Hello

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Usability Tidbits. My goal with this newsletter is to offer my best advice on usability to help my readers create more successful products. 

This newsletter focuses on how to run effective usability tests on products at different stages of their evolution - from barely off the white board to ready to ship. I hope you find these tidbits useful. Feel free to send your comments and questions to me at Kay@UsabilityResources.net.

Have a wonderful holiday - thanks for reading my newsletter!

Kay

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It’s important to find fundamental design flaws early because they are harder (and more costly) to fix later on. You don’t need to have a fully functioning product before considering a usability study. If you can draw your idea on a piece of paper or represent it in foam core you can usability test it. 

Quick prototypes give you the chance to explore with prospective users basic aspects of your design such as the product concept or its navigation. When presented with a rough prototype vs. a polished interface, participants tend to offer more honest feedback because they can see not a lot of work was put into the presentation. Getting critical feedback early on positions your product design in the right direction and saves you time, effort, and money.

The best designs start with paper and pencil

 It’s best to start usability testing as soon as there is a physical rendition of the product. This rendition can be as simple as a paper prototype or foam core mockup. Don’t worry about presenting a fully fleshed out concept. In fact, marketers are better off spending as little time as possible on early mockups, to avoid becoming emotionally attached to any particular design.

Paper prototype usability studies deliver seriously valuable feedback
Early usability studies aim to generate feedback on lots of initial design approaches. The stimuli need only contain enough detail to elicit feedback on a specific aspect of the design (e.g., does this Web site navigation make sense? Do the graphics direct people’s attention to the right functions or are they distracting?) It’s important to find fundamental design flaws early, because they are harder to fix later on.

The low-cost paper prototype methods pay off handsomely because they allow you to develop the best design with minimal effort. The next stage is to do usability testing against an interactive prototype. For a Web site, this might be a simple set of HTML/CSS screenshots. The electronic prototype should give participants “the feel” of what it will be like to interact with the product. It should incorporate layout, branding, and visual design, giving the participant a fairly coherent impression of what the final product will look like.

Good luck and have fun!

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Kay Corry Aubrey - User Experience Research and Design - Usability Resources Inc
SOWMBA/DBE Certified

ABOUT US
Kay Corry Aubrey helps organizations make their products more easily understandable to their targeted audiences. She is a recognized expert in qualitative research, usability testing, and user interface design.  Kay started Usability Resources Inc in 2002 and since then has worked with organizations as diverse as Abt Associates, AT&T Mobility, iRobot, Columbia University Libraries, Constant Contact, NIH, Moxie Software, and the Mayo Clinic.

For more information, please visit www.UsabilityResources.net, or contact us directly at 781-275-3020,