mStoner uses a variety of user testing methods throughout our design process, and we’ve been doing it for 15 years. We know that testing solutions with real users before public implementation provides feedback that can go beyond our many years of experience and best practice knowledge.
As digital technology continues to advance across platforms, opportunities increase to provide better experiences for users. Knowing this, our creative team relies heavily on a process that involves exploration, critique, and testing. Testing allows our designers to explore a variety of options and gain critical feedback about their design choices. This allows our entire team (and yours!) to better understand user needs and determine where best to enhance the product.
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When to Test
Testing lets us validate strategic decisions, learn key findings, explore new approaches, and deliver the best work possible to each client. Although when and what to test is specific to each project, user testing usually occurs at these key stages:
- The current website: During discovery, mStoner team members often ask visitors a variety of questions about the current website. This helps us identify who is using our client’s website, how they are using it, and what they want to see in the redesign. The answers to these questions allow us to make user-centered decisions throughout the entire course of the project.
- Information Architecture (IA): The goals of our IA testing are to determine a hierarchy that optimizes user pathways, develop clear labelling, and group content in a way that makes it easy to find. We use the information gathered here in building the foundation for strategy recommendations.
- Wireframes: A wireframe is a two-dimensional illustration of a page’s interface that focuses on content blocking, user interface (UI) patterns, and functionality. They typically do not include any styling, color, or graphics. Testing wireframes is a smart way to get feedback on ideas from the very beginning of the design process. Depending on what we want to discover, mStoner will test either a high-fidelity or low-fidelity wireframe.
- Concepts: With almost every project, mStoner uses impression/preference testing to gather feedback on specific design elements to determine what resonates the most with key audiences.
- Prototypes: mStoner uses prototype testing to identify visitor success in navigating a layout and to test innovative functionality before major development occurs.
- The HTML: Testing the HTML allows mStoner (and our clients) to identify any pressing usability issues or concerns in the soon-to-be launched or recently launched website, and to identify potential improvements or next steps for the project.
How We Test
An expansive toolbox of options allows testing to be specific and appropriate for each situation and project. We have a firm understanding of each of these testing options and how to apply them to get the highest quality results. Although we do not incorporate all of these approaches for each project, here are some of our favorites among the testing methodologies we use:
- Accessibility Testing
- Guerilla Usability Testing
- Moderated In-Person Usability Testing
- Moderated Remote Usability Testing
- Unmoderated Usability Testing
- Impression/Preference Testing
- Strategic Survey Testing
- Card Sorting
- Tree Testing
- Click Testing
- A/B Testing
In Part 2 of this blog series, we’ll take a deeper dive into Moderated Remote Usability Testing and pull back the curtain to reveal how we decide on which testing method works best for each respective client. Stay tuned!