Usability and user experience of an online service : Case PATIO
Reif, Vitali (2011)
Reif, Vitali
Oulun seudun ammattikorkeakoulu
2011
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2011110114150
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2011110114150
Tiivistelmä
This is a study of usability and user experience of PATIO, a new web service that has been developed by the city of Oulu and OULLabs. PATIO is aimed to become an interaction tool and meeting point for researchers and developers of various products and users interested in testing such products.
The main objective of this thesis was to help the developers of PATIO with testing the website and obtaining users’ feedback in order to improve usability and user experience of the service. The thesis consists of two main parts: a literature review of the concepts of Living Labs (on which PATIO is based on), Usability, User Experience and an empirical part. The latter is a case study in which the website was tested using several different approaches: heuristic evaluation, lab usability tests and user survey.
The heuristic evaluation was done by the author. For the usability tests and user survey, participants were recruited via various communication channels. The survey was based on two questionnaires and an open forum discussion and required the participants to test PATIO independently. Results of each parts of the study were reported to PATIO project members.
Among the methods used in this study, the heuristic evaluation discovered the largest number of problems in PATIO functionality and interface, many of which were confirmed by usability tests and user survey. However, the findings of all methods did not completely overlap, which proves that these methods complemented each other. Most of the found issues related to information architecture and interaction design and stemmed from violations of consistency and standards. The participants of the study expressed interest towards testing new products and the idea behind PATIO and demonstrated tolerance to many usability problems. However, the site’s visual appearance, the visible information and the lack of clear rewarding system make it not attractive enough for an occasional visitor. Therefore, although there are good potentials for recruiting test users into PATIO projects, in the current state the website may not be able to fully utilize them. A number of specific points and general suggestions for improvements of usability and user experience were reported to the customer.
The main objective of this thesis was to help the developers of PATIO with testing the website and obtaining users’ feedback in order to improve usability and user experience of the service. The thesis consists of two main parts: a literature review of the concepts of Living Labs (on which PATIO is based on), Usability, User Experience and an empirical part. The latter is a case study in which the website was tested using several different approaches: heuristic evaluation, lab usability tests and user survey.
The heuristic evaluation was done by the author. For the usability tests and user survey, participants were recruited via various communication channels. The survey was based on two questionnaires and an open forum discussion and required the participants to test PATIO independently. Results of each parts of the study were reported to PATIO project members.
Among the methods used in this study, the heuristic evaluation discovered the largest number of problems in PATIO functionality and interface, many of which were confirmed by usability tests and user survey. However, the findings of all methods did not completely overlap, which proves that these methods complemented each other. Most of the found issues related to information architecture and interaction design and stemmed from violations of consistency and standards. The participants of the study expressed interest towards testing new products and the idea behind PATIO and demonstrated tolerance to many usability problems. However, the site’s visual appearance, the visible information and the lack of clear rewarding system make it not attractive enough for an occasional visitor. Therefore, although there are good potentials for recruiting test users into PATIO projects, in the current state the website may not be able to fully utilize them. A number of specific points and general suggestions for improvements of usability and user experience were reported to the customer.