Usability Testing

Planning and running usability tests, task design, participant recruitment, and analysis.

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Usability Testing

Planning

  • 5 participants per round (catches ~85% of issues)
  • 4-6 tasks per session (1 hour max)
  • Mix task types: specific ('Find X') and open ('Explore the settings')

Task Writing

  • Scenario-based: 'Your friend recommended a restaurant. Find it and make a reservation.'
  • No clues in the task: don't use the same words as the UI labels
  • One clear success criteria per task

During the Session

  • 'Think aloud' protocol: ask users to verbalize their thinking
  • Don't help, guide, or react to mistakes
  • Take notes on: what they did, what they said, what they seemed to feel
  • Record with permission (screen + face)

Analysis

  • Severity rating per issue: Critical (blocks task), Major (significant difficulty), Minor (minor friction)
  • Rainbow spreadsheet: tasks × participants, color-coded by success/failure
  • Top 5 findings with evidence and recommendations

Reporting

  • Executive summary: 3-5 key findings
  • Per-finding: observation, impact, recommendation, evidence (video clip)
  • Prioritized fix list

dragoon0x/everything-design-taste/tree/main/skills/usability-testing commit e3ab849c43

Frequently asked questions

npx skillmds@latest add dragoon0x/usability-testing