Category: user testing

Cognitive Empathy, user testingLeave a comment

Thoughts on Indi Young’s A Practical Type of Empathy

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(From a talk Indi gave in 2015 and posted on her site, link here.) Researchers consider there to be 8 types of empathy, mostly deeply rooted in emotions and not useful in UX since you can’t make those moments happen, they’re spontaneous and not repeatable. As Indi says, it’s bunnies and rainbows and not business The one we can access in our UX process is cognitive empathy We can make it repeat We can use it to create more ideas But it happens over time Chris Allen Thomas defines it like this: Cognitive empathy is the largely conscious drive to recognize … Continue reading Thoughts on Indi Young’s A Practical Type of Empathy

eCommerce, user testingLeave a comment

eCommerce: Usability Testing Results (P2)

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A couple of years ago, I did some consulting for a hardware eCommerce site. Here is part 2 of a 3 part posting on the results. Then I did some remote online usability testing via usabilityhub.com: 02_JohnWalker_eCommerceUserTestingResults Continue reading eCommerce: Usability Testing Results (P2)

user testing, Web DesignLeave a comment

Notes on The Importance of the First Choice in Website Navigation

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(from Jeff Sauro’s 12/10/13 post on measuringu.com, link here.) A 2009 study by Bob Bailey and researchers concluded that if a user’s first click was on the optimal path of the website, 87% would ultimately succeed If the first click wasn’t on the optimal path, only 46% succeed Jeff looked at 8 newer studies with data from 1000+ users and concluded that users of these sites were 6 times more like to succeed if their first choice was correct Here’s Jeff’s table of results: Study # Tree Description Tasks Average Success Rate Average success from right path Average success from wrong … Continue reading Notes on The Importance of the First Choice in Website Navigation

Tomer Sharon, User research, user testingLeave a comment

Notes on Tomer Sharon’s Rainbow Spreadsheet User Research Tool

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(From Tomer’s 4/11/13 post on smashingmagazine.com, link here.) Tomer created a collaborative UX research observation tool he calls the Rainbow Spreadsheet (download it here, but read his article!) Your whole team can use it to collect observations in the same document. Avoid writing a separate formal complete report by using it! Use it via Google Doc. Tomer has 12 steps he uses with the tool: Finalize your discussion guide, nailing down what questions you will ask participants in what order Schedule a 45 min break between sessions to discuss observations Make a copy of the master Rainbow Spreadsheet for this … Continue reading Notes on Tomer Sharon’s Rainbow Spreadsheet User Research Tool

IDEO, Lufthansa, Service Design, user testingLeave a comment

Service Redesign In Action: Lufthansa and IDEO

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Based on a video of a presentation by Barbara Franz (IDEO) and Dorothea von Boxberg (Lufthansa) at the KISD conference, 06/2015, link here. Lufthansa wanted to redesign their onboard service design, which hadn’t changed in 15 years. The team at Lufthansa first got executives to sign off an a very specific goal: to become the first 5-star airline, which gave them great latitude Lufthansa has 1800 flight attendants IDEO needed to shift attendants’ vision of their function from transportation to hospitality Barbara from IDEO flew a route as a flight attendant to experience the job first-hand IDEO also interviewed many flight attendants IDEO positioned … Continue reading Service Redesign In Action: Lufthansa and IDEO

colleen roller, User Experience, User research, user testingLeave a comment

Notes on Colleen Roller’s Designing for Explicit Choice

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from the 5/25/15 blog post by Colleen Roller on smashingmagazine, link here. When designing forms, it’s better to design for explicit choices with possible outcomes included: “I want to enroll in a 401(k) plan and take advantage of the employer match.” “I don’t want to enroll in a 401(k) plan and don’t want to take advantage of the employer match.” Why this format? Users are unlikely to seek out more information to inform their decision With less information, users are risking more and thus are less likely to make a selection that changes the current status quo Users are much more motivated by … Continue reading Notes on Colleen Roller’s Designing for Explicit Choice

gerry mcgovern, User Engagement, User Experience, User research, user testingLeave a comment

Notes on Gerry McGovern’s Top Tasks Identification Method Explained

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From a 11/12/10 blog post by Gerry McGovern on his site, link here. Gerry posted on the subject again on 5/21/15, link here. Gerry has developed a survey technique for finding top user tasks. Make a list with 100 tasks Ask survey participants to quickly pick their top 5 tasks That’s it! Well, actually, compile results etc… By surveying 400 customers, you will find users’ top 10 tasks with reasonable certainty 400 is a good number since the chances of a top task being in the bottom 50, or of a largely unwanted task being in the top 10, is … Continue reading Notes on Gerry McGovern’s Top Tasks Identification Method Explained

Product Development, User research, user testingLeave a comment

Notes on UXpod’s The Five-Second Test podcast with Paul Doncaster

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From Gerry Gaffney’s 9/29/14’s UXpod podcast, available on iTunes. The 10 Rules from Paul’s book ( link at bottom of post) Only use the 5-Second Test on appropriate topics–not overly complicated questions, task flows or screens which require much reading Focus on a specific design item or aspect and test only that item. The Memory Dump Test, Target Identification Test or Attitudinal Feedback Test are three viable issues—but only use one technique per test session Don’t give a user any reason to say I don’t know or I don’t remember–make sure your instructions, images and questions are laser-focused Devote time to writing … Continue reading Notes on UXpod’s The Five-Second Test podcast with Paul Doncaster