Usability testing w/ figma prototype

[freemvmt]

Usability testing w/ Figma

Below is a script for running a usability testing session with a potential user, observing their interaction with our Figma prototype

Preamble

• We're developers on a course called Founders & Coders
• We're working on a project called humble
• humble is intended to be a free platform for anyone to use
• It will enable people to share their skills, knowledge and experience with people in their local area, as well as learn from other people, and build stronger community ties
• We've built a basic prototype and are looking for people to test it - can you help up?
• The whole thing will take 5 - 10 minutes

If they agree to take part

• We will now give you a couple of tasks to try and complete on the prototype
• While you're doing this, please try to 'think aloud'
• For example, describe what you are seeing or what are you expecting to happen when you click something
• There are no right or wrong answers here
• Don't worry about hurting our feelings or being repetitive - we want honest feedback to make the app the best it can be, so just say whatever comes to mind
• If you have any questions, please ask them, but we will wait until you've finished the task to answer
• Before we get started, do you mind telling us your name and whereabouts you live? (not required)

Journey 1

'Let's say you are a good cook. Using the app, can you create an account, find someone nearby who wants to improve their cooking skills, and find their contact details.'

Journey 2

'Let's say your car breaks down. Now that you've already registered on the app, can you log in, find someone to help you fix it, and find their contact details.'

Further questions

1. Is there anything that didn't work well or was unintuitive?
2. Was it clear and easy to navigate to the different parts of the app?
3. Was there anything that you thought was missing?
4. Was there anything that you thought was unneccessary?
5. Do you have any questions for us?
6. Would you use this and if so, how often would you use this app? If you wouldn't, what could be changed to be useful?

Templates for responses

Name of participant:
Where do they live:

Notes on Journey 1:

Notes on Journey 2:

Q1:
Q2:
Q3:
Q4:
Q5:
Q6:

[ReginaldJbeili]

User 1
Name of participant: Alice
Where do they live: East London
Notes on Journey 1:
Signing-up – straight – forward
Teaching someone – straight forward
Notes on Journey 2:
Switching to other search tab is not clearly defined and took time to find out
Words were clear
List view was not looked for/ standout from page
If possible to relocate to another area (for emergencies – if help is needed in a place not at home, for safety – if owner does not want to perform activity at home)
Contact people directly to be personal
Add a refer button for friends of friends
Way to streamline trust rating to be well-defined
Q1: None particularly
Q2: Mostly easy to navigate through aside from the switching part
Q3: Pop-up without moving to next page/Hover could show description on icon in map
Q4: None
Q5: None
Q6: Would be potentially useful (Can help people)

[ReginaldJbeili]

User 2
Name of participant: Brook
Where do they live: South London
Notes on Journey 1:
Signing-up – straightforward
Teaching someone – straightforward
Similar pattern as most websites which means it’s easy to navigate
Once the tabs were clearly identified, the user was able to do the journey
Notes on Journey 2:
Identified more functionality on second runthrough
It’s not smooth in flowing but was identified that it was part of the prototyping process
Identified if it was possible to do the search from another area instead of default location such as in travel or if relocated
Not responsive for other phone sizes (figma)
Q1: Very straightforward as long as the person is used to similar apps
Q2: Registration was easy and search was easy
Q3: Edit a skill to add or remove a description
Q4: None
Q5: None
Q6: Found it very useful and would use it. Review system would be a good way of implementing the trust system/Potentially a complaints system but it is important to focus on the trust rating

[freemvmt]

User 3

Name of participant: Shea
Where do they live: Reading

Notes on Journey 1:

Got to contact details
Seemed pretty simple
The map isn't yet usable

Notes on Journey 2:

Immediately knew to look to learn how to do car repair - seemed intuitive
The map may show me distance but doesn't give me any other information
List view better because can see peoples' specific skills, and the location info is still on there
Can you have list view alongside map view?
Would prefer to see the list first, map second
Navigation seems fine

Q1: Good
Q2: Good
Q3: When you click on 'Make Contact', you lose the ability to return to the search directly.
Q4: -
Q5: -
Q6: No, because I'm lazy, but I could see people using it. It could be helpful. Instead of email and phone number on the contact, I would prefer that contact is handled through the app i.e. a private messaging feature. Phone and email shouldn't be exposed like that.

[freemvmt]

User 4

Name of participant: Sami
Where do they live: Stratford

Notes on Journey 1:

I really like the name!
Stylistically, likes the predominant lowercase
Change the way the onboarding process is written
Think about identity of the brand every time you write something - one voice
If we want it community driven, it shouldn't be business-y at all
The way it's written, it's almost cult like - overly religiose
'Statement of intent' rather than 'statement of intentions'
Make sure the language is consistent throughout
Create an account page is nice - don't like the capitalisation, this deviates
Consider enforcing lowercase on all user generated text/submissions
Really likes the idea, but the concern is 'if you're good at something, don't do it for free' reigns
Beautiful idea, but think you might get blasted by cynics, especially in London
People's time, especially in London, is very valuable
Difficult to do anything pro bono - how do we incentivise people to do anything for free?
How do you get people to congregate? Is there a humble space available?
If someone's good at something, I want to be demonstrating that to a whole group
I don't think the world is ready for these random acts of kindness
Could you not run ads and make money?
I would go to a lower rent area of London and set up 'humble hq' and provide that as a space for these interactions to begin - it has to start in group settings (1:1s can grow out of this)
I like the interface of the app

Notes on Journey 2:

Top navigation of search tab looks 'meh'
Wasn't obvious that 'teach' and 'learn' were tabs, they just looked misshapen
After selecting a user-skill from the map, then going 'back to search', it goes back to an unfiltered 'teach' map view, rather than remembering the
Would use list view more - clicking on a map doesn't make sense to me
Good to have the option for both though
Whatever your intentions, it's gonna be an app which men try to use to find women to teach things to... So need to think about how to combat that
Feels very rigid
Otherwise looks very clean - nice design
The aesthetic simplicity feeds into the 'humble' brand
Seems almost too simple - need extra steps e.g. age verification
Want it to be as easy as possible but not to the negligence of our duty of care etc.

Q1: -
Q2: -
Q3: -
Q4: -
Q5: -
Q6: -

[kin-au]

User 5

Name of participant: N/A
Where do they live: Finsbury Park

Notes on Journey 1:
The user is not very computer/mobile literate. Sign up page seems good. At first he was not sure what the function of the 'profile' button is. The map feature is familiar and looks like Google maps. The category select dropdown is not obvious. Perhaps the teach/learn buttons are not very clear, this may be because the user did not know the purpose of the app. At first the icons on the map are not clear as to their function (ability to click these icons). The profile page is easy to understand.

Notes on Journey 2:
Similar to journey 1, but user became more familiar with the navigation and concept.

The user notes that there are existing offline initiatives to tackle isolation/loneliness, and build community cohesion, e.g. local meetups advertised in certain locations

Q1: No
Q2: No
Q3: Prefer colours to b&w
Q4: No
Q5: No.
Q6: (A somewhat hesitant) Yes

[freemvmt]

User 6

Name of participant: Josh (barman at The World's End pub)
Where do they live: North London (?)

Notes on Journey 1:

Assumed immediately that there must be monetary exchange involved
He was like 'ok but if you don't manage it on the platform presumably people will just organise it between themselves?'
Once we convinced him this wasn't our intention at all, he was sceptical that it would have any value or usage
Also thought there'd be legal ramifications if we didn't 'verify' the skills people claimed to have
(The main thing he saw was car repair, which tbf does have serious safety implications, but it probably not representative of the kinds of things you'd expect to see on the platform)
Emphasised that whether or not the app is successful depends on whether it makes peoples' lives more convenient or not - and the ease of use of the app

Notes on Journey 2:

Q1: -
Q2: -
Q3: -
Q4: -
Q5: -
Q6: -

[kin-au]

User 7

Name of participant: Yausin
Where do they live: Finsbury Park

Notes on Journey 1:
User states that their English is not very good, and asked for clarification on definition of a word on the terms of usage page.
After signing up and on the adding new skill/problems page, it's not clear what are "skills" and "problems" i.e. the point of the app (beyond the overarching aim of improving community ties).
Easily found the search function.
Quickly identified 2 locations where someone wanted to learn cooking
Did not click on the list view

Notes on Journey 2:
Similar to journey 1, and by the end of the journey, the user understood the function of the app.

Q1: not unintuitive
Q2: easy to navigate
Q3: nothing missing
Q4: nothing unnecessary
Q5: no questions
Q6: would definitely use the app, expects people to use it, especially as it's free, and could help to make people's lives easier

[jdy3]

Name of participant: Maria
Where do they live: Hoxton

Notes on Journey 1:

• Commented that the sign-up button was flashing when she tried to input details although she was not actually able to input details.

• Commented that the commit button wasn't centred.

• Commented that the 'W' on welcome should be uppercase on the sign-up page.

• Commented that the 'Commitments' sounded solemn - but liked them.

• Commented that the alignment was off on the Create An Account page.

• Commented that having a nav-bar on the sign-up page was confusing. Should probably remove it as you can't navigate before signing-up.

• Commented that 'My' should be added to 'Skills' on the profile.

• Commented that we should choose a word other than 'problems'.

• Commented that the font-weight under skills should be lighter.

• Was unclear whether she would be teaching cooking.

• Questioned the purpose of the arrow on the profile page. May be unnecessary for mobile as you can just scroll.

• Was unclear that you could click the icons on the map after filtering, as the map was not responsive before.

Notes on Journey 2:

• When prompted, said icons should be larger.

• Was unclear that the second profile was also related to cooking. Should probably highlight the relevant skills in the profile after filtering.

• Wanted greater distinction between categories and buttons on the map.

• Was unclear what specific aspect of car fixing she would learn.

• Felt that there should be greater contrast on the faded-out hatched background .

Q1: Pretty intuitive.
Q2: Difficulties relating to inconsistent map responsiveness.
Q3: An edit functionality for profiles. A key of the icons. A slider / +/- button / pinch + scroll for the map. A return to statement of intention page functionality on the nav-bar.
Q4: No.
Q5: Already covered above.
Q6: Would use the app but would feel more comfortable with group activities. Maybe a functionality for teachers to set up group classes.

[kin-au]

User 8

Notes on Journey:

First impression on design - likes the design, name and font. Easy on the eye, cosy, not too stuffy, modern and casual, likes the lower case text, background looks like a Go board.

Sign up screens - typo on "facilitating", strange language used, wording sounds like something they might see on a contract and be caught out on, also somewhat sexual. Perhaps "I am grateful" or "I will be grateful for the help I receive", "I intend to share my advice/help/experience freely". Feels good to press the commit button, doesn't like forms where you don't know how long they are. Our one does not have too much info, no address, phone number etc, makes them more inclined to sign up. Not enough contrast between background and form, a bit distracting and messy - it could be blurred or something.

New skill/problem - not sure on what can be clicked ("Category" button"). Trust and Location should have size different and/or more spacing to be clear that one is part of the profile header. Wording is strange, "problems" has a negative connotation, perhaps "what I'm looking for" instead?

Search - user easily navigated to the search function, took a while to figure out why "teach" and "learn" are different sizes, not clear that they're toggle buttons. Would be good to sort by distance.

User profiles (from Search page) - would be nice to see the same icon next to the skill when you click on a result. More description wanted for skills and problems, maybe as a click-to-expand. Would like to click on the user picture and see more pictures, makes them seem more like a real person and trust them more. Consider integration of contact details with phone function (e.g. click to email app and phone apps). Aware of time constraint but in terms of contacting a user, a quick low-commitment way of sending a quick template message to the user would encourage contact and interaction.

Own profile - unsure of what the + button does at first, in fact maybe no need to have this as a separate menu option. Could have it within profile as an "edit" button near the skills/problems.

General - site is quite static, would expect to see some animations and interactivity on the final app.

Q1: nothing else
Q2: nothing else
Q3: nothing else
Q4: nothing else
Q5: nothing else
Q6: would consider using as interested in learning new skills, but safety and trust is a main concern. More likely to do it as group, less pressure. Would not go to anyone's house.

[kin-au]

User 9

Landing page - Log-in button looks inactive. Having the background crosshatch lines over the form fields looks messy.

On-boarding - off center commit buttons, maybe checkboxes instead of so many commits?

Sign-up form - dots are very in the way. Order of the form is slightly weird, would have expected password last. Spacing is strange

New problem/skill page - the + icon is not clear as to functionality. On first impression the page looks busy. The "category" looks like a button. "Problems" is not a nice sounding word. Perhaps "to teach" and "to learn"? Maybe "add" instead of "submit", submit sounds final and as if it would go to a different page after clicking.

Profile - inconsistency in capitalisation. Delete button is too big, maybe just an X? "Trust" may make people think they would get murdered, maybe rename to "recommendations" or "endorsements". Is 2 trust good? Did they start from 10 and drop from there? But to be fair, a new user would see that they started on 0 trust. Star rating not necessarily good enough, as 2 x 5 star ratings is still not necessarily trust-worthy. How about a button that takes you automatically to search for the problem you've input?

Search function - easily used map and icons on map. Did not see the "list" view at first. Would be good to view results by category rather than all results on user profile. Expects/prefers to see the list view first, rather than the map. Not sure what happened when they clicked on "make contact", presumes it already sent some sort of notification to the user that they're interested. If not, then perhaps change button to "see contact details"? Suggests some sort of template message for a user to quickly send, some people can be shy about messaging a stranger.

Q1: nothing else
Q2: nothing else
Q3: nothing else
Q4: nothing else
Q5: nothing else
Q6: