Brandon Rogers

Project 1
FINAL DRAFT
September 17, 2014

Usability Test
Document Overview
A usability test determines how instinctively a user can navigate the site (Usability Test Plan
Template, 2012). To help you organize your goals and ideas, fill in the data below.

Setting
expectations

Creating a
persona

Procedure

Usability
tasks

Results

Setting Expectations
(Name of the website): _____________________________

Goals:
Goals are the results you wish to achieve in the test. For example, the user can make an appointment
or the user can easily summarize our information/purpose/process. Make a list of goals for (name of
website). Remember to think about what you want your website to accomplish.

Creating a Persona
A persona is a fictional representation of the (sites/works) target audience that can be used to focus
on the needs and expectations of a major or important group of users. When creating a persona, include
the following details (which may be added or deleted to fit your custom situation):

Name

Job title, experience, and responsibilities

Demographics (age, education, ethnicity, familial status)

Reason and purpose of coming to the site

Technological experience/history

A picture of the user (usually taken from the Internet)

Fill in a persona for (name of the website) using the template below.
Name:
Job/Title:
Age:

Education:
Ethnicity:
Family:
Technical Experience:

Why is this person coming to the site? What are his/her motivations?

Procedure
What type of test will be administered?
Remote Testing

One-On-One Testing

Testing w/ Observers

Other

If other, explain the test:

Now ask the same questions to the real user (Peachpit TV, 2010). Recording the demographics of the
user allows you to compare your test subjects identity to that of your target audience and persona.
Fill out this background questionnaire with the user prior to testing (Add or delete items as needed)

Name:

Job/Title:

Age:

Education:

Ethnicity:

Family:

Technical Experience/Comfort:

Usability Tasks
Usability tasks test the websites design by having a user perform certain seemingly simple activities
(Savolainen, 2009). Explain what you want to test in the usability tasks. Some example scenarios include
(but are not limited to) navigation of the (site/page) and summarizing the given information. What do
you wish to accomplish in your test of (name of website)?

What is being tested in these tasks?

*Usability tasks should focus on real-life scenarios and not on finding phrases in a text (Krug, 2014). For
example, a poor usability task would say Find the maps for weekend parking when weekend parking
is the name of a link. A good usability test, on the other hand, would say You and your friend Sally are
visiting your sister at college next Saturday. Use the website to find out where to park and how much it
will cost.
*While the user completes the usability tasks, ask him/her to think aloud about the decisions he/she is
making. This can reveals links in navigation errors and lets you into the mind of the user. Have them
voice their entire decision-making process.
Create (3 or however many tasks suit your needs) usability tasks.
*A comments section is available under each task description along with a rating of how difficult the
user found the task.

Usability Task 1

Comments:

How difficult was the first task?

Very Easy
1

Easy
2

Moderate
3

Difficult
4

Very Difficult
5

Usability Task 2

Comments:

How difficult was the second task?

Very Easy
1

Easy
2

Moderate
3

Difficult
4

Very Difficult
5

Moderate
3

Difficult
4

Very Difficult
5

Usability Task 3

Comments:

How difficult was the third task?

Very Easy
1

Easy
2

Results
What problems appeared most often?

Which ones affected completion the most?

Rank the top (pick a number) issues in order of severity

Most Severe

Least Severe

Did you reach the goals you identified at the beginning of the worksheet? What worked well for you?
What needs to be edited? Summarize the usability test here.

You have now reached the end of the Usability Test. Dont forget to thank the user for his/her
participation before dismissing him/her.