MyEvent
June 2017 • Team Project for Intro to User-Centered Design
Purpose: Planning an event from scratch can be difficult and time consuming, our objective for this project was to create a prototype that allows users to easily and efficiently plan their upcoming events.
Method: User Interviews, Card Sort & Usability Testing
Tools: Trello.com, Axure, Adobe Photoshop, OptimalSort & Reflector
Prototype: http://ipif7f.axshare.com
—Contextual Interviews—
Before we could create a well designed prototype, we needed to understand who the users were. As a team we determined they would consist of two types: The Party Planner and Party Attendee.
To learn more about these types of users, we developed a contextual inquiry protocol and interviewed a total of 10 participants.
6 participants identified themselves as regular party planners
5 Female, 1 Male
Ages 25-54
4 Participants identified themselves as regular party attendees
3 Female, 1 Male
Ages 18-24
—Personas—
The information gathered from the interviews (especially participants quotes) aided in the creation of our personas.
We developed the following two personas:
Party Planner (Jenny Keys)
Party Attendee (Marjorie LaPointe)
—The Key Pieces—
A conceptual diagram was developed to assist in identifying the applications key components, their functions, and the connections between them.
—Card Sort—
To find the best structure for the application a card sort was conducted through OptimalSort. We initially performed an initial open sort with each group member independently to help identify the category names and validate the options. Once the initial set of cards was validated and the results of the internal sorting was completed we used the results to identify a set of category names. A second iteration for a hybrid sort was built based on the results of the first sort. A Hybrid Card Sort consisting 18 cards and 6 predetermined categories was sent out to 10 participants.The Similarity Matrix displays the level of grouping agreement the participants had.
—Task Flow—
From the card sort we were able to determine the flow for the application and then the wireframes (not pictured) were created.
—User Testing—
The application was evaluated by 8 participants who were asked to complete two tasks:
Task One: Planner
You are planning a friend's surprise birthday party 6/1/2017 from 4 pm to 7 pm at your home. The rest of the options are of your choosing. Can you show me how you would use this interface to plan this birthday party?
Task Two: Participant
Imagine that your best friend is throwing a birthday party for Emma and has sent you an invitation. Can you show me how you would use this interface to either decline or confirm your attendance?
The team collected data on the following measurements for each task:
Time to complete task
Number of errors
Types of errors
Task 1 Results
All 8 users were able to successfully complete the Planner task.
Time to complete ranged from 80 seconds to 360 seconds. Average time to complete was 163 seconds.
7 of 8 users made at least one or more errors.
7 of 8 users also recommended a calendar integration.
Task 2 Results
All 8 users were able to successfully complete the Participant task.
Time complete the task ranged from 20 seconds to 60 seconds. With an average time of about 40 seconds.
2 out of the 8 users made one error or more.
Interpretation
How to create a new event was not immediately obvious in the first task. The majority of the errors were in starting the task.
Users thought the navigation was straightforward and easy to understand but they would like some minor changes to improve it
Number one demanded feature was calendar integration.