User test findings
As part of my MA in User Experience Design, I completed a module called UX Design.
This blog post was originally published as part of the reflective piece I wrote throughout that module.
The user tests I carried out provided a lot of qualitative data. The next step was to analyse and make sense of it. I watched each of the user interview recordings and used FigJam to make notes of the interesting points.
Unsorted notes
The image below shows all of the notes I made. The sticky notes are colour-coded, according to which user they relate to:
User 1 - blue and green
User 2 - purple and pink
User 3 - red and orange
The notes are presented in a loosely chronoligical order, with the beginning of the interviews at the top and the end of the interviews at the bottom.
After listening to the recordings and making these notes, I could see a few key themes begin to emerge.
Key themes
What the website does well
There were a lot of things that the current website appears to be doing well already.
Donate was easy to locate
Participants found the Donate button and links quickly and easily.
Participants found what they looked for
The information about Roundabout reflected what participants expected to see and they were able to find this information.
The targeted campaign was easy to see and understand
The targeted, “Winter warmer” campaign was very prominent. After opening the Donate page, this was the first item all of the participants were drawn towards.
Participants were happy to fill in the information they were asked to provide
There are a lot of fields to fill in on the donation fonr however, participants were comfortable doing this because:
The information requested seemed similar to other online forms
They wanted to help Roundabout by providing information that would contribute to the charity’s understanding of their supporters
Areas to improve
The user tests also highlighted some areas for improvement.
Navigating the site could be quicker and more intuitive
All of the participants did find the information they were looking for. However, this did take some time. The volunteer information seemed the most difficult for participants to find.
Hyperlinks on the volunteering page should be more consistent and conventional
On the Volunteering page, there are links to information about specific opportunities. Participants expected these links to open new tabs in their browser. Instead, the links downloaded Word documents.
Large amounts of text should be avoided
Many pages within the site had sections where there were large amounts of text. None of the participants read those large blocks of text.
The donation process was unclear
There was some confusion about how many steps participants would need to complete when making a donation.
Next steps
These tests have uncovered two potential areas where I could focus my efforts and make improvements:
The donation process
The site’s overall information architecture
At this point, I have done a lot of discovery to understand Roundabout as an organisation, the domain they operate in, their existing website, and some of their website users.
I’m now moving from the Discover stage of the Double Diamond and into Define (Design Council 2019). This involves defining the project focus and scope, and agreeing the direction with Roundabout’s stakeholders.
So, my next steps are to:
Communicate my Discover findings so far to the stakeholders at Roundabout
Look into ways to prioritise possible focus areas
Define the scope for the rest of this project
Reflections
What went well
Using FigJam to pull out and then organise the key points from my user tests was really useful. I really liked being able to change the colours of the sticky notes I used and move them around easily. This is something I will do again.
Now that I’ve analysed the results of the user tests, I feel that three participants was a good number because this resulted in a manageable amount of data, given the time and resources I had.
I’ve really enjoyed this part of the project so far: talking to users and then analysing the results of the user tests. When thinking more broadly about the direction I would like to take my career in, this is something I will consider.
What could be improved
Had I found user test participants who more closely matched the Jackie persona, I would feel more confident in being able to say that the results I have accurately reflect users’ behaviours and needs.
Future plans
When planning user tests in future, I will consider:
The amount of time available to analyse the result as a key factor in deciding how many tests to conduct
The relationship between the participants I recruit for user testing activities and the validity of the results this produces
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DESIGN COUNCIL. 2019. ‘Framework for Innovation: Design Council’s Evolved Double Diamond’. [online]. Available at: https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/skills-learning/tools-frameworks/framework-for-innovation-design-councils-evolved-double-diamond/ [accessed 25 Feb 2023].
Thank you for reading.
