Representing the User through Research, Bringing User Perspectives to Stakeholders
Usability Testing to Create Stakeholder Enthusiasm for User-Centered Design
As a contact Product Designer for Clorox Professional (which sells products to institutions and infection preventionists), I was tasked with redesigning their web site to add a new product family.
In getting familiar with the existing site and how it was organized, I learned that it was created to represent marketing families — the site mirrored the company structure, and did not represent mental models of how users might look for products. This meant that similar products for similar uses could be two or three clicks from the home page, down different paths. My hypothesis was that this could make it hard for users to find and compare.
Though the client was unfamiliar with user research, I advocated for usability testing with a sample of their target users first. I built protocols, explaining the process to the stakeholders, and conducted remote and in-person tests using screen recorders.
The tests did reveal a high task failure rate and a high degree of frustration when regular users of the site were asked to find and compare products that they used on a regular basis. The image of one user (right) elicited one major stakeholder to state they had no idea their site was difficult to use.
This opened up the project for an actual redesign, with affordances that allowed users to filter and search based on how they used products: what type of product, where it can be used, what it can kill. The resulting site was so successful with users and the stakeholders that I was engaged to bring that design to a new mobile app for Clorox field reps.
User Research and Competitive Analysis to Prioritize UI Models that Better Serve Our Users
When I came on as Lead Designer at the startup Open Garden, the home screen, which allowed users to get internet access via shared mobile hot spots, displayed to users a list of device names and numbers, with no indication of proximity or quality.
I initially conducted some guerrilla testing, the people I met were put off by that list, and many refused to complete the task (“Join A53FF2?”).
I saw my responsibility to prioritize that design issue before working on new, less critical features.
Through a combination of competitive analysis (such as popular interfaces for choosing WiFI connections) and more testing with interactive prototypes, I gathered enough data to show leadership that a map-based interface would:
reduce app abandonment (win for business goals)
require a small investment in design and development time (relatively low cost compared to user adoption gain)
create a better emotional connection between Open Garden users and Open Garden (qualitative results from testing)
After we shipped the new interface, download and usage rates increased significantly, and ratings on the Google Play store skyrocketed.
Make it stand out.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.