Usability Evaluations

at The Polis Center

I conducted 4 Usability evaluations for different dashboard and data visualization hi-fidelity prototypes or websites that were developed by The Polis Center. Since these are third party websites I cannot show the complete process artifacts, but below I will talk about my process and lessons learnt from them.

As the sole UX Researcher on team, I had a great opportunity to push for process changes and implementing new ways to conduct usability evaluations

Team

Me - UX Research Intern
Matt Nowlin - Supervisor
Robert Ferrel - Sr Programmer

Deliverables

Conducting Survey, Contextual Interviews and focus group meetings, Wireframes, Hi-fidelity Prototypes, Usability testing Plan, Usabilty Testing Protocol, Survey Questionnaire, Usability Testing Report, Improvements and suggestions, Implementing the suggestions

Study the background

I started with comprehensively studying the background information of the application like following topics:

• Background of the topic
• Purpose
• What data is being communicated
• Why is this dashboard needed

• Stakeholders
• Where, when and why do they use this application
  
• Typical tasks of users (if known)

• Any previously reported usability issues

Establish Goals

Establish goals for the usability evaluation

For example, "Can the users interact with the dashboard effectively to get needed information?" , "Is the information conveyed interpretted correctly by users?", "Does the dashboard meet the requirements of all the stakeholders?"

Study User Goals

• What are the end products / deliverables desired?
• What are the questions they ask the system?
• What is the user's process to analyse the information?

How? By Conducting Focus Group Meetings

Stakeholder's group meetings were conducted to understand expectations, needs, goals, prioritization of needs, etc.
These served as the platform to hear the voice of customer.

These meetings were also used to get feedback on low-fidelity prototypes.

Heuristic Evaluation

I conducted Heuristic evaluation of these products by our custom set parameters. By the tasks identified in prior steps I documented the evaluation in excel sheets to make design suggestions.

Contextual Interviews

I traveled to the work place of these stakeholders to see how they use these products in their work life. We designed protocols which allowed user to perform certain tasks and openly provide feedback on the product.

Analysis and Design Suggestions

From the notes taken during the interviews and heuristic evaluation I made sound design suggestions by whiteboarding ideas with my supervisor. These included their technical feasibility ratings as well.

You can connect with me at nea.patil.02@gmail.com
Updated: 2024