UX Testing Articles For User Experience Designers & User Researchers
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0 How To Create Paper Prototypes In UX Design
Paper / Interactive Prototypes Paper prototyping is the best tool we have to design great user experiences. It allows involvement of users early in the design process. It will tell you how users use your product before you spend any money or development time. It supports iterative design. How To Create Paper Prototypes Sketch your user interface designs on multiple pieces of paper. Use whatever materials you like, but paper is ideal because you can throw it away. Concentrate on the user journey rather than the design. Think about the purpose Make your prototype pages Validate your prototype with yourself and others Does it work and feel as the design intended? Paper Prototype Myths It looks unprofessional I can't draw Whiteboarding is just as good Users behave differently with a paper It's just not real I can do that with software They are just wireframes You can't prototype interactions Paper prototypes are just as good as high-fidelity prototypes at detecting usability problems.
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0 How To Quickly Usability Test Multiple Designs
Usability Testing does not have to be lengthy or complicated. There are ways to gather insights using a quick and dirty approach. This exercise is not for expert users but typical users, so maybe test 3 different designs. Find A User Show a design, sketch or printout to a user Ask The User What They Are Seeing Explain the main purpose of the screen and what it is supposed to do Ask how they would interact with it to accomplish a particular task Find More Volunteers Even use people in the team Iterate Or Change The Designs Identify anything confusing and revise Be careful when using this approach. It will give you basic insights and mostly opinions . This is because the user is not committing to steps in a journey.
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0 Have You Ever Tried A 5 Second Usability Test?
A Five Second Usability Test helps you see how clearly or memorable a given moment in the product is to users. 5 seconds is probably all the time you have to get users to understand your product. If they can't understand it in 5 seconds then there is something wrong with it. Find a volunteer Explain the test Show them the design Count to 5 Hide the design Ask what they remember and the purpose of it Did they get it right? Try it on some more users
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0 How A UX Health Check Cycle Can Prioritise Work
A UX Health Check Cycle helps measure the baseline quality of UX and assess it over time. Gather a cross functional team and set up regular workshops Break the product into sections or areas Set competitive benchmarks and a target Measure yourself against those benchmarks Spot the biggest opportunities for improvement Repeat regularly A UX Health Check Cycle helps to get the team delivering value to users by fixing their problems, rather than just delivering software.
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0 Black Hat Sessions Help Teams Critique Designs
Black Hat Sessions help teams critique esigns and find what areas of the design can be improved. It gives the team permission to call things as they see them. It is a constructive forum for sharing concerns and creates a safe place for negative feedback to be given. It also puts all of these concerns into a format that you can see, manage and take charge of. Make time for a group session Find a large useable wall space Assemble a cross functional team Explain the rules Assume to the most critical, judgemental perspective Use post it notes and role play Start the clock Give the group 15-20mins to walk through designs Get them to write down on post it notes Review and look for themes Get the team to step back and look at all post it notes looking for anything missed Discuss and synthesize Engage the team in a discussion about any themes that emerge Record points on a whiteboard Close by discussing what is good about the designs End on a positive note Update the designs Revisit the designs to address these issues
About
UX Designer
Created By
Vince Nardone
UX Consultant & User Research Trainer