To start the week off I had my mid-unit review which was a brief chat about how I think the unit is coming along, how I feel I am doing and any improvements that can be made. I am confident with how my work is going and with where I am in regards to our current assignment, testing our prototypes. My tutor said that my writing has improved and has become more coherent since I started the course 6 months ago and my work is generally being completed to a good standard. This was very encouraging to hear because I have specifically been working on my writing to try and improve this, so the positive feedback has boosted me to continue the good work and achieve even better next time. The one concern Jamie had was that my paper prototype wasn’t going to be enough. I assured him that my testing would include a digital aspect as well and he was happy with this.
In preparation for the test on Thursday, I wrote up the cue cards for the card sorting section of my test. These were based on the content already on the website however because there is so much content already on there, I had to leave some pages out. In addition to this, because I was performing a hybrid card sort, I included the six menu headers that I had already thought of. There were 30 in total and this took me about an hour and a half to complete. I was really excited to try this testing methodology because I hadn’t tried a paper prototype yet. I was interested to see how the users would interact with real-life objects as prompts rather than anything digital. For the digital part of the test, I completed my user persona and wrote up a task for the tester to perform. This is based almost entirely on the persona I created during the ‘User Persona’ section of the overall project. I was intrigued to see how my peers would act in this scenario and whether they would take on the role accordingly. I don’t think any of them had done something like this before so I wasn’t sure how well they would take to it. Additionally, I added a Google Maps API because I was just interested to see if I could but most importantly because I wanted to give the testers the feel of navigating a real website. I was definitely looking forward to seeing what their reaction to this would be.
When the day to test came along I was most excited about the card sorting exercise and I was confident I had done enough to execute a good test and gather the data I needed. I had a total of six users test my prototype and I am very pleased with this result. At the beginning of the round of testing, I thought my test was taking too long and I wouldn’t even be able to make it to the minimum of five in the given time frame. However, some people took less time than others so it all evened out in the end. When I briefed people on the card sorting exercise, most users were happily surprised and excited to give it a go. It was nice to see the excitement on their faces when asked to do something a bit different using a hands-on approach. However, I was slightly disappointed that only 2 users suggested new menu orders. The majority just sorted the cards into my predetermined menu options. Funnily enough, however, these two testers did produce the same results. This is very valuable data because for two separate experiences to both produce an ‘Art & Literature’ option, I will be considering this as an addition to my website. In regards to the user persona part of the test, three out of six participants really got into the role so I was able to get some substantial results for that. As mentioned in my prior posts, I wanted my users to ‘be themselves’ for the card sorting exercise because I felt this would be the best way for them to display their best qualities as designers and developers. In contrast, I wanted them to get into the role of Deborah to be able to test some user group theories. One of the comments that came to light from all three testers who applied themselves to the role mentioned that the text was too small and too light. People with poor eyesight may not be able to navigate around the website as easily as others.
In conclusion, the test was very enjoyable and eye-opening. I was able to learn a great deal about my project and how it can be improved but also about how my peers reacted to this type of testing. I am looking forward to using a practical approach more often from now on to gather user research.