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GR3 - Paper Prototyping
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1. Scenario
Briefing
Two people with a kit arrive at the aquarium without a visit plan. They have limited time available because they are tourists in Boston. This web-based system is available through a mobile device to accomplish the most common tasks required by visitors.
Test
We asked a total of 7 users to solve a set of 4 tasks while pretending to be visitors to the Aquarium. We used two prototypes and some changes between user tests in order to improve the UI. The observations, changes, usability problems and prototypes are described bellow.
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2. Description of the
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first prototype
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{html}<a href="javascript:showhide('design1');" id="design1show">Show</a>{html} |
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The following table presents all the screens used in this prototype desing.
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SCREEN
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| The main screen has the options for searching for animals, buy tickets and see the Aquarium map. |
| Screen for buying tickets. The user needs to input the required information. We tried to ask for the minimum amount of information to speed up the buying process, specially because of the fact that this web-based UI will be used from a mobile device. |
| Confirmation Screen |
| Aquarium Map |
| Result of search query |
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{html}</div>{html} |
3. First Round Prototype Testing
The first prototype was tested on 4 users. The results on usability issues are shown grouped by user-task:
3.1 User 1:
*Aquarium Map. This screen is intended to be contain all information. The map shows the location of all animals and highlights the events of the day near to the appropriate location. | |
| Result of search query. When a user inputs a search query in the home screen search box, the result is shown using this layout: information about the specie, its location and a button to locate it in the map (map screen), and a list of events related to this specie. |
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User 1 - Observations:
Task 1: Buy 2 tickets
clicks Tickets
clicks text box, enters informations, tabs to go to next text box
repeats until form is finished, grabs ticket
Task 2: Find the location of the Little Blue Penguins
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3. First Round Prototype Testing
The first prototype was tested on 4 users. The results on usability issues are shown grouped by user-task:
3.1 User 1:
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{html}<div id="design2" class="hidable">{html} |
User 1 - Observations:
Task 1: Buy 2 tickets
clicks Tickets
clicks text box, enters informations, tabs to go to next text box
repeats until form is finished, grabs ticket
Task 2: Find the location of the Little Blue Penguins
hit floor 2 look around
hit floor 3 look around
hit overview
hit floor 1
go to hit floor 2 look around
hit floor 3 look around
hit overview
hit floor 1
go to search type in ‘penguin’
go back to map
hit floor 2 and find it
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click on circles and triangles to read bubbles
“I expect the bubbles to close automatically when I click a different location”
click on section
“I would like if it at least said the name of the section”
User 1 - Changes made to the prototype after this test:
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3.2 User 2:
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3.2 User 2:
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User 2 - Observations:
Task 1: Buy 2 tickets
Click tickets
Starts filling out information
(The user thinks expiration date is for the tickets)
(The user realizes it’s for the credit card when he reads ‘security code’)
Picks Boston first, then changes to California (his home town)
Click Buy
Task 2: Find the location of the Little Blue Penguins
Search for ‘penguin’
Clicks on ‘look on map’
“I know I have to head over to that triangle now”
Task 3: Find the schedule of events about Penguins
Search for ‘penguin staff session”
“I can go it’s 4pm”
“I don’t know if the number of current attendees means there is no space left”
“I’ll now head over”
Task 4: Find the location of a specific event
(Confused, don’t know if to search)
Go to floor
Click on one of the symbols
“It should keep the titles for each one and more info should be on the legend”
“Legend is hard to find”
“Bubbles should be larger”
“Hover over should show titles”
Jeremy Comments:
Regarding ticket screen, “there is no info on
User 2 - Observations:
Task 1: Buy 2 tickets
Click tickets
Starts filling out information
(The user thinks expiration date is for the tickets)
(The user realizes it’s for the credit card when he reads ‘security code’)
Picks Boston first, then changes to California (his home town)
Click Buy
Task 2: Find the location of the Little Blue Penguins
Search for ‘penguin’
Clicks on ‘look on map’
“I know I have to head over to that triangle now”
Task 3: Find the schedule of events about Penguins
Search for ‘penguin staff session”
“I can go it’s 4pm”
“I don’t know if the number of current attendees means there is no space left”
“I’ll now head over”
Task 4: Find the location of a specific event
(Confused, don’t know if to search)
Go to floor
Click on one of the symbols
“It should keep the titles for each one and more info should be on the legend”
“Legend is hard to find”
“Bubbles should be larger”
“Hover over should show titles”
Jeremy Comments:
Regarding ticket screen, “there is no info on the top”, “cc info and ticket information
should be separated”
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3.3 User 3:
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Changes made to the prototype:
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3.3 User 3:
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{html}<div id="design4" class="hidable">{html} |
User 3 - Observations:
Task 1: Buy 2 tickets
“It’s touchscreen?”
Click tickets
Click ‘Today?’
Enter info
Click Buy
“Does it give me a QR code or something?”
Task 2: Find the location of the Little Blue Penguins
“I’m not sure if this map is for the inside of the building, or how to get here in Boston”
Click Map
Click ‘lookup on map’
“touch the penguin?”
“is this supposed to be floor 2?”
“there is no gps...”
“I’m distracted by these icons jumping slightly”
Task 3: Find the schedule of events about Penguins
(A home button is clearly needed for all screens)
Press floor 1
(Map now shows “events” instead of “sessions”)
“I thought the legend would list all things”
Task 4: Find the location of a specific event
Click floor 2
User 3 - Observations:
Task 1: Buy 2 tickets
“It’s touchscreen?”
Click tickets
Click ‘Today?’
Enter info
Click Buy
“Does it give me a QR code or something?”
Task 2: Find the location of the Little Blue Penguins
“I’m not sure if this map is for the inside of the building, or how to get here in Boston”
Click Map
Click ‘lookup on map’
“touch the penguin?”
“is this supposed to be floor 2?”
“there is no gps...”
“I’m distracted by these icons jumping slightly”
Task 3: Find the schedule of events about Penguins
(A home button is clearly needed for all screens)
Press floor 1
(Map now shows “events” instead of “sessions”)
“I thought the legend would list all things”
Task 4: Find the location of a specific event
Click floor 2
“I would walk go to map from home”
User 3 - Changes made to the prototype after this test:
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3.4 User 4:
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User 4 - Observations:
*Task 1: Buy 2 tickets *
Click tickets
Click ‘Today?’
Fills in form
Click ‘Buy’
“What is the price?!”
“Are there guest types?”
“I don’t know my confirmation number...”
Task 2: Find the location of the Little Blue Penguins
Click search
‘Penguin’
Click ‘lookup on map’
“Does it mean I’m here?”
“Where am I?”
“Are there directions?”
Task 3: Find the schedule of events about Penguins
“I want to go Home”
“There is no Home button”
Type “floor 1 events” in search
Click on ‘Map’
Click on floor 1
“expected to see a list of events on the left”
Task 4: (Find info regarding red fish)
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3.4 User 4:
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{html}<a href="javascript:showhide('design5');" id="design5show">Show</a>{html} |
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{html}<div id="design5" class="hidable">{html} |
User 4 - Observations:
*Task 1: Buy 2 tickets *
Click tickets
Click ‘Today?’
Fills in form
Click ‘Buy’
“What is the price?!”
“Are there guest types?”
“I don’t know my confirmation number...”
Task 2: Find the location of the Little Blue Penguins
Click search
‘Penguin’
Click ‘lookup on map’
“Does it mean I’m here?”
“Where am I?”
“Are there directions?”
Task 3: Find the schedule of events about Penguins
“I want to go Home”
“There is no Home button”
Type “floor 1 events” in search
Click on ‘Map’
Click on floor 1
“expected to see a list of events on the left”
Task 4: (Find info regarding red fish)
Click on floor 2
Click on floor overiew
Click on section
(list of animal pictures show up)
“Is it a long list? It will be hard to find...”
Changes made to the prototype:
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| Being in the main screen, it was not obvious how to:
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| For Buying tickets:
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| Regarding the map feature:
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| For Buying tickets:
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| Regarding the map feature:
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| Search result layout:
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Feedback from studio:
- It's possible to assume that the Aquarium building has some technology to enable self-localization.
- There are plugins to capture the credit card information from a phone picture. This could save the time of typing all the information for buying tickets.
- For the task of finding the information of an unknown specie, it could be hard to identify form a set of small pictures.
- Search box and home button need to be in all screens.
The detected usability issues are addressed in the second prototype.
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The second prototype was tested on 3 users. The results on usability issues are shown grouped by task:
5.1 Task 1:
- Buy 2 adult tickets and 1 kid ticket
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Task 1 - Observations/Usability issues:
1. The user wants to know the price of each adult or kid ticket as well as who qualify as kids.
2. The word “Name” on page #2 is confusing when the user buying the ticket is not the credit card holder. .
3. One user asks why he needs to enter an email address and the corresponding privacy policy.
4. One user asks the difference between a confirmation number and ticket number. And she is unsure how to proceed to enter the aquarium.
5. There is no need to show ticket once inside the aquarium.
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5.2 Task 2 & 3:
- Find the Little blue penguins and go there.
- Find the events (times-location) related to penguins today.
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Find the Little blue penguins and go there; Find the events (times-location) related to penguins today
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Observations/Usability issues:
1.The user suggests that it might be unnecessary to go to homescreen since she asks “Do I need to go back to home to find blue penguin?”
2. It’s unclear what “Find in map” button does. Does it show only the specie location or all the related event location?
3. After clicking on “Find in map” button, the map shows no tank number.
4. There are two ways of finding events. Either by searching animal or by clicking on “Map& Events”. It’s unclear if the two resulted maps will show the same events.
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5.3 Task 4:
- You saw an interesting red fish. You want to get information about it and find out its name. The only information you have is your current location.
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{html}<div id="design9" class="hidable">{html} |
Task 4 - Observations/Usability issues:
1. It’s unclear if users could search “red fish” and find the fish info.
2. The individual tank shown on the map does not seem clickable since the user does not know that they could click on the tank to show the information of the species in the tank.
3. What does the button “Map&Events” on page #7 does? The user is confused by this button since she gets to this page through that button on home screen.
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