated and implicit factors that the company considers to be most important in the product's success.
• Define optimal user profile and recruit people who match it. Starting from the general target market, we carefully select the aspects of your audience that are most important to the product under investigation, creating a profile of users whose perspectives and comments will give you the most "bang for the buck."
• Create a discussion guide that will guide users through the test, while providing you with an in-depth understanding of their preferences and how they use all of the key product features.
• Conduct the interviews. Our partners are experienced usability test moderators, having conducted hundreds of tests.
• Analyze the test results. Using detailed notes and a close study of interview videotapes, we will extract the most common problems, misunderstandings, and misconceptions people have with your product.
• Based on these analyses, we will develop and present recommendations for changes to the product and document them through reports, wireframes or other diagrams, as appropriate.
• Finally, we will recommend directions for further inquiry and research.

For more information on having us perform usability testing for your company, contact us.

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