University of Minnesota Press Usability Evaluation
The University of Minnesota Press is a publishing arm of the University of Minnesota. Their website exists as a home to promote, sell, and create conversations around their books. A usability evaluation was performed on this website to identify areas of improvement.
Client
Users
Academics or scholars
Non-academic, regional readers
Non-academic, national general-interest readers
Research Methods
Usability review
Heuristic evaluation
Usability testing (remote and in-lab)
Research synthesis
Tools
Trello
Zoom
Powerpoint
Google Docs
QuickTime
Otter.ai
Usability testing script
My Role
I conducted a usability review on my own to gain an understanding of the pain points and opportunities. I worked with my team to write a script for usability testing sessions. I individually tested 3 participants on my own, and then with my group moderated a testing session. I inputted the raw data from my testing sessions into the group repository and then synthesized it on my own to create a findings and recommendations report.
Usability Review
Goal: To begin the evaluation of the UMNPress website, I conducted a usability review on my own in order to gain a deeper understanding of the organization, users, and application.
Insights: I reviewed the goals of the application, organization, and the user groups. I completed a heuristic evaluation based on the key tasks of the application. Based on my findings, I created a list of hypotheses of what areas of opportunity might exist for increasing the usability of the application. This was my jumping-off point to begin identifying and understanding the goals and questions to address during usability testing.
The home page at the time of evaluation.
Usability Testing Methodology
With the use of a script I wrote with my team, I individually tested three users and asked each participant to complete tasks on the website directly related to evaluating the testing goals.
Participants: 16 users were tested. 12 were tested remotely by individual team members and 4 in-lab by the team.
Remote Testing: All five individual group members evaluated 2-3 users in 45-60min remote testing sessions using Zoom on a computer and recording software such as QuickTime and Otter.ai.
In-Lab Testing: Four 30min sessions were conducted with all team members present over Zoom on a computer and Otter.ai to record the conversations.
An in-lab testing session.
Moderating an interview.
Goals: Gain insight into the navigability and recognition of the website, in particular the home screen. Identify pain points and opportunities for improving the usability of searching and browsing for books. Evaluate the user path to gain insight into visual hierarchy.
Insights: My group chose to use Trello to synthesize and organize our raw data, and I would not use this tool again for this purpose. It would have been easier to synthesize our data through affinity diagramming if we had used Miro or InVision to create post-it notes.
Findings & Recommendations
I synthesized the raw data compiled by myself and my team to determine key insights. I compiled these in a findings and recommendations for the client. Below I have highlighted a few of the findings. To see the full report click on the button below.
Finding: There is limited recognition of who the website belongs to or what it is for.
Although nearly all of the testing participants knew that this website is related to books, when asked to give their first impressions, few could say what they were looking at exactly.
“Looks like it’s for books and possibly checking them out...looks like it might be a library.” -Research Participant
Recommendation: Display clearer branding for UMNPress on the Home page so there is no confusion about the site’s purpose or intended users.
Finding: The user path proved poor navigability.
The users are unsure about where they should be navigating to complete tasks. Most users would click back to the home page first completely ignoring any other navigation options.
One user described the BOOKS tab as “It’s all kind of like candy. There isn’t any substantial meal here.”
Recommendations:
Reorganize the 3 levels of navigation tabs at the top of the page so they are all in one row and eliminate content redundancies within tabs to create smoother wayfinding within the site.
Get rid of BOOKS tab altogether because the content in that tab is either already on other pages, or it can be easily organized into other sections. Rename EXPLORE tab to BOOKS
Add a footer navigation because most of the users scrolled to the bottom of the page while wayfinding.
This is what the homepage looked like at the time of testing. You can only see “University of Minnesota Press” written out on a graphic that is changed frequently.
Low fidelity wireframe to show clearer branding by making “University of Minnesota Press” large at the top of the page and a single navigation bar where tabs for each subject should go.
Finding: Wayfinding is difficult.
When asked to complete a task, most users stated that what they were looking for was not in its expected location. One user struggled so much to find a page through the website that she Googled it instead.
Recommendation: Prioritize visual hierarchy within the content of each page to create simplicity and easier navigability.
In conclusion
The purpose of this report is to evaluate the pain points and opportunities of the UMNPress website, and offer recommendations based on research gathered during user testing sessions.
Key Recommendations
Display clearer branding for UMNPress on Home page so there is no confusion about the site’s purpose or intended users.
Reorganize the navigation tabs and eliminate content redundancies within tabs to create smoother wayfinding within the site.
Prioritize visual hierarchy within the content of each page to create simplicity and easier navigability.