Observing the User Experience, 2nd Edition

Chapter 2

Do a Usability Test Now!

Basic user research is easy, fast, and highly effective. Some forms can be done with any product. The question is whether you want to do it yourself. And there’s only one way to find that out: try it. In this chapter, you will learn a fast and easy user research technique by doing a usability test with your friends and family. After 15 minutes of reading and a couple hours of listening, you will have a much better understanding of your customers and which parts of your product are difficult to use.

The usability test will tell you whether your audience can use what you’ve made. It helps identify problems people have with a specific interface and reveals difficult-to-complete tasks and confusing language. Normally, ...