...
Describe the internals of your implementation, but keep the discussion on a high level. Discuss important design decisions you made in the implementation. Also discuss how implementation problems may have affected the usability of your interface.
Evaluation
Describe how you conducted your user test. Describe how you found your users and how representative they are of your target user population (but don't identify your users by name). Describe how the users were briefed and what tasks they performed; if you did a demo for them as part of your briefing, justify that decision. List the usability problems you found, and discuss how you might solve them.
Our test users consisted of three actual dormitory desk workers and one student who had never worked as a desk worker. Other than the student, our users were very representative of our target population as they are our target population.
...
Usability problems found:
- it's difficult to enter names entered in the package and /items forms because the have to must be exact--many users added whitespace before or after names and the form would not accept them. We should strip all whitespace from forms before they're submitted.
- package and item editability is not intuitive--users said they were looking for an edit button to switch into edit mode. We should add an edit button that when clicked clearly makes fields editable.
- the icon for items is confusing because it is a picture of tools. We should use a picture of more commonly lent items--movies, pool equipment, ping pong paddles, broom, etc.
- instead of "checking in/out" items, users preferred the term "lend". We should change the buttons to be labeled "lend" and "return".
- instead of "adding" or "releasing" packages, users preferred the terms "receive" and "deliver". We should change the buttons to be labeled "receive" and "deliver".
- users wished they could leave sticky notes on any page and view them all on the notes page. We should consider implementing site-wide stickies.
- users wanted to be able to add packages for non-residents (which our system does not allow) because dorm desk workers often hold packages for non-residents. We should add another page for non-resident pick-ups or find a way to incorporate it into the packages page.
- users wanted a "received by" field for packages, so they would know which desk worker performed the action. We should add this field.
- users wanted a date field for items so they would know when an item was last checked out. This was so they could contact residents who kept an item for too long. We should add this field. We should also have the system automatically e-mail people who borrow items for longer than a week, reminding them to return the item.
- users said they wanted notifications for new notes so they would know to check the notes page. We should add iphone-style push notifications.
Reflection
Discuss what you learned over the course of the iterative design process. If you did it again, what would you do differently? Focus in this part not on the specific design decisions of your project (which you already discussed in the Design section), but instead on the meta-level decisions about your design process: your risk assessments, your decisions about what features to prototype and which prototype techniques to use, and how you evaluated the results of your observations.