Usability Testing

Formal usability testing using various high and low-fidelity methods to evaluate projects
Project Overview
In this project, my team mates and I conducted a formal usability test of the Hero Forge character creator. We focused on the mobile version. The mobile version is browser-based, just like the desktop version, but does not have any mobile-specific optimizations. This makes the creator somewhat clunky and problematic to use on a mobile phone.
My Contributions
I acted as a coordinator and support person for the group leader while simultaneously performing multiple other functions, including test participant moderation, note taking, and creating/developing some of our materials used in the tests. I also supported the group by creating and editing many of the materials from the presentation to the recommendation report.
The first major aspect of this project was conducting the virtual interviews. (Many support tasks occurred behind the scenes, summarized at the end of this walkthrough). We selected virtual interviews because of COVID and scheduling concerns. We used Discord to conduct the interviews and had participants share their screens. A bot captured the audio and video so we could review them if needed.

All team members took detailed notes during the interview sessions, recording items such as pain points, failures (on a scale from minor, moderate, major, and catastrophic) that participants encountered. We had the participants utilize the Talk Aloud methodology as they performed various tasks so we could understand their thought processes and evaluate how they approached the character creator. We also conducted post-test interview questions to garner additional insights and final thoughts.
High-Fidelity User Testing
Virtual Participant Interviews
The next step after the interviews included using product reaction cards to gain a few final data points about the overall feel or impact of the mobile version on test participants. We then converted our notes and the PRCs into "sticky notes" in Figma which we used to generate affinity maps. We used these affinity maps to help guide further evaluation, categorization, and analysis of the mobile version of Hero Forge.

Once all team members reached a consensus on our findings, we began to pool them together into an outline to craft our recommendation report.
Affinity Maps and PRCs
Collecting Insights and Making Connections
After completing the formal usability test, the team and I created two documents: a formal recommendation report and a slideshow presentation. The formal recommendation report included all the relevant information, and used proper document design to house it in a readable, organized, and cohesive document.

The final report can be accessed using the link below.
Usability Report
Recommendation Report and Presentation
Presenting our Findings