Prototype photos
Briefing
Thank you for choosing to participate in the testing of our prototype. The goal of this test is to find deficiencies in our prototype so that we can improve the usability of our system. To be clear, you are not the subject of this test, and you should not be worried about making mistakes, as this will provide valuable feedback to us about our system. The protype you will be testing is intended to mimic the functionality of a website. The purpose of this website is to provide a quick and easy way to contact your local government officials. While not required, it would be helpful if you talk through your though process as you are carrying out the tasks that we will provide for you. Your participation in this test is entirely at your discretion, and you may stop testing at any time. |
Scenario Tasks
Task #1: Find a representative in your area
Task #2: Send a voicemail to a policy maker in your area.
Task #3: Schedule a call to a representative.
Observations
User Testing Round 1:
User #1:
This user explained his actions well.
Task #1: Find a representative in your area
First screen: He read through the screen's explanatory text and realized quickly what needed to be done. This essentially accomplishes his task.
Task #2: Send a voicemail to a policy maker in your area.
The user managed to select a representative to send a voicemail to without much confusion, and realized how to record his voicemail with ease. The submission was successful without any explanation on our part.
Task #3: Schedule a call to a representative.
Due to very similar steps as before, the user was able to easily navigate to the call scheduling page. When scheduling, he had one minor question about the preslected time on the scheduler, but could operate the scheduler well.
His Tips: Deal with the "cancel scheduled call" button. Explain the process of calling/scheduling the call, and what will happens when the scheduled time comes.
User # 2:
Task #1: Find a representative in your area
Easy task. The user knew exactly what to do, and even tested the filtering tasks. She seemed to know exactly how to operate the interface.
Task #2: Send a voicemail to a policy maker in your area.
She seemed familiar with the recording interface, and had no problems recording her voicemail.
Task #3: Schedule a call to a representative.
Seemed to know what to do for the scheduler after a pause. Had some tips concerning the scheduler and making it more intuitive, to eliminate the initial uncertainty.
Her Tips: Might be helpful to have frequently contacted list of contacts, and it would be nice to grey out the past times. Also, the square selecting the current time was ambiguous.
User # 3:
Task #1: Find a representative in your area
Once again, this task was very easy and intuitive for the user. He did not try the filtering options, however.
Task #2: Send a voicemail to a policy maker in your area.
Easily found the buttons to record a voicemail on a politician of his choice. Wondered aloud how to start, but quickly found the record button.
Task #3: Schedule a call to a representative.
By returning to the familiar results page, the user was able to quickly determine how to proceed to call scheduling. Did not have questions about the scheduler.
His Tips:
He did not know how to cancel a call (he didn't notice the button). Also, he wasn't sure what the initial selection on the scheduler was. Suggested account/login at first, but was quickly convinced otherwise. Filtering is nice, but is there a way to filter ALL politicians? Add a biography page for the politicians. Maybe consolidate the buttons on the interface (reduce visual clutter). Maybe extend the scheduling app to show office hours, meetings, etc. Add e-mails, twitter, etc? Also, maybe stats for politicians (how many people contact what offices).
User Testing Round 2:
User #1:
Task #1: This task still seems to remain simple for the users, despite the addition of a new button at the bottom of the scene.
Task #2: Seemed to find the new "leave a voicemail" button with no problems. Not sure if she noticed how to change the office, though. The voicemail widget was still intuitive.
Task #3: Found the "schedule a call" button in the new layout much faster than in task 2. The calendar app was confusing in the available/unavailable times.
Tips: Include a legend for the calendar and maybe include closed business hours/ etc. Explain the call scheduling process (what happens at designated time). Enable a search by representative name?
User #2:
Task #1: The initial screen doesn't seem to need any explanation. The sparseness seems to work well to attract the user to the data entry field.
Task #2: Found the button rapidly, but didn't seem to notice the office selection (again). Will ask about it once the tests are finished. Was confused about the "record button", mistaking the title for the action button, but once nothing happened, he figured out his error.
Task #3: Found the call button easily. The consistency seems to work for the users. Seemed to understand the calendar interface without any trouble. (Update: thought grey meant "open." Had a few issues with the calendar.)
Tips: Have the next/previous week buttons on the top. Had a question about the length of a scheduled call; he thought he had to specify the length. Maybe put the office selection on the 'next' page.
User #3:
Task #1: Noticed (and asked about) the "cancel a scheduled call" button. Other than that, the task was easy.
Task #2: Verbally wondered how to start a new recording until she saw the record button. Otherwise, smooth sailing.
Task #3: Confused about the calendar's gray times. We had to explain ow the calendar works.
Tips: Confused about "cancel scheduled call" button. Include a legend for the calendar. Drop-down menu to select office.
Prototype iteration
First, add a large, red button underneath the zip code search box with the text "CANCEL A SCHEDULED CALL"
The improved scheduler interface – grayed out times before the present, and the present time is clearly marked by a red line. Eliminated times outside of the representative's published availability.
Search results page should show the instruction: "Select an office to contact:". Fold the representatives' papers in half to get rid of the buttons (the blocks around each office are the buttons now), and add another screen after an office has been selected. This screen should look kind of like this:
Either go to a new page when one of the buttons is clicked (like our old design), or make the new elements appear below the buttons.
New Prototype Photos
Return to Expect Us homepage.
1 Comment
Unknown User (juhokim@mit.edu)
"User testing observations: More higher-level observations could have helped.
Overall: Good work. The only caveat is to make sure the interaction components are not too generic and are tailored to the problem domain.
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