Bobby
Stay on top of your monthly expenses and subscriptions
Testing usability is a useful method for identifying pain points in your design as well as gathering opinions on your product as a whole. Staying calm and collected can be a challenge since this is the first time a designers’ precious darlings meet the brutal outside world.
At Yummygum, we've been doing numerous testing sessions and we feel like we have gained some wisdom we'd like to share.
Our relevant usability testing projects
Some usability testing methods we use
Remote unmoderated
For (A/B) testing smaller features we like to use a tool called **Maze** where we craft small, remote testing sessions that we can send over to a high volume of testers.
Local
The most qualitative method is testing in person. We like to recruit people locally and invite to the office. This way we can look over their shoulder while testing, and gauge their reactions in real time.
Guerilla
A very exciting method where we visit a local hotspot to find as many people for our target audience as possible. Then we just walk up to them and ask to test then and there. This is especially useful in the Fashion & Lifestyle industry.
Read more of our thoughts on UX Design
Write a protocol
Preperation is the most important key to performing a succesfull session; it can be easy to forget to ask questions, present designs in the wrong order or blank out completely. Therefore we always recommend writing a protocol for the session. This functions basically as a script to follow.
It’s important to keep in mind how much time every part of the session takes to avoid having to rush through the final parts.
Translating your gained insights back into design
Of course it’s also important to attempt to implement the collected insights from the testing sessions. This can be done by analyzing the underlying issue and deciding if this is something that needs to be carried through into a new revision of the product.It is encouraged to turn this process into an iterative one, meaning that it’s good practice to improve your design and then take it back to the testing lab again.
Our team loves User Testing as you gain new depths on how your users think, act and feel. Adjusting our work accordingly generates flows and interfaces people actually use.
Vince Schwidder
CEO at Yummygum
Main takeaways
Don’t tell the participant it’s your design.
Encourage thinking out loud.
Challenge your own ideas.
Invite participants to advocate your product.
