Here is a link to the briefing and tasks we used in our user tests.
Design
Screenshots
Figure 1. Login Page.
Figure 2. Home page. Users can access any page on the site by clicking the large center buttons or the smaller sidebar buttons.
Figure 3. Packages page. Users can check in/out and edit packages on this page.
Figure 4. Items page. Users can check in/out and edit lendable items on this page.
Figure 5. History page. This page contains a list of all the actions ever performed by any desk worker in chronological order.
Figure 6. Notes page. Users can leave notes for other desk workers to let them know about anomalies during the job that don't fit into the packages or items categories.
Important Design Decisions
- consistency - we tried to make every page as similar as possible so once a desk worker learns how to use the packages page, they know how to use all the pages (based on findings from paper prototyping)
- simplicity/minimalist design - we eliminated unnecessary information and text (in tables and on buttons). Only pertinent information is displayed on each page. (based on findings from paper prototyping)
- lots of whitespace
- text labels on buttons - we initially removed most text from buttons, but we added it back to increase learnability. (based on findings from the heuristic evaluation and user testing).
- notes page - we chose to add the notes page because when we tested actual dorm desk workers, the most common complaint was the inability to handle abnormal situations that would require writing a special note and leaving it somewhere for other desk workers to find. (based on findings from paper prototyping)
- check in/out buttons for items - we initially used red x's and checks to indicate the status of an item as checked in or out, but we switched to using two separate buttons labeled "check in" and "check out" (based on findings from the heuristic evaluation)
Design Alternatives
- more informative tables - we considered including a lot more information for each package or item like the desk worker that added it/checked it in, the time it was checked in, the last person who checked out an item, etc. But we chose simplicity and whitespace over overly informative tables. (based on findings from paper prototyping, heuristic evaluation, and user testing)
- sticky notes - we considered making the notes page contain more realistic sticky notes (like the sticky note feature on Windows), but decided against this idea in favor of the ability to sort and filter notes
- sticky notes - we considered allowing users to add sticky notes to any page on the site instead of having a separate notes page. However, we decided against this idea because it's simpler for users to only have to look in one place to see all the notes
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