Prototype photos.

Digital photos of the pieces of your prototype. Show the prototype in interesting states; don't just show a blank window. Although you will iterate your paper prototype during this assignment, the photos only need to show one iteration.

Briefing.

You are Mob Riller, a Harvard graduate. You have written a few books but none of them are published. Dejected and out of ideas, you decide to visit write('now') for inspiration and motivation for your next book.

Scenario Tasks.

• Task 1: Compete in a Writing Battle.
• Task 2: Vote on other user's writings.
• Task 3: Perform a freestyle writing task. Go to your profile to see your previous writings.

Observations.

Usability Observations Summary

• <observations!>
• Learnability, Efficiency, Safety
• F: feature

User A

A male student.

Task 1

• Unsure what a writing battle is
• Unsure if the opponent is a compute or a human

Task 2

• Unsure what to do if they both seem the same (neither is better).

Task 3

• Suspected but unsure if green outline meant that people liked a piece of writing.

Overall Thoughts

• Homepage is sparse. Can be confusing as to what to do next.
• Time constraint is constraining.
• Ability to have a random category
• Add more info the front page.

User B

A female student.

Task 1

• Unsure what to do at the front page
• How do I know if someone is my opponent?
• I didn't know I was going to be given a topic
• Not sure if she can close the settings and start bar.

Task 2

• Unsure if she could vote twice for a piece of writing.

Task 3

• Found the page very quickly after learning it from the writing battle task.
• Not sure how to skip a topic.
• Understood the color highlights.

User C

A male teaching assistant.

Task 1

• Understood the interface very quickly.
• Thought that viewing results was fun.
• Unsure if he was already logged in.
• Thought that auto-saving and register after trying feature was cool.
• Expected view results to bring him to the specific essay results page with comments.

Task 2

• Understood the vote page very quickly.
• Suggested a counter for remaining number of writings.
• Feature to save or favorite liked writings.
• Suggested list view for voting.
• Suggested ability to view writings by topics.

Task 3

• Found the interface very simple, safe, and easy to learn.
• Suggested sorting profile writings by date, subject, votes, etc.

User D

A male student.

Task 1

• Understood category selection and start button very quickly.
• Enjoyed winning the writing battle.

Task 2

• Navigated to the vote page very quickly.
• Found voting to be fast and efficient.
• Quickly understood writing navigation on the vote page.

Task 3

• Navigated to the freestyle and profile page very quickly.
• Expected a grade for the freestyle writing, like the battle writing mode.

User E

A male student.

Task 1

• Unsure how to refresh the battle.
• Understood the category selection and start bar.

Task 2

• Found no way to unvote, aka not vote for anything.

Task 3

• Unsure what the color hints meant.
• Unsure how to edit the profile information.

Prototype Iteration

Overall, our second prototype had more implemented features, pages, and content. Our changes included:

• Adding a profile and voting page. The first prototype only had writing battle and freestyle page.
• Adding interaction for the category settings and start. We added slips of paper for the dropdown, countdown, and topics, which drove the interaction.
• Added color to the clickable objects on pages. We also added color to highlight writings on the profile page.
• Added interaction for the writing battle, including simulated opponent writing.