Mock Summative Usability Study of Picasa Photo sharing App (2009)
Motivation
Assignment_Introduction to Usability class at NCSU
Process
Recognizing that aspects of the usability process are often skipped or condensed due to the time pressure of project deadlines, our instructor required each student to conduct a comprehensive usability study on a popular digital product. In keeping with the directive of "no shortcuts," students were required to develop a full test plan describing the purpose, goals, and objectives of the test. the research questions posed, participant characteristics and profiles, test environment details, test moderator roles, data to be collected, evaluation measures, report contents, and presentation. I chose the Picasa photo sharing app for my project. In addition to developing the test plan, I created test materials including a pre-test questionnaire, data collection form, debriefing guide, and orientation script I then recruited participants, conducted the test sessions, administered post-test questionnaires, debriefed participants, and delivered the final test report and recommendations.
Outcome
Study revealed that most user errors were caused by a fundamental misunderstanding of how the product employed two user environments. Users needed to negotiate between their device and a hosted website in order to upload files successfully. Recommended mitigation: Improve new users' mental model of how the product works by introducing a higher level overview before use.
