Day 414, First steps in assessing usability and user experience

Some rough and ready questions about usability and user experience.


Quick questions to ask to determine if usability goals have been achieved

Efficiency - does the product allow people to learn well, work efficiently, access information or goods?

Effective - is it possible for people to maintain a high level of productivity once the product has been learned?

Safety - are errors prevented, is recovery from errors easy?

Utility - are appropriate functions available to complete tasks?

Learnability - how long does it take to 1) get started and learn core tasks?  2) learn functionality for wider tasks? 

Memorability - how does the interface support operations which are infrequent?



Quick questions to ask about user experience goals

Is the product:

Satisfying to use?

Helpful to use?

Emotionally fulfilling to use?

Fun to use?

Aesthetically pleasing?

Supportive of creativity?

Rewarding to use?

Enjoyable to use?

Entertaining to use?

Motivating to use?

I find some of the user experience such as 'emotionally fulfilling' slightly odd.  Quite a lot of the products or software interfaces I use don't have any emotional engagement for me whatsoever.  So try reversing the question to say I don't want something to be 'emotionally unfulfilling'.  This may not completely erase the oddity but does make the concept slightly more palatable, so is worth considering.

This is the Atlas 5 rocket preparing to launch and take supplies to the International Space Station.  I bet NASA have spent quite some time considering usability and user experience of their launch procedures.

Yes, that's a screenshot of a Mac.

And that was a usability and user experience in-joke.

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