UX Fly

Interview & Usability testing

When running a usability test you are not testing the user. You are testing the software or device they are using. It is important to pay attention to non-verbal language and micro-reactions. A hesitation, a change in their tone of voice, it can mean that they were surprised or confused. Whenever that happens and the user is not vocalising what is going on in their mind, you need to ask them, open questions, to figure out what is actually going on. To start off the usability test I did a short interview with some easy questions to break the ice, and then some questions about his flight booking behaviour and his last experience booking a flight. This way next to doing a usability test I gathered information by interviewing the user. To prepare myself I made a test script. This included the questions I wanted to ask and the two tasks for the usability test.

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Affinity Diagram

After gathering data through questionnaires and usability testing this data needs to be analysed. Since my walls were not large enough I decided to use Miro and create a board to gather all insights on stickies. I didn’t have a team to collaborate on the Affinity Diagram, but on my own I managed to get some interesting insights in the mental models, goals and experiences of the user. Imagine how much you can learn doing this with a team!

For booking a flight there are a lot of different mental models, some people always buy the cheapest flight, others might have kids and will want to fly at a certain hour. It is hard to play into all these different needs. So I think the best way forward is to use the following insights while designing:

• Make sure the user gets (visual) feedback while moving through the steps and while selecting flights, dates or add-ons.
• If icons or labels are used to test these, if these remain unclear change them.
• Texts have to be accessible, clear and not too long.
• Make sure the app is intuitive by adhering to best practices and industry standards.

Scroll down to see the affinity diagram!

Low fidelity interaction design for mobile

This is the exciting moment! I get to implement my insights into the design. The quickest way to get your ideas across and to see whether your idea is as good as it was in your head is to start sketching. With pen and paper you can change and iterate without spending too much money and losing too much time. My sketches are combined with some notes, this will help clarify for example the screenstate, the different elements in the calendar, selected dates, the menu to help sort the search results.

FIGMA prototype

Finally I get to translate all insights into a clickable prototype. The low fidelity interaction design I sketched in the previous exercise combined with the high level user flow is a solid base to start with. The decision was made to make a medium fidelity prototype. This will enable me to validate the design with users, enable critique and feasibility evaluation and have better design documentation. At the same time the details in previous exercises are not etched in stone and still open to iterations. This prototype can then be used as an aid for development. The prototype can also be used for usability testing when you want to test a certain user flow.