User-centered development using Elements of the WIMP Interface:
Windows
Icons
Pointers
Menus
Usability evaluations
Summative Evaluations
Formative Evaluations
Expert Evaluations
Cognitive Walkthrough
Heuristic Evaluation
Usability Testing
A method of testing the functionality of a website, app, or other digital product.
Involves observing real users as they attempt to complete tasks.
Users are observed by researchers during in-person or remote sessions.
Goal: To reveal areas of confusion and uncover pain points to improve user experience.
Seeks to gauge the practical functionality of the product and how efficiently users complete pre-defined goals.
Usability Testing vs User Testing
User Testing
Focuses on what users think about the product or service.
How they perceive the product or service
Identifies user needs.
Usability Testing
Identifies bugs or errors impacting user flow.
Determines if users can complete tasks efficiently.
Assesses user understanding of site navigation.
Importance of Usability Testing
Reveals issues that those familiar with the website may miss.
Determines if visitors:
Understand how the site works and don't get lost or confused.
Can complete the main actions they need to.
Don't encounter usability issues or bugs.
Have a functional and efficient experience.
Notice any other usability problems
Benefits of Usability Testing
Validate your prototype: Identify issues early in development before finalizing the product.
Confirm your product meets expectations: Ensure everything works as intended after completion.
Identify issues with complex flows: Ensure multi-step processes are straightforward and intuitive (e.g., e-commerce checkout).
Complement and illuminate other data points: Provides the 'why' behind data from other methods, such as funnel analysis.
Catch minor errors: Identify broken links, site errors, and grammatical issues.
Develop empathy: Understand the user's perspective and knowledge level.
Get buy-in for change: Seeing users struggle can be persuasive for advocating changes.
Provide a better user experience: Identify and resolve issues to create a user-friendly product.
What Usability Testing is Not
Tools that don't explicitly evaluate product functionality:
A/B testing: Experiments with multiple versions of a web page.
Focus groups: Gather opinions about a product or service.
Surveys: Gauge user experience but don't allow observation of users in action.
Heatmaps: Visual representation of user interaction (click, scroll, move).
User acceptance testing: Technical QA to ensure software works correctly.
In-house proper use testing: Employees are inherently biased.
Types of Usability Testing
Qualitative vs. Quantitative
Ideally, usability testing should gather both types of data for a rounded evaluation.
Qualitative:
Focuses on the 'why'
Understanding users' experiences, thoughts, and feelings.
Methods include think-aloud studies, observation, interviews, and surveys.
Quantitative:
Focuses on collecting and analyzing numerical data.
Metrics include success rates, task completion times, error rates, and satisfaction ratings.
Aims to identify patterns and make predictions.
Moderated and Unmoderated
Moderated:
A moderator guides users through the test.
Moderator answers questions, asks follow-up questions, and records observations.
Unmoderated:
Users complete tasks independently.
Uses tools that record actions and responses.
Remote vs. In-Person
Remote:
Conducted using online tools.
Participants can share screens and record activity.
Useful for geographically diverse teams and participants.
In-person:
Conducted in a physical location (e.g., usability lab).
More expensive and time-consuming.
May be necessary for products requiring safety considerations or physical testing.
When to Conduct Usability Testing
Continuously throughout the product lifecycle.
Before starting design.
Once you have a wireframe or prototype.
Before launching the product.
At regular intervals after the launch.
Before you start designing
Preliminary research, surveys, or testing competitors' products helps to identify user needs, expectations, and potential pain points early on.
Once you have a wireframe or prototype
Use card sorting and tree testing on your wireframe or prototype to discover how users would approach the product
Before launching the product
Evaluate its overall effectiveness through summative testing.
The goal of summative testing is to measure how well your product performs via specific usability heuristics like efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction.
At regular intervals after launch
Ensure it remains user-friendly, accessible, and relevant over time.
How to do Usability Testing
Define a goal and target audience
Utilize a tool that allows for continuous testing
Establish evaluation criteria
Create a usability testing script
Be mindful of test length
Run a pilot test
Recruit test participants
Run the test with best practices
Analyze and report your findings
Iterate and repeat
Define a Goal and Target Audience
Understand who your users are by asking:
Demographics (age, location, profession)
Specific tasks users want to accomplish (checkout, changing username)
Desired timeframes for task completion and navigation
Formulate a problem statement to clarify insights you want to gain:
"We want to assess the usability of our product for 20-30-year-old customers to complete checkout within 3 minutes."
Use a Tool that Enables Continuous Testing
Invest in a tool to facilitate fast, scalable usability testing.
Choose one that supports testing early and often, even after launch.
Continuous research informs design decisions and keeps you updated on evolving user needs. For example:
Live website testing: Perform usability testing tasks on a live website or web-based application
Prototype testing: Integrate with your prototypes from Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch, and InVision to validate design concepts early
Usability testing templates: Hit the ground running with pre-built templates to save time and ensure your tests are designed to capture relevant insights
Establish Evaluation Criteria
Focus your team by establishing evaluation criteria.
Consider evaluating usability metrics like:
Task completion rate
Direct and indirect success
Time-on-screen
Time-on-task
User satisfaction score
Misclick rate
Create a Usability Testing Script
Outlines tasks, instructions, and questions.
Serves as a roadmap for participants.
Helps identify potential problems and areas for improvement.
Be Mindful of Length
Keep tests short and sweet.
Average duration: 15–20 minutes with 5–10 tasks.
Run a Pilot Test
Evaluate the clarity and effectiveness of testing materials.
Validate the feasibility of testing methods, tools, and environment.
Recruit Test Participants
Recruit participants that represent your target audience.
Ways to hire participants:
Invite them: Invite participants directly from your website or browser-based products using popover invites.
Recruit existing users: Source testers from your current user base.
Recruit from a panel: Hire participants quickly from service providers like the Maze Panel.
Create a Positive Testing Environment
Should feel like an interactive conversation, not an interrogation.
Avoid leading questions and ensure participants feel comfortable providing honest feedback.
Analyze and Report Your Findings
Transform raw data and feedback into actionable insights to:
Identify user pain points
Prioritize UX improvements
Communicate effectively within your team
Metrics to track:
Usability metrics (total testers, bounce rate, misclick rate, average duration)
Mission paths and optimal path analysis
Success metrics (testers deviating from the intended flow)
Closed and open questions with visual representation of responses
Iterate and Repeat
Usability testing is an ongoing process with iteration, feedback loops, and revisions.
Re-evaluate and adapt the process to accommodate new goals, user segments, and market conditions.
Transform Your Product Experience with Usability Testing
Create user-centric products that deliver exceptional experiences.
Benefits:
Identify user pain points and UX issues
Generate ideas for feature improvements and product updates
Prioritize design decisions with data-backed insights
Validate assumptions and understand users’ context of use
Develop better products faster
Best Usability Testing Tools
Maze
Lookback
UserTesting
Optimal Workshop
UsabilityHub
Loop11
Userfeel
Trymata
Hotjar
UserZoom
Qualaroo
GetFeedback
CrazyEgg
Userlytics
Userbrain
WIMP Interface in HCI
WIMP stands for Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointers.
Basic elements of many interfaces on computers and endpoint devices.
A type of interaction model used in computer systems.
How WIMP Works
Windows: Rectangular area on the screen that displays content from a single application.
Icons: Small graphical representations of programs or files.
Menus: List of options or commands.
Pointers: Controlled by a mouse or touchpad to select and interact with items on the screen.
Usability Evaluation
A procedure of evaluating to what extent a system is easy and joyful to use.
Usability Evaluation Methods
Usability Testing: Assessing a system with users and observing their actions.
Usability Inspection: Evaluation by a usability expert without user involvement.
Usability Inquiry: Addressing questions to users to understand their thoughts.
Usability inspection — Heuristic evaluation
A usability engineering framework for discovering usability issues in a user interface design
Focuses on explaining every observed usability issue concerning standard usability guidelines
Heuristics for User Interface Design
Visibility of system status: Keep users informed through timely feedback.
Match between system and the real world: Use familiar language and concepts.
User control and freedom: Allow users to exit and provide Undo/Redo.
Consistency and standards: Use the same concepts and follow platform standards.
Error prevention: Design the system to prevent serious errors and provide error messages.
Recognition rather than recall: Make objects and options visible.
Flexibility and efficiency of use: Cater to different user levels with shortcuts.
Aesthetic and minimalist design: Avoid irrelevant information.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors: Provide clear error messages and instructions.
Help and documentation: Provide easy-to-search and task-focused documentation focused on the user’s task, and lists concrete steps to be carried out to accomplish a task.
Evaluation Techniques
Evaluation Through Expert Analysis
Practical when resources to involve users are lacking.
Cognitive walkthrough: Evaluators perform actions and evaluate learnability.
Heuristic evaluation: Evaluators critique the interface using usability heuristics.
Model-based evaluation: Assess the interface using models of design specifications.
Using previous studies: Assess the interface based on existing studies.
Evaluation Through User Participation
Techniques involving participation from actual users.
Experimental evaluation: Controlled experiments to test hypotheses.
Observational techniques: Watch users and record their behavior.
Query techniques: Ask users about their experience (interviews, questionnaires).
Physiological responses: Take physiological measurements of users.
Goals of Evaluation
Assess the system's functionality: Determine if the system provides enough functionality to allow users to perform tasks efficiently.
Assess users' experience with the interface: Evaluate learnability, usability, and user satisfaction.
Identify specific problems with the interface: Inspect components that generate unexpected outputs and confuse users.