Prototypes & User Testing— UX Design
How important prototypes and user testing events being used in the UX design field?
The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas — Linus Pauling
A prototype is an early form, sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is often used by UX designers to test out whether the directions of the research and strategy in previous phases are on the right track. It is really hard for a UX designer to come up with the right strategy for the first time. Sometimes, when the clients asked me questions such as “ Which color should we use for the products?” “What features should we put in the 1.0 release?” My answers usually are “ I don’t know either. Why not making a prototype and asking users for their feedback? You will be surprised how the user’s mind is really different from us.”
According to the book*This is service design doing- “ prototypes are prepared and used to explore, evaluate, and communicate service ideas during different activities within the service design process. By engaging with prototypes, the design team can quickly identify important aspects of a new concept, and then explore different alternative solutions and evaluate which one might work in everyday reality.”
In short, prototypes are the early forms for users to provide their feedback and implement in the early design process. By interacting with the prototypes, users can get a sense of what the product or service looks like overall and provide feedback through their interaction with the product (Designer should record the process and write down the interactions that users have when interacting with the product). Usually, in the user testing event, the host should tell the users the goal to achieve in this testing.
Study Case: Opix360 User Testing event — Client: Opix360
Learn More: Hummingbirdsday Opix360 Case Study
Opix360 Logo/product user testing event from Dominique Wu (Hummingbirdsday)
Opix360 App Card Prototype from Dominique Wu (Hummingbirdsday)
Opix360 user testing event for product testing from Dominique Wu (Hummingbirdsday)
Opix360 software user testing from Dominique Wu (Hummingbirdsday)
Usually, in prototyping, there are different forms such as paper forms, digital forms, 3D forms, or the service journey. It all depends on what questions you want to ask the users and what goal you want to achieve.
User Testing Event Process
I use the Opix360 user testing event as the example
Goal: We told the users in the event that we want them to take a 360 photo and save to the gallery.
Process: Users start assembling the camera, open the app, and trying to figure out how to take 360 photos. UX designers should observe the users and write down all the problems. For example, users might not know where to insert the camera. Then the UX designers should write down — users cannot find where to insert the camera without any hint.
Report: After writing down all the feedbacks from the users, we had a team meeting to sort out all the feedbacks. If the feedback is more personal, we put it in one sheet for later consideration. If the feedback is the pain point that will hinder users to use our products, then we have to report to different departments and make sure the products can be revised according to the user’s feedback.
Implementation and test it again: After getting the feedback, we need to implement the additional features or revisions into the product. An additional user testing event is suggested in this phase to make sure the product is being implemented in the right way.
Reference:
This is Service Design Doing:https://www.thisisservicedesigndoing.com
