Two types of cost-effective and easy usability tests
Let us discuss cost-effective options for a usability test. In a world of a fast-paced environment, people have a skeptical attitude to UX design as long as it is expensive and takes a lot of time.
You should struggle for your UX design!
Okay, actually, you should not.
You can do the research on your own and show the team/customers that it is easy, cheap and works well.
First, let us define what type of digital product can be tested with the help of usability tests described below:
- Low Fidelity prototype
- High Fidelity prototype
- Live Interface
Prototyping is the creation of a sketch, a schematic, or a finished interactive user interface layout.
Low Fidelity prototype. Wireframe — rough draft on paper. Some applications, such as Balsamiq, specifically mimic the style of a sloppy sketch, not to focus on appearance. Such “sketches” only denote blocks on the page. The prototype of low detail is most often used for the final approval of the location of functional blocks with the customer or another responsible person (product owner). When creating jumps on buttons and links between the pages, it is used for user testing. You can create a ready clickable prototype of this type in Axure. Separately, the transitions can be done in InVision or Marvel.
High Fidelity prototype. This type of prototype already looks like a finished product with a selected style and pixel perfect elements. It could consist of linked mockups (Marvell app, InVision, Sketch Mirror). High fidelity prototype also might be an HTML layout with dummy data.
5 Seconds test
This is a user research method that helps determine what information users perceive and what impression they get during the first five seconds of viewing a design.
You should scroll down a website you test to show it to your target audience, focus group, people you gathered from a hallway. Be aware that 5 seconds is not a mandatory time limit, because long read landing pages could take a lot more time.
After you finished scrolling down the page, ask the participants a list of questions such as:
- What is the purpose of the page?
- What are the main elements you can remember?
- Who do you think is the target audience?
- Was the design/brand trustworthy?
- What is your impression of the design you have seen recently?
This 5-seconds test shows if your design/idea is clear enough.
Hallway testing
It is the way of testing an interface on random people. Hallway testing is a cheap alternative for hiring certified personnel and people from a particular target audience. This kind of usability test can show the most terrible usability issues.
You should go out of an office to a hallway and grab random individuals. It is okay to invite people from other rooms or projects and conduct usability testing on them one by one. It works well especially in case of a signed non-disclosure agreement. If you are going to conduct a hallway test at lunchtime, make sure you have snacks and cookies to offer to the participants. In my experience, people agreed to participate in the test with pleasure, just to switch a type of activity.
A couple of tips and tricks for conducting a test:
- Avoid naming a button while you are asking a participant how to perform something with the help of this button
- Do not help a participant to perform the task if he/she is stuck
- Write notes of what you see and hear from a participant, write the amount of time a user spends on a task
- Make sure that a participant understands the language of a prototype :))
Do not wait for an opportunity; just try to conduct your usability test on your own. Validate your UI and get insights :)
