Rambling thoughts and observations

Theme: Managing usability updates once build has started.

Always document any problems with usability and send this documentation upwards to managers, including the CEO. Videoing users as part of the usability testing is a good option, although this can go against the testing of the actual target audience.

The website “Whatusersdo” provides remote usability tests at £25 per user for up to 10 minutes. Clients can set up a task, which only takes a few minutes to set up. This has a quick turnaround time of 48 hours. Files are sent via email and are in .mp4 format.

The usability testers are at home on their own computer, so the client can’t see what O/S, browser, setup they use, etc. The testers are videoed and speak aloud as they complete the task. The client can see what steps the testers went through to complete the task. A live URL is required to be able to undertake testing.

Often there is no budget to do usability testing. Lo fi testing is an option - this can be hand-drawn, hand-written, and nothing fancy. Many companies use Optimal Usability for testing.

Fivesecondtest - is another good online tool where you can get feedback on your designs. It is simple and easy to set up.

It depends on what you are testing, what type of testing you require as to what tools can be used. We need before build and after build tests to be able to compare usability.

Everyone’s got a different mental model, so use a variety of testers. But, an organisation can set the mental model.

A full cost-benefit analysis is required to be done on any usability testing. We need success projects as examples. And we need to ask the question, how much will it cost in the long run? We need investment in usability testing upfront so as to not have a huge cost afterwards.