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3. You realize today is a special day so you want to eat burgers. 

Observations from Wednesday's Testing

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Total number of users tested: 4

User testing descriptions

• Phone
  • During the add-contact task, users were uncomfortable with the fact that the phone call actually went through to the granddaughter. Some expressed that “Add contact” should feel different from a normal phone call, and should allow them to hit an “OK”-like button to confirm before the request is sent.
  • Lacks a “send” button. old dial-tone phones with no numerical feedback do automatically start dialing, but since our display looks like a cell phone that displays numbers, it should be consistent with cell phones having a “Send” button.
  • No way to delete one digit at a time. This is poor safety for the elderly who may make errors while entering digits. Having no digit-backspace also threatens efficiency; the user would need to completely start over if he/she makes any mistake.
  • Lacks an “end call” button. This was simply an oversight on our part.
  • Not a real cell-phone number (only 6-digits long).
  • User not sure if * and # keys are necessary since they are never used when dialing a phone number.
• Mail
  • Yellow mail icon misconstrued to be a “compose mail” button.
  • “You’ve got mail” icon being inside the address book seemed to be inconsistent with the address book metaphor; normal address books don’t have mail-receiving functionality inside. User suggested to put the inbox in a corner of the browser instead rather than associating each mail icon with a particular contact.
  • Can’t hear message playback or see previously sent/received messages again.
• Options/Widgets
  • No way for grandparent to write an email, yet receives emails from grandchild. Makes user feel somewhat mistreated.
  • Doesn’t make sense for “call” and “send voicemail” to be two diverging options. Normally the caller would call and, if the recipient doesn’t answer, the caller would leave a voicemail.
  • Call/Send Voicemail screen: user wondered why both options were shown even though the contact was not online.
  • Need video vs. audio option
  • No way to send a video message.
  • User said that it may feel more like an address book if the user can fill in the details right on the book instead of on a popup. So maybe clicking on Add Contact will turn that entry into some text fields.

Phone Metaphor Prototype

• Phone:
  • There is no end call button.
  • No way to confirm that the phone number is correct because it automatically dials.
• Mail:
  • User did not associate “leave a message” with “send a voicemail.” Strong association between “leave a message” and textual message.
  • No way to review a previously received message again.
• “Call” and “Message” are currently either-or options. Would like the option to both call or send message even when the recipient is online.
• Immediate start of message recording was a bit startling.

Voice Search / Action Wheel

• Circular action wheel:
  • Circular selection momentarily confused user because it does not look like normal button options. However, user understood that they were probably buttons after thinking for a brief moment.
  • User did not know what what voicemail icon stood for.
  • User thought the X over the phone meant “end call” instead of “calling is not an option.”
• No functionality to delete a contact.

Feedback summary

Inconsistency with Expectations:

• Having a phone actually dial the recipient during the “add contact” task was disorienting to users.
• The reason for having “call” vs. “send voicemail” options is not intuitive. Used to leaving voicemail as a failed call attempt, rather than an upfront option.
• Many users were so caught up in recording their voice messages that they forgot to click “Done” until they realized they needed to do something.
• Users wanted the option to send a text message, not only voice messages.
• Letter icon was ambiguous to users (compose mail vs. receive mail).
• (Phone metaphor prototype) No user attempted to punch numbers into the phone to dial the recipient.

Consistency with Expectations:

• All users correctly clicked on the phone digits to dial the phone - understood that the interface was mimicking a phone.
• All users clicked on the recipient to initiate communication with the recipient. Some noted that they did so because it was the only thing to click on.
• Users used the X’s in the upper right corner of layovers to exit out of the layover or to undo the selection. This was as we had hoped/expected.
• Users clicked the “Cancel” and “End call” buttons correctly.
• When mailbox icon was in upper right corner of the browser, all users knew to click there for mail.
• Users noticed the address book metaphor.

Positive and Meta-feedback:

• Users remarked liking the simplicity of the interface (aside from the call vs. messaging options confusion)
• Users expressed some degree of amusement/excitement over recording a voice message and talking over webcam. The excitement may be partly a result of feeling nervous, but users seemed on the whole happy and played along with the voice-recording/webcam components of the study.
• One user (playing the Grandparent) remarked over webcam: “It’s nice to see your face!” This remark suggests that college-aged students assume and are aware of the notion that their grandparents would like to see them more often.

Changes for Round 2

We decided to continue with only the Address Book Metaphor design.

Flow:

• To address all the communication-option confusion, change to the following flow hierarchy.
  • If online: see call vs. send message →
    • If click into messages: see 3 options (voice message, email, video message)
  • If offline: goes directly to the 3 message options (voice message, email, video message)

Phone changes:

• Make “Add” button so that user has control over when phone starts connecting during Add Contact task.
• Show “End call” button once user and recipient have connected live, during Call task.
• Add back-arrow icon to allow deletion of 1 digit at a time.
• Make sure phone number is 7 digits long.

Receiving Mail:

• Change mail icon to mailbox icon. May want to try mailbox on yellow paper.
• Place mail icon in upper right of browser, representing mail from all contacts rather than from individual contacts.

Voice Mail:

• change wording from “voice mail” to “voice message” so that it is not confused with real-world voice-mail recording when the recipient does not pick up
• perhaps change icon from a tape to a person speaking

Observations from Friday's Testing (Round 2)

Four users tested against the updated Address Book Metaphor prototype.

User testing descriptions

User 1

Observations:

• User expressed discomfort with the name “ElderConnect”; feels the name points out his old age
• Yellow mailbox with mail flying out was effective in signaling to user to that something has changed. User was highly tempted to click on the mailbox once it changed.
• User thought contact buttons led to profiles rather than actionables; user attributed this thought to the “Address Book” metaphor which usually does not contain actionable items
• User had trouble recording a video message because there was no way to initiate the recording.

Feedback:

• User remarked that the interface makes it “easy to recover” from errors.
• User suggested that the blank slots should be made transparent so that the user does not mistake them for buttons to click on.

User 2

Observations:

• User attempts to click "Call" even when it is disabled.
• User asked "What kind of message?" during the second task after seeing the message type choices.
• Mailbox was effective for signifying that the user has a message. User discovered the change from closed to open mailbox.
• Regarding the voice message controls:
  • User speaks “Good Job” without clicking on Record.
  • User tries again, but clicks Play, and “Good Job” and Send.
  • Third time, clicks Record, “Good job” and Send.
  • There's a serious mode error in this interface.
• Video call interface operated correctly.

Feedback:

• The voice message interface is very confusing. User interpreted "Play" as "Start".
  • User suggests "Repeat" instead of "Play" button.
• User thinks that the disabled "Call" button is not a problem and that he simply made a mistake.

User 3

Observations:

• “Big plus sign” for adding a contact was effective, user clicked appropriately.
• Options available after choosing to “Leave Message” confused user. Needs to be more intuitive.
• Video message interface should provide more feedback and/or control. User looked for a “Ready” button to start leaving his/her message.
• Video call interface was operated correctly.
• Once again, user experienced a mode error with the voice recording interface. User wasn't sure whether the interface was already recording.
• The user thought the Record button was a Stop button.

Feedback:

• When asked "Do you think you prefer it starts recording right away or press a button?" (regarding voice message), user prefers pressing a button.
• When asked "Do you want to hear your own message?", the user says yes.
• Maybe make "Add Contact" be in the upper left corner.
• Change the name of the app.
• Change "Address Book" to a different name so the user feels like clicking the contact can yield some options.

User 4

Observations:

• User offended by the name ElderConnect.
• User says "So many options!" after seeing the three message types.
• During the third task, user sees the mail icon, but was not sure whether it was the same icon was before. Nevertheless he tapped it.
• When replying to a message, the user expected that simply calling the sender would be a clearly available action, given that the sender is online.
• User wonders whether he can send a message either by clicking the user or clicking the mail icon.
• Voice message interface operated correctly.
• Video call interface operated correctly.

Feedback:

• User: "What happens if I tapped mail?"
  • We haven't implemented this but we might say No Mail.
  • User suggests maybe we should put text on the mailbox such as the number of mails or "No Mail".
• User: "You have two separate loci on the starting point. One is the user - people centric, and the other is the mail icon - task centric."
  • We used to put mail beside person. But people got confused.
  • We also used envelope, but that turned out confusing, so we changed to a mailbox.
• User: "I guess there'll be arrows for flipping pages?"
  • Yes we will.
• User likes the fact there is no history, so there are only two things to do in the main interface.

Issues to consider/resolve moving forward

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• Restrictions
  • Unclear whether checking item 'includes' or 'excludes' it
  • Item preference selection inconsistent between 'restrictions' menu
• Groups
  • Not clear if checking 'vegetarian' is reversible
  • Some users simply selected 'vegetarian' and did not attempt to 'de-select' chicken
• Item browsing
  • Not clear at first that this is *not* an ordering system
  • One user wanted to be able to 'dislike' food; not sure if that would cause even more confusion
  • Use of 'neutral' face to indicate lack of restriction/preference is confusing; suggest happy face (and excited face for preference)
  • Some users thought X/neutral face/happy face meant 'amount of ingredient in food'

 Revisions

• Unify preference/restriction editing menu
  • Instead of X/neutral face/happy face, use 'disgusted' face/happy face/excited face
  • Use clearer categories than 'grains/fat/protein' (where are peanuts?)
• Clarify how to switch between menu and restrictions
  • Big, eye-catching arrow
  • 'Directional' for consistency; the menu is to the 'right' of the preference restrictions
• Remove ability to edit 'generic' preferences from menu viewing; only list selected items. Decrease UI clutter
• Using 'leading' phrases to indicate what to do: "what can't you eat?", etc.
• Add 'undo' button to indicate actions are reversible

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