IS3320 Developing and Using Management Information Systems Lecture 21: Usability, User Experience and Testing Rob Gleasure

IS3320 Today’s lecture  Usability  User Experience (UX)  Testing

Usability Usability has been broken down into several components  Learnability  Usefulness (achieving goals)  Satisfaction Learning Achieving goals Satisfaction

Usability Dense, dense topic… Usability strategies can be roughly considered as targeting either  Conceptual models How can designers create a useful abstraction for users quickly and efficiently  Ergonomics How can designers control the physical demands of users

Usability Conceptual-model approaches can be considered according to three main types  Metaphor-based design Aligning to conceptual models of existing real-world systems with which users have experience  Idiom-based design Aligning to conceptual models of systems of the same type with which users have experience  Context-based design Aligning to conceptual models that users already possess of the design context

Learnability

Usability These strategies help learnability by allowing users a head start in understanding a system They help usefulness by allowing users to infer functionalities from this understanding They help satisfaction by creating expectations that are more likely to be met

User Experience (UX) In addition to this usage timeline, the field of user experience design (UX) has grown to capture important determinants of product design outside of this scope  Product boxes, animations, imagery, screen transitions, etc. Several companies have thrived in this space, e.g. Bang & Olufsen, Apple UX has steadily increased in importance for two main reasons  Mass consumer markets have grown for IT products and non- specialists  People use many systems because ‘they just like them’

1. If you want a great system you have to test 2. Testing one user is 100% better than testing none 3. Testing one user early in the project is better then testing 50 near the end 4. The importance of recruiting representative users is overrated 5. The point of testing is not to prove or disprove something, its to inform your judgement 6. Testing is an iterative process 7. Nothing beats a live audience reaction Testing is essential if we want to improve our usability and UX 7 Usability Testing Truths (Krug 2006)

Usability Testing and Prototypes Some testing will be done on the features of the work-in-progress system itself (tracer bullets), however other testing can be done with prototypes Prototypes consist of anything from paper based representations to fully functional websites  It allows stakeholders to interact with an envisioned product, gain experience in using it and explore uses for it Types of Prototyping  Low-Fidelity Prototyping  High-Fidelity Prototyping

Low-Fidelity Part 1

Low-Fidelity Part 2

Low-Fidelity Part 3

Types of Low-Fidelity Usability Prototypes Storyboarding Sketching Prototyping with Index Cards

Advantages of Low-fidelity They are simple to make They are cheap They can be quick to produce They are also easy to modify quickly to incorporate changes on the fly and retest, i.e. “Is this what you mean?” Minimal resistance to change

Disadvantages Limited error checking Navigational limitations Some users might find it difficult to conceptualise Very little UX feedback

High-Fidelity Prototyping Here materials that will be used in the final product are used The prototype will be designed to resemble the final product as closely as possible

Advantages Complete functionality, so people might understand it better Fully interactive Look and feel of the final product

Disadvantages Difficult to develop Time-consuming to create Not effective for requirements gathering

Testing the complete lifecycle For learnability  Test the system with new users repeatedly – forgetting to reset with new users from time to time is very common and leads to test-users behaving more like developers than true representative users For usability  Try and form a hierarchical view of uses. The majority of features never get used, so make sure the priority items are right before moving on

Testing the complete lifecycle For satisfaction  Use beta-tests to allow for more prolonged usage – this lets you gauge users’ response over long periods of time and in less artificial environments (e.g. white coat syndrome) For UX  Test the complete experience, not just the parts you think are important, e.g. the unboxing, the help dialogue, etc.  Ask people how they feel in a way that really captures emotions and not just explanations

Issues with Testing Client involvement is a tricky balancing act. You absolutely need their feedback, however too much feedback can cause a number of problems:  S chedule bottleneck - progress is stifled waiting for clients to provide feedback  Scope creep - the client keeps thinking of new requirements, the addition of which keeps adding massive delays. Alternatively they are not added, perhaps leaving the client feeling ignored…

Issues with Testing (continued)  Feedback fever - the client wants to make every decision, without necessarily understanding the technical repercussions  Conflicting feedback - “Jim from Marketing wanted to get involved in this project, so had a look over the complete site and wonders if it would be better as an iPhone app?”

Want to read more? Norman, D. (2002). The Design of Everyday Things, Basic Books Cooper, A. (2007). About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design Krug, S. (2005). Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, New Riders