1. Design and the creative process is an emotional one.
Okay, raise your hand if you have ever been in this situation. You have moved through your design process carefully and with consideration of your audience and client. Initial needs assessments have been completed, definitions of goals are done, design comps have been created, all with the blessing of client and the team. For the first time the “thing” is clickable and usable and the entire audience is getting a chance to use the experience and the questions start coming in. “Is that nav really intuitive?” “Don’t you think that the header should be a bit bigger?”, “If not bigger, it should definitely be much more red than it is now.” And, yes, the comps were signed off on, the site map has been completed, the use cases have been accepted, i.e. we all knew what we were getting. However, the conversation will continue and everyone will begin to voice their opinion about what the next best steps should be. I would like to add that I think nearly all of the opinions are valid, but arbitrating them at this point in the design process is an extremely sticky wicket. It is more troublesome because there has been an investment made in this build and any designer or developer should be attached to the work that has been completed. If the external feedback runs counter to the designer/developer opinions there is the potential for conflict and an awful hypothetical conversation about what the best way to proceed really is. That is when I like to use one of my major time outs (I am always reminded of my mom and dad drawing the imaginary line down the backseat of our car on road trips that lasted for weeks to keep my sister and myself from eviscerating each other.), head off the ensuing battle, and get another perspective from the vox populi. Let’s put it out there and see what the users think.
2. Significant testing can be carried out cheaply and easily using on-line and client-based tools.
There are so many simple tools that can help you collect, tabulate and summarize data for your interactive experiences. I am a fan of Zoomerang for data collection and tabbing. However, it can also be completed by putting together a solid is of questions or testing rubrics that will give you the answers that you need. Excel is always good if you have folks local and just need to add up the numbers. However, it can be a bit time consuming. Don’t worry about the test being statistically significant, because the real goal is to find trends and the big gotchas that are right in front of the team, but obscured because of closeness to the build. I like to shoot video of people using software and experiences, too. I find that it provides a great record that I can go back to and also provide video evidence to clients to support observations and eventual recommendations. There are some specific legal clearances for this and other ethical concerns with testing that are important to understand before you embark. Once your bases are covered, you may want to check out Silverback for your testing needs, as well. The software is great for recording keystrokes and video evidence.
3. Most significantly, testing may help you learn something that you, your team, and your client never really considered before.
Distance can never be underestimated. One of the best things I ever learned from a senior designer that I worked with was the importance of understanding your relationship to the work. If you are too close, you become impervious to change and less open to suggestion from those with key input. If you are overloaded with work, you can, at times, move too far away from the project and lose a grip on the details. I think that usability tests help with focus and framing and allow us as designers and developers to get back into an objective comfort zone– an appropriate “depth of engagement.”
Most of these musings can be found on a variety of sites and are explained much better by those with much more experience. I will leave you with a few links if you should choose to read more.
This is the first book you should read on usability. Clear. Simple. Amazing. Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald Norman. A Practical Guide to Usability Testing. A great book on usability for those just getting started that need a quick primer and step by step guide.
Understanding Heuristic Evaluation is key for most of us because we most likely can’t afford a full study (and focus groups are challenging conceptually because we usually use interactive experiences one at a time.) These reports from the Nielsen Norman Group look solid, too.
