FutureLearn: Digital Skills:
What is User testing?
Human beings can be bad at knowing/explaining what they want.
Doing it in the design phase, before any development, can save time, effort and money.
Investing 10% in UX can possibly improve sales by over double.
Small amounts of testing can impact the success of your business.
All you need is a handful of user groups to work with your paper/interactive prototype and provide feedback.
You are too close to look at work objectively, take the feedback to enhance your product.
It's important to understand that some comments might conflict with each other.
How frequently were the same comments made?
How big is the impact of the issue?
How much time/energy will it take to make adjustments?
Prioritise actions to be taken.
Different Types of User Testing
Task - based Testing
Important to get users carry out tasks with your prototype, even on paper.
Tasks should be based on user journeys / alternative paths defined earlier.
Write steps on what needs to be done, but don't tell how to perform that activity (don't lead the user!)
Example:
DO log in to the website, using the password 123abc.
DON'T log into the site using the link in the top right hand corner of the screen, etc
Watch how user performs tasks, reassure them to make them comfortable
Testing the system, not the user!
If they get stuck, info can make design more intuitive to use.
Record:
- errors user might make
- emotional reactions
- listening to how their experience was
Usability can be measured using a standard set of questions.
The system usability scale has 10 statements with 5 response options per statement
- reliable way to measure usability.
REAL WORLD TESTING
SMARTPHONE, TABLET, SELF SERVICE CHECKOUT provide different interactions, consider this when providing real life testing to users
- consider the environment where testing is taking place
- user might be in house alone, busy shopping centre
GORILLA TESTING
- go out into the wild, speak to people
- allow them to handle the prototype and ask them questions
DIARY TESTING
- give someone your prototype, let them use it in their daily life
- record their experiences
A/B Testing
- 2 versions of a product are trialed
- you can give different versions to different users, track feedback and scores
- good to do once a site has been launched, get real world statistics
- randomly give a page to each user, track how different pages perform
BETA TESTING
An early launch version, great time to do A/B testing.
INTERACTIVE DESIGN AND USEFUL TOOLS
Prototyping tools
Simple tools
- Balsamiq, sketch and InVision
More complex tools
- Azure, Justinmind and iRise
CMS
- what website is built on
- create pages and menus, define what is one there
THE IMPORTANCE OF ANALYSING DATA
- how do real people react to your site/product/service
- be able to collect much larger amounts of data
- how are sales, views, advertising successful, feedback users are leaving?
- diagnose any problems and test different options
- market expectations and needs are changing, important to review, improve, evolve
Useful data points
- how people are getting to your page
(search engine?advert? direct link?) - Conversions - How many people make a purchase compared to just browsing around
- Where are users dropping out
- How users are navigating through site
- How many users are bouncing (leave the site without engaging with content)
- How much time is spent on each of their pages (users stay long enough?)
If it's too little time, they usually got there by mistake
Combine the data with realworld insights to understand what the numbers mean.
Do more live testing, use results to prioritise updates that will give you the most value.
Add more features, or improve existing ones.
Continuously consider the experience of your user. Do this by:
- empathising with your user
- measuring their behaviour
- design experience around their needs
Netflix benefited from constantly analysing their user data, consistently produce shows that keep viewers coming back.
Visual Design is important
- It can help build immediate trust from a user when they view your site
- It can set the tone and give a user an impression of the kind of expereince they should expect
- It can help construct and clarify the elements on a page when there are multiple things to see
Decoding a Job Description - Junior UX Designer
key responsibilities
1. Sketching out visual concepts
creating wireframes, sketching out where different elements of an app/website would be placed
e.g. headings, buttons, advertisement
2. Assist in User research
could involve desk-based research into target audiences/behaviours,
organising workshops/interviews/focus groups
3. Analysing user feedback
meeting with users to test prototypes with them, observing interactions
4. Creating prototypes and user journeys
Key Skills
- degree in UI/UX related subject
- Interpersonal and team working skills
- Good time management and resilience
- Knowledge of design software
- Written communication skills