Our final lecture was on usability testing, this was a term I was used to hearing in computer science as it is a type of testing that is done from the perspective of an end user to determine who usable a system is. We can use it to test how easy a design is to use with a group of representative users, observing users as they attempt to complete tasks. It is often conducted repeatedly, from early development until a product’s release.
The purpose of usability testing is to see how people operate without actually thinking about what they are doing. Good examples of apps which have been tested and are said to have great usability are social media apps such as Instagram or TikTok or the BBC website. All these apps have a “help” section although are never needed due them all having good UX so they are rarely needed.
However a usability test help find overlooked flaws, point out bad UX design such as weird buttons that are alien to the user, weird language or use of words that the user does not understand as well as help give you an insight into how users complete tasks and interact with the product, it will give you vital insights into how well the design is working.
You can conduct a usability test whenever you want but the earlier the better and testing a couple of times between the mid-fi and the end result is best. It is always said that testing on one person is so much better than testing on none as it helps inform judgement in your designs and improve the iterative process.
Nielsen Norman states that if we test on 5 people it will help us detect at least 80% of the issues in our designs. I also learned from an article on Nielsen Norman ( NN - Why you only need to test on 5 users ) that 5 is adequate as the more you test on after 5, the increase in price but the less you learn because you will start to receive the same observations over and over again.
The people who test products are normally recruited quite loosely with a few specific reprehensive users but ideally there is more than one user group for a product. The only exceptions for this would be:
Within the test there is the Participant who is the person taking the test, the Facilitator which in this instance is myself and an Observer who takes notes. The presence of an observer is not always needed as a test can be conducted just between a participant and facilitator as they will provide instructions, answer the participant’s questions and ensure the test is completed to a high-quality without their answers being influenced
What you need: