User Testing
After an extended push to bring new features to the platform, we took a step back to review overall usability and test the sum of the changes with users.
A large number of new features had been added to the platform over a six month period: video support, collaboration features, search and filtering features, and a print store. Each was developed in parallel by independent agile teams, making it hard for designers to keep track of the experience as a whole.
Key issues & challenges:
- Focus on new features meant that core features had been neglected
- Overall lack of polish
- By accommodating new features, the navigation in apps had become unwieldy
- Users didn’t understand the different sharing options
Almost all of the testing was conducted remotely by video conference. This has proved to be highly effective for a number of reasons:
- It’s more convenient for test participants so recruitment is easier
- We are not limited to only those people who can visit our London office
- Participants use their own computer and user accounts for the test
It’s incredibly important for learnings to be accessible to team members. Team members are encouraged to join the video conference and test recordings can be viewed later on Dropbox. I make an edited highlights video for each test to sit alongside the full recording.
Test documentation records objectives, planned test scenarios and tasks, findings and actions
