Usability testing is a technique used to evaluate a product or service by testing it with real users. The goal is to observe how easily and efficiently users can interact with the product, identify any issues they encounter, and gather feedback to improve the overall user experience. Our process is briefly explained below:
Personas
Before usability testing can be conducted, the ideal user that will be using the interface has to be identified. To determine user needs, we research not only the client’s existing data (if any are available), but also scour online sources with regards to the latest trends and research already completed on the specific usage patterns for the specific website.
In this instance, users are defined by asking what a user does, why, when, where and how a user interacts with an interface. Our research will also ensure we don’t lose sight of users that might have accessibility needs, such as allowing usability for colour-blindness or any visual impairments.
To identify users, observational techniques in the space where the app might be used will be studied to ensure all external factors are considered that might hinder the user in task completion. This information is helpful in creating personas of the ideal end-user. Personas allow the design team to create a backstory for the ideal user, likening them to real people with emotions and troubles who we can empathize with, assisting in the creation of a user recruitment script.
Recruitment script
The format for the script is similar to that of a film, where there are set responses to certain answers and allow users that we do not want to test with to be filtered out. This script will assist the user recruitment agency to find the right people to test with so we can understand the real-life problems that surround the user. It is important to note that the recruitment agency require at least a week of lead time to find appropriate respondents, whereafter we will perform testing and reporting.
Setting up the usability test
While users are being recruited, the Britehouse design team creates a usability test based on existing systems, containing tasks and questions to help us understand where the problem areas are in the interface. The usability test contains tasks related to the initial hypothesis when the system was designed to ensure they can either be validated or improved.
The usability test
During the usability testing sessions, a controlled environment is set up where we can record either visually, or auditory. The proposed usability testing method allow for 5 focused one-on-one sessions where we will learn all there is to know about the largest issues that will be encountered.
A comprehensive report
Based on the sessions, the Britehouse design team creates a report indicating the problematic areas, as well as the areas that were very successful or garnered a very positive response.
Once we have identified where the initial hypotheses have not performed optimally, we will be able to suggest improved designs that would perform better with users.
All artefacts collected during the usability testing sessions are made available to our clients for any future research or references. Usability testing can be performed multiple times and can be used to validate the newly formed hypothesis to confirm their success or indicate the need to do further improvements.
Overall, usability testing helps designers and developers create more user-friendly products by focusing on actual user interactions.