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• Midterm Usability Form

Does this dress make me look fat? The only way to know for certain is other people’s reaction. Read on to understand why I’m starting off this post with such a line.

Usually there is no “right” way to build a website. If there were, a lot of websites would all look the same. What matters is creating a site that integrates its many elements to meet a particular carefully thought out goal. And the only way of really being sure how well it does that is to conduct some usability testing.

You need to sit a test subject in front of the screen and ask them to execute some specific task. By observing the user and asking them to think aloud you can find out many interesting things about your site. These are often things that didn’t occur to us as the designers and developers because…well, we’ve just been sitting with the project too much for too long. We know our prototypes inside-and-out so well that we assume other people start with the same set of base knowledge and perception.

So its important to test with “fresh” eyes each time. Ideally, you would want your test group to be representative of your target audience, particularly if there are cross cultural issues at stake.

There are of course some design approaches that are always wrong and others that are usually wrong. In some cases though, usability testing won’t necessarily prove or disprove any particular design argument. But what it might just show is that the things you were worrying about were actually the wrong things.

Usability testing can provide empirical evidence to back up experience, common sense and professional judgement. As the maker, you should start testing early and test often in the design process.

What I’m listening to at work right now:

The Hexx – Revista Moda by peakfuelforecast

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