In various settings – from a park bench next to the Limmat, to a student kitchen in Lausanne – I collected first responses to our application. The five test sessions took 15-30 minutes each.
At the moment we are working hard to develop the app (more on who we are soon). In order to test core aspects without a completed digital prototype “paper prototyping” is a useful method to evaluate designs. In our case, the different screen shots of the app were printed out and functionality was simulated on the spot (by switching out screens or smaller paper components which represent app content).
These testings did not concern technical implementations but user experience. The goal was to observe if users understand what is happening, whether it is clear which functions they can use, and how they can navigate through the app. In our stage of the project, the question of which aspect of the app they liked most or what they liked the least was especially interesting.
The testers were Donika (Grisons), Glenn (Basel), Stella (Ticino), Nina (Uri) and Jelle (Netherlands). The participants were between 22 and 27 years old. At the end of the day, we were able to decide on a couple of important design decisions.
Looking forward to do this more often!
