Usability Engineering

-Describes a process of user interface development, sometimes referred to as user

centered design.
A user-centered design is a life cycle process that puts an early emphasis on “user task
analysis and actual user involvement in the design and testing of product”
Because a product developed with such a user-centered process is likely to be more
usable product than one that is developed independent of user considerations and
involvement

Usability
-is a quality that attribute that assess how easy user interfaces are to use
- the word usability also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design
process

Learnability
- How easy it is for user to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the
design?
Efficiency
- Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
Memorability
- When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily they
reestablish proficiency?
Errors
- How many errors do user make, how severe are these errors, and how easily
can they recover from the errors?
Satisfaction
- How pleasant is to use the design?

Why usability is important?

-the most common application of usability is on the web design on the web, usability is a
necessary condition for survival. For instance, if a website is difficult to use people leave
if the home page fails to clearly states what the company offers just like what is shown
in the screen and what users can do on the site people will leave.
If users get lost in the website, they will also leave, if a website’s information is hard to
read, just like what is shown in the screen or doesn’t answer user’s key questions then
customers or users will leave. Because there is no such thing as a user reading a
website manual or spending much time trying to figure out an interface and besides
there are plenty of other website available. Living is the first line of defense when users
encounter a difficulty, and this is very important to e-commerce because if users cannot
find the product, they cannot find the product either.

What factors influence usability?

Usability focuses on having a deep understanding of users
- what they need
- what they value
- their abilities
- their limitations
It also takes into account, the business goals and objectives of the group managing the
project or product

Usability best practices promote improving the quality of the user’s interaction with and
perceptions of your product and any related services

How to improve usability?

- There are many methods for studying usability, but the most basic and useful is
the user testing or usability testing

Usability Testing
- Is about getting real people to interact with a website, app, or other product
you’ve built and observing their behavior and reactions to it
- Whether you start small by watching session recordings or go all out and rent a
lab with eye tracking equipment
- Usability testing is a necessary step to make sure you build an effective, efficient
and enjoyable experience for your users.
 - The goal of usability testing is to reveal areas of confusion and uncover
opportunities to improve the overall user experience

Why is usability testing important?

- Usability testing is done by real users who are likely to reveal issues that the
potential users of products may encounter, bringing in new users to test the
product and observing how well people are already using are effective ways to
determine whether your potential users understand how your product works and
don’t get lost or confused, can complete the main actions they need to, don’t
encounter usability issues or bugs, have functional and efficient experience, and
notice any other usability problems.
- Usability testing is exceptionally important with new products or new design
updates, because without its designers may be stuck with a design process that
team members understands but the target users will not.

Types of Usability Testing

Usability testing method
Moderated vs. unmoderated
- Moderated testing session administered in person or remotely by a trained
researcher who introduces the test to participants, answers their queries, and
asks follow-up questions.
- Moderated testing produces in-depth results because of the direct interaction
between researchers and tests participants but can be expensive to organize and
run since you need to secure a lab, hire a trained researcher and or provide
compensation for the participants.
- Unmoderated testing session is done without direct supervision; participants
might be in a lab but it’s more likely they are in their own homes to assess the
product that is being tested, because the cost of unmoderated testing is lower,
though participants answer can remain superficial and follow-up questions are
impossible
Remote vs. in person
- Remote usability test are done over internet or by phone, remote testing doesn’t
go as deep into the participants reasoning but it allow you to test large number
of people in different geographical areas using fewer resources
- In person testing, as the name suggests requires the test to be completed in the
physical presence of a usability researcher/ moderator
- Compared to remote test, in person tests provides extra data points, since
researchers can observe and analyze body language and facial expression,
 however in-person is usually expensive and time consuming because you need
to find a suitable space and blackout a specific date and recruit and pay
participants.
Explorative vs. comparative
- Explorative tests are open-ended, participants are asked to brainstorm and give
opinions and express emotional impressions about product ideas and concepts.
- The information is typically collected in early stages of product development and
helps researchers pinpoint gaps in the market, identify potential new features,
and workshop new ideas
- Comparative test on the other hand, involves asking users to choose which of
two products they prefer, and they are used to compare product with its primary
competitors.
The following are the methods used for usability testing
Lab usability testing
- This type of usability research takes place inside a specially built usability testing
lab, test subjects’ complete tasks on computers or mobile devices while a trained
moderator observers and ask questions
- A major benefit of lab usability testing is the control it provides all sessions are
run under the same standardized condition which makes it especially useful for
comparison tests. However, these tests are expensive and usually based on
small population size in a controlled environment, which is not necessarily
reflective of the actual customer based on real life use conditions
Guerilla testing
- In guerilla testing, test subjects are chosen at random from a public space,
usually in a coffee shop, mall or airport and they are asked to perform a quick
usability test often in exchange for a gift card or other incentives.
- Guerilla testing is used to test a wide cross section of people who may have no
history with the product, it’s a quick way to collect large amount of qualitative
data that validates certain design elements or functionality, but it is not a good
method for extensive testing or follow ups as people are usually reluctant or
unable to give more than 5 to 10 minutes of their time.
Phone interviews
- In a phone usability test, a moderator verbally instructs participants to complete
task on their computer and collects feedback while the user’s electronic behavior
is recorded remotely
- Phone interviews are an economical way to test users in a wide geographical
area because they are less expensive than in person interviews, they help collect
more data in a shorter period
Online testing tools and platform
- This allows to remotely observe user behavior on the product being tested using
an online tool and software
- In this method, the participants take short tests using an online platform while
others monitor behavior of real users as they interact with the product
Eye tracking
- During the eye tracking test researchers observe and study users eye
movements using a special pupil tracking device mounted on a computer by
analyzing where users direct their attention when asked to complete a task the
machine can create heat maps or movement pathway diagrams
- The eye tracking studies can be used to glean information about how users
interact visually with a product, they also help test layout and design elements
and see what may be distracting or taking someone’s focus away from the
product’s design elements.

UX design principles
- First is to meet the user’s needs, the foremost of all user experience design
principle is to focus on users throughout the design process. The term user
experience itself makes it clear that product design needs to center on improving
the user’s experience with the product or service
- Know where you are in the design process, a lot of work goes into designing, so
knowing your place in the process is significant in several ways. firstly, you’ll
need to use different tools for each phase and secondly knowing your design
face also helps you ask the right questions for user research. For instance, there
is no point testing the color of a button if you are still figuring out where it should
be placed in the design
- Have a clear hierarchy, having a clear hierarchy ensure smooth navigation
throughout a design, for example, in the design of website and apps having
hierarchy will allow users to navigate easily within a page or section, therefore, to
create an easy flowing design for users you need to place the important content
prominently.
- Keep it consistent, users expect products to share some similarities with other
products they regularly use this make it easy for them to become familiar with a
new product without any additional learning costs. The more familiar your design
is to others the faster users can learn to use it which enhances their experience.
For example, design elements such as typography, colors, space, grid ,size, and
positions must be defined in one central space or place and then use across the
system you’re designing
- Understand accessibility, an increasingly important rule from among the user
experience design basics is designing with accessibility in mind in simple words,
 a designer’s responsibility is to make sure that design is usable for as many
people as possible, this means that your design needs to be accessible to people
with disabilities too.
- Context is key, when designing you need to take into account the user’s context,
including the time available with the user, the user’s emotional state, the device
the user is using, the people who influence user and more
- Usability first, user experience design is entirely focused on solving the user’s
problems, which makes usability of the design one of the most crucial user
experience design principles, so no matter how aesthetically pleasing your
design maybe it won’t appeal with the user, unless it is safe and easy to use
- Less is more, the less is more approach emphasizes simplicity as opposed to
clutter or over decoration in design, several celebrated designs have surfaced as
a result of this design principle, including the iphone and ipad in 2007, apple
streamlined the phone’s keyboard in pursuit of the less is more philosophy and
the iPhone was birthed. Apple’s website also follows the same design principle.
- Use simple language, just as simplicity has become a best practice in visual
design, user experience focus copywriting should avoid technical terms and opt
for simple language, because users are busy, they’re on the go they’re
multitasking, so use words in the design that are closest to the user’s thoughts
and besides, simple language is easy to understand which enhances the science
user friendliness.
- Feedback matters, design should be interactive by nature. For instance, when
users click on something he’ll need a response from the product to understand
that his command has been received. Feedback is a crucial way to encourage
communication between humans and machines.
- Confirm before you commit, accidents happen all the time one common digital
example, a person may accidently delete files or unintentionally place an order
online, so your design should help correct this because you don’t want to give the
user a poor experience, this makes confirmation another one of the essential
user experience design principles
- The user in control, user control focuses on greater flexibility of use and better
control of where a user is within a design of product enhancing the user
experience. Furthermore, it allows users to backpedal and recover from errors
- Design with personality, your design can attract more users if it showcases a
character that interests the user persona you are designing for the users find it
hard to connect with a lifeless design device or code and adding personality to
your design gives it the human touch that makes it more attractive and usable

So, in summary we need to usability engineering to know how to design a product with
great user interface, because even the best designers can design a perfect product
without interactive design driven by observations of real users and their interaction with
the design. There are many variables in designing a modern user interface and there
are even more variables in the human brain. So the total number of combination is
huge, the only way to get product design right is to test it and by testing the usability of
products, we can achieve the following goals:
Identifying the problems in the design of the product or service
Uncovering opportunities to improve
Learning about the target user’s behavior and preferences