Background

In a project with Full Circle Creations, a small handmade jewelry business, I applied to user-centered design process to provide recommendations and wireframes to improve the usability and accessibility of the website. Full Circle Creations does not sell its products online, so the goal of its website, FullCircleCreations.com, is to promote and provide information about the company, its products, and where those products will be sold. 

Analysis

My goal for the project was to offer recommendations to the business owner to improve the usability and accessibility of her website. To begin this project, I developed user personas, performed a Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA), checked the website for heuristic violations using Nielsen's 10 heuristics, and created usability goals in preparation for the usability test.

User Personas

Hierarchical Task Analysis

Heuristic Evaluation

Usability Testing

Initial Usability Test (UT1)

To confirm the results of my analyses, I ran a usability test of the original website. For this usability test, I ran 5 participants using a think-out-loud procedure, created 5 tasks for them to perform, and used Zoom to record their screen, audio, and video. My objective measures included participants' time-on-task and their screen lostness. My subjective measures included participants audio comments, their SUS scores, and a short, post-study interview.

Prototyping

From the results of UT1, I confirmed the results of my other analyses, and created recommendations to improve the website's usability. I translated these results into a medium-fidelity, clickable prototype using Adobe Experience Design (XD).

Comparative Usability Test (UT2)

To establish the effectiveness of my recommendations, I ran a second usability test with 5 new participants. I used the exact same procedures as the first usability test, but instead of using the original website, I used the interactive prototype. The results of UT2 supported the effectiveness of my recommendations, showing usability increases in lostness, SUS score, time-on-task, and verbal comments.