User Testing

An important part of user testing is knowing to distance ourselves from our ideas since we try to protect our ideas and think that they might be complete when in reality the design process only stops when the deadline comes along.

Testing a prototype with potential users is of essence with a foucus on usability and mainly undestanding the concept by asking questions that might be of intersest for them. It is not about counting how many people would use it and wouldn’t since opinions are not really of use here. Example of what User testing could be are observations, think aloud, video analysis, and use & interview.

For observations you will need to think about what people do & how they do it. There are different categories such as when, where the focus is on the observation of the interaction with the prototype. During observations one should set the scene and show what the idea is. A con could be that it is time consuming and maybe don’t have the skill to set the scene for people you are observing.

For video analysis one could see things one might have not seen at first glance such as movement, gestures and the mistakes which having replays and clips that can be used as reference points could be useful. Cons could be the camera positioning could be intrusive and might affect how the subjects acts as well as the context can be lost since it’s just focused on one part. Questions that could arise could be how do they try to use the prototype and what mistakes do they make and do they locate what you intended for the subjects to locate and do.

For think aloud method you try to see how a subject would make sense of things. you can tell by the pace of them talking could relate to the analytical focus. It is a goodway to understand people’s reasoning. Cons can include that the self-reports not authentic or complete thought as well as situated uses tend to be diminished and ending with an analyzing what you got.

For Use & interview it would be based on a discussion which is grounded in life experience. It would be particular topics that need to be dug into more as well as following up on quantitative data. Designer would take a more active role than the others as well as having more qualitative perspectives on a thing. Cons could be that it could be time consuming finding people willing to have a discussion as well as them being comfortable to push the discussion for it to have some sort of value.

To relate the design process to music when you are working on an album like the likes of Kanye West where he finishes the songs meaning mixing and mastering or tweaking some lines the day of the release meaning some of the albums he was working came the next morning after streaming release parties which in an environment like that where you have a lot of people where you can see their reactions it can spark changes to the different songs that can be done to elevate his ideas which these release parties can act as a user testing opportunity.