Usability Engineering Lifecycle
Introduction
Designing an interface for a new product is exciting but
challenging. Because we do not have a previous layout to improve upon, the task
of designing a good interface is especially daunting and we were forced to
think about usability issues from the start. Instead of creating something and
hoping it will just "work", we have decided to systematically build
the interface using guidelines, structure, and feedback from various users.
Since the final interface should not only provide a gateway of functionality
but ultimately enrich the application experience, we as interface designers
strive to include the user (a sample of our actual users) in the design process.
Therefore, this process will be an evolutionary one in which the initial design
assumptions will give way to a solid final interface.
Usability Life Cycle
For this project, we are using an abbreviated version of the
usability life cycle. Basically, by following each step on the design path, we
should be able to come up with a relatively solid interface. The stages in our
process are as follows:
·
Customer
profile - talk with
the customer and determine his needs and wants
·
User
stories/scenarios -
based on the customer interview, develop stories that
will help guide the thought process in the design.
·
Prototype
the first design -
this is done from the previous two steps
·
Cognitive
walkthrough/Evaluation of prototype - does the interface actually
do what we think it will do? Does it meet the customer's needs?
·
Prototype
test - customer
test drives the first interface and gives feedback
·
Analysis
and redesign -
based on results from the previous step, identify and
correct problem areas
·
User
Test - get a
representative group of users to test the prototype
·
Analysis
and redesign - fix
anything that is broken based on the test. Add
functionality; incrementally build the final interface
·
Evaluation - designers will go through the
latest version of the prototype
with the mindset of actual users. Identify any problems or difficulties.
·
Analysis
and redesign
·
User
Test - test the
fully functional application
·
Analysis
and final redesign
- identify and correct any remaining problems
User Testing
We used four users to test the first prototype of the mall
manager interface (wizard and main application window). Four users allowed us
to see and identify most of the usability problems. The tasks
that we presented our test subjects represented the whole range of what a user
could do with the interface. For this round of user testing, we used a
"paper prototype" instead of allowing the users to play with the
prototype on the computer. We chose to do this because we thought the users might
get confused with the limited functionality of the current version of the
application. We felt that a paper prototype would allow them to see and tell us
what they would do in certain situations. The screen shots that we used can be
found here . Before the test began, we had each user
complete a questionnaire of basic information. This
information will help us when we analyze the results of the test. They finished
the questionnaire by evaluating their experience in the test.
Our test results are here.