GR6: User Testing
Design
Parent interface
In our final design, parents start out at a screen where they see a list of all the jobs they've created:
They can create a new job using the "Create Job" button at the top left, which brings up a pop-up where they can paint over the times they want their job.
They can select an option at the bottom to indicate that they only want a sitter for some specified portion of the time they've painted. We originally planned to let parents paint slots with different colors to indicate how well they worked for their schedule, but decided to remove this after it was confusing for users during our paper testing.
Parents can also manage their contacts using a pop-up by clicking the "Manage Contacts" button
Babysitter Interface
Babysitters start out with a similar screen which lists the jobs they've accepted and other jobs available to them.
They can manage their contacts in the same way as parents and edit their schedule using the "Edit Schedule" button, which brings up this pop-up:
They can view their schedule overlayed with possible jobs by clicking the "Calendar View" button.
We had a lot of feedback on this calendar, originally we were using a bigger variety of colors such as a violet for accepted jobs, we found out was confusing to users. We instead decided to just use a deeper shade of green to indicate an accepted job.
Implementation
Evaluation
For our user tests, we provided the following briefing:
We're SitterPlan and our goal is to help babysitters and parents coordinate their schedules to find optimal times for babysitting jobs. Our site allows for two type of users - parents and babysitters - who will each see a different view of the site. Parents can use the site to specify times that they'd like a sitter, and babysitters can use the site to look for jobs.
And tasks:
From the babysitter interface:
- Find an available job and apply for it
- You are willing to babysit between 5pm and midnight every day except Friday. Update your schedule accordingly.
From the parent interface:
-You want to hire a sitter for either Friday or Saturday 7-10PM so you can go to the movies. Make a posting for this job.
Here are the results from our user tests:
User A is a mother of a toddler who is used to scheduling babysitter jobs. She had no major problems performing the tasks and said that the interface was "very useable". When she created a job she started by adjusting the slider to only show times between 7 and 10pm. She quickly figured out how to use the flexible schedule option, but also left a comment saying that either Friday or Saturday would be good, which indicates that the interface might not be as clear as we thought. She also adjusted the slider when entering her schedule on the babysitter interface. When asked she said that she originally wasn't sure what the slider did, but said that it only took her a few seconds to figure out that it was just adjusting the calendar.