Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.
Comment: Migration of unmigrated content due to installation of a new plugin

...

Panel

We initially specified 3 three user groups that would use our interface: the older parent, the college student, and the waitress. For the older parent group, we asked one of our own parents, who isn't technology savvy and fits the group. For the college student, we asked one of our friends, perfectly fitting into this group. For the waitress group, we asked one of our friends that was a waitress, again an ideal representation of this group.

Description of User Testing Procedure

for OpenMenu and we still wanted to test those user groups in our final round of user testing for 6.813. With this in mind we tested OpenMenu on:

  1. User 1 - Parent: We tested the application on one of our parents who spoke English because isn't super tech-savvy.
  2. User 2 - College Student: For this, we tested it on a friend of ours who wasn't course 6 and wasn't taking 6.813. We noted that she something similar to this before at a restaurant.
  3. User 3 - Waiter/Waitress: We tested OpenMenu on a friend of ours who had been a waitress in the past at a chain restaurant.

Description of User Testing Procedure

Panel

For each

Panel

For each user, we first read a briefing to set up the situation in their minds. Next, we asked the user to complete all the scenario tasks one at a time. Two of us took notes to record what the user said and did.

...

Panel

Hello and thank you for help us with our project, OpenMenu! This is ______, ______, and _____.

    Picture this: 

    You are going out to a restaurant on a Friday night with a couple friends. When you are seated, you notice that instead of menus, your waiter has grabbed tablets instead. Your waiter informs you that the restaurant is trying out a new electronic ordering system. The purpose of this new ordering system is to make ordering and waiting at restaurants faster and more efficient and to entertain customers while waiting for their orders to arrive.

    To help us test the system, we're going to ask you to do some scenario tasks.

...

#

Title of the Task and Statement to User

Steps of the Task (For our personal use)

1

Viewing and Ordering Foods
Panel

You and your friends were just seated by a lovely waitress at Mama Mia's.
You are extremely hungry and want to look through choices to order something as
soon as possible. So:
- You go through the menu to order some food
- You proceed to send in your order

1. Scroll through the menu
2. Move between tabs
     -Drinks
     -Appetizers
     -Entrees
     -Deserts
2. Click on each item for more information
3. Add and remove items from their order
4. View your order
5. Send in their order

2

Play Some Games 
Panel

You and your friends just ordered some delicious food from Mama Mia's. In the mean
time, you and your friends notice that there are games offered on the device. So:
- You go and browse through the games
- You choose to play Scrabble with your friends

1. Navigate the game screen
2. Click on a game
3. Play a game
4. Go back to the main game screen

3

Pay the Bill
Panel

You and your friend just finished your delicious meals and everything was wonderful.
The only thing left to do is pay the bill. So:
- You pay the bill

1. View the bill 
2. Add tip 
3. Choose to pay with cash or card 
4. Pay the bill

4

Filtering
Search and Comparing Foods
Panel

You and your friends are

ver

very impressed by the number of items on the menu, but some
want beef while others want seafood. So:
- You

filter the items that appears to suit your preferences

search for different items and compare them side by side

1. Search for items 
2. 1. Filter the menu based on certain specifications 
     -Price 
     -Nutritional Facts 
     -Ingredients 
2. Search for items 
3. Compare items side-by-side 

5

Ask for Help


Panel

You and your friends have just spilled a drink accidentally and really need help from the
waiter/waitress. So:
- You get help from the waiter/waitress using the system

1. Click on the help button 
2. Search through the help on the device 
3. Call your waiter over for help 

...

Description of Problem

Type of Usability Issue

Possible Solution

User did not understand what "Compare List" button did (older parent)

Affordance

Change Wording wording

User did not know how to remove an item from their order (older parent)

Learnability

Adding more information of their order in the actual menu (Better Affordance).

User assumed that they can sort the "Compare List" by clicking on the label (such as "Price") (college student)

Efficiency/Affordance

Implement sorting in "Compare List"

4. Reflection

Panel

User and Task Analysis

Coming Soon.

Panel

Designs

Coming Soon.

Panel

Paper & Computer Protyping

Coming Soon.

Panel

Heuristic Evaluations

Coming Soon.

User did not know how many of an item they had already ordered (waitress)

Affordance

Display the number of times an item has been ordered on the "Add to Order" button

User thought help button was for device/interface help (older parent)

Affordance/Learnability

Change wording to be more specific to waiter/waitress help

User didn't know you could click on an item to view more information on the product (older parent)

Learnability/Affordance

Make the picture/description of the product look more clickable, like a button

User wasn't sure if "Add to Order" sent in their order or if they had to send in their order separately (older parent)

Learnability/Affordance

Change "View Order" to "View and Send Order"

User removed items by accident on the Order Screen (older parent)

Efficiency/Safety

Add a confirmation prompt before removing the item to make sure the user didn't click it by accident.

User found the radio buttons hard to click for the tip calculator (college student)

Efficiency

Instead of three radio buttons, make it three regular buttons that instantly change the tip once clicked on the percentage.

4. Reflection

Panel

User and Task Analysis

What We Learned

When we thought about what we wanted to get out of 6.813, we wanted to learn more about making technologies easier to use for populations that normally don't interact with technology. With this in mind, we decided to make a menu system because menus are used by both technologically advanced users and users who don't even own a computer. This was highly risky but we believed that it would be a great learning experience so we carried on. We learned that interviewing people who would be typical users of our product are extremely beneficial in learning about that the user, the user's technical abilities, and the user's desires in our product. Performing our task analysis was useful throughout the production of OpenMenu because it gave us goals we wanted to accomplish that we can always keep in mind.

What We Would Have Done Differently

We believe that this process went extremely well, and we wouldn't have changed much. We felt as through the user groups we chose were ideal for our product and the tasks we choose were valid for OpenMenu. 

Panel

Designs

What We Learned

One of the first things we had to do was write an example scenario which helped us conceptualize how our product would be used in a hypothetical situation. We incorporated all of the tasks that we created during our Task Analysis to confirm that our tasks were still valid. After creating our scenario, each member separately came up with their own design which resulted in three completely different designs for OpenMenu. We choose to do so separately because we didn't want own ideas to conflict with each other before we got all of our ideas on paper. From these three designs, we choose what seemed like good ideas to test for paper prototyping and which ones we wanted to scrap off the board (to save time in implementation and testing). 

What We Would Have Done Differently

All of us focused too much of our time on the "menu" part of the application and we didn't focus enough on the "compare" features, and viewing/paying the bills section of the application. Because of this, our implementation of these features were not as in-depth or creative as we wanted it to be. We should have spent more time designing the rest of the application.

Panel

Paper & Computer Prototyping

What We Learned

When we first heard about paper prototyping, we thought it was a dumb idea because it isn't the "real thing." However after actually using paper prototypes, we realized that paper prototyping is a cheap way to get very useful data and feedback from potential users. Even though we had three designs, we still had to choose only one design to paper prototype due to lack of time. Therefore, we choose the best ideas from all three designs to make a single design as a group. One of the things we had to give up testing was the meny system that was using the paper metaphor where users can swipe to flip the menu like a book. We believed that the system was not efficient enough and the risk of taking extra time to test it was not worth it. After both iterations of paper prototyping, we received awesome feedback to change OpenMenu (for the better) and prepare itself for computer prototyping.

As programmers, we found it hard to create a computer prototype without implementing some of the features of the application. We found that we had to realize that we should get the full range of features of the application but not implement the back-end of it.

What We Would Have Done Differently

We found have changed how we tackled the computer prototyping process by putting more emphasis on the "look and feel" of the application and not wasting so much time implementing some of the features. However, we are still proud of the look and feel of OpenMenu but there could have been room for improvement.

Panel

Heuristic Evaluations

What We Learned

Throughout the course, we placed great emphasize on the phrase "you are not the user." Though this concept is very important in the design and implementation of an user interface, technical analysis and feedback is also important in the creation of an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. We were able to use what we had learned in the course to offer suggestions and better other groups' interfaces while the act was reciprocated for our interface as well.

What We Would Have Done Differently

Because of the importance of heuristic evaluation, we would run more rounds of heuristic evaluations after each design/implementation of our interface.

Panel

User Testing

What We Learned

Something that surprised us when we were doing user testing is how some things that seemed obvious to us were confusing the users. One example was how users weren't sure what the "Compare List" button did, whereas it seemed obvious to us when we were designing and implementing. We tried to take all the feedback from the users and incorporate it into our next iteration of our product. For example, we added more feedback when the user added to order or to the compare list by updating the number of items currently on the order or compare list. Another thing we really learned from user testing was to make everything as simple as possible since a lot of things appear obvious to us since we were the one that designed and implemented it, but appear completely different to the average user.

What We Would Have Done Differently

The User testing went really well and we learned a lot from it. The feedback we got was really useful in improving our product. We don't think we would've changed much from this process

Panel

User Testing

Something that surprised us when we were doing user testing is how some things that seemed obvious to us were confusing the users. One example was how users weren't sure what the "Compare List" button did, whereas it seemed obvious to us when we were designing and implementing. We tried to take all the feedback from the users and incorporate it into our next iteration of our product. For example, we added more feedback when the user added to order or to the compare list by updating the number of items currently on the order or compare list.