During the spring of 2022, I took a course on Usability. During this course, I learned about Usability concepts and practiced these concepts with two client based projects. These two clients were Daybreak Macon and the Department of Homeland Security.
Daybreak Macon App Usability Testing
Depaul USA Daybreak is a national homelessness service nonprofit. They have a Macon program called “Daybreak Macon”. A Mercer professor worked with Daybreak Macon to develop an app that provides homeless people with information about where resources are available in Macon such as: food, clothing, laundry, housing, and other such services.
My team conducted usability testing to determine the navigational strengths and weaknesses of the app. To achieve this, we used:
A screener
Pre-test questionnaire
User tasks and recall tasks
A system usability scale
Post-test questionnaire
Post-test interviews
Upon completion of the usability testing, we analyzed our findings and created a PowerPoint deck that demonstrated our findings, and it included mockups for solutions to the problems found.
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I served as the Tech Specialist for our usability tests. My responsibilities included:
Setting up the usability testing space.
Set up the testing computer to record and perform the tests.
Make sure all the technology required were working.
Take notes for each usability test.
Edit recordings for use as evidence.
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We had both positive and negative findings from our tests.
Positive Findings:
Users effectively used the menu bar and services button.
Users became more efficient the longer they used the app.
Users would recommend.
Negative Findings:
Users noticed a lack of submenus and no home button.
Users need more descriptions for services.
Users couldn’t recall their choices.
The PowerPoint Deck details how we addressed this negative findings.
Department of Homeland Security
The second project for this course involved working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). My team tested the high-priority pages of the website. These pages included guidance to enter the United States, how to report suspicious activity, indicators of human trafficking, FAQ’s, and national terrorism advisory page. To assess the strengths and weaknesses of these pages, the pages underwent a summative usability assessment. The team used Quesenbery’s 5 E's (efficient, effective, engaging, error-tolerant, and easy to learn) to guide the assessment. The team completed a heuristic evaluation, eye tracking, testing, post-test interview, and system usability scale to gather data. The the team presented their findings to the DHS including mock-ups for solutions and video evidence of weaknesses.
