about user-centered design and usability testing

About:User-Centered Design (UX) and Usability Testing (UT)

1

© Karen Thompson ● Department of English ● University of Idaho

User Centered Design (UX)

• UX is a rhetorically based philosophy of design that considers users’ needs and wants and limitations when designing a product.

2

If you don’t consider my needs and wants, then I won’t want to use your product.

Usability Testing (UT) UT is a method for finding out if a product works for users.

3

I  feel  the  designers  could  make  this  product  more  convenient  for  me  to  use.

You  aren’t  the  user  dummy.  I  am and  it  works  fine  for  me  as  long  as  you  aren’t  around.

Five components of usability.

1. Effective2. Efficient3. Engaging4. Error Tolerant5. Easy to Learn

4

Effective • Are users successful when using the product?

Often measured by how successful a user is in completing a task.

5

Efficient • Are uses able to accomplish what they want to do with the least waste of time or effort?

Often measured in the amount of time or number of clicks or keystrokes it takes for users to complete tasks?

6

Engaging • Is the product pleasing and satisfying to use?

7

Error Tolerant• How tolerant is the product

if users make an error when using it? Does the product help users recover from the error?

8

Easy to Learn• How easy is it for users to

build their knowledge of how to use the product without deliberate effort? Sometimes referred to as a product being intuitive to use.

9

Types of Usability Tests

10

• Lab based testing involves recruiting participants and observing their behavior as they do a series of tasks. Often involves video-taping the user and several observers.

• Survey testing involves asking users of a product to respond to a series of questions about their user experience.

• Cognitive walkthrough involves an evaluator who does a set of specific tasks rather than the actual user. The idea is for the evaluator to assume the role of user.

For this project, you will design and complete a cognitive walkthrough type usability test.

11