Assignment 6: User Testing and Analysis ​

Community Carpool ​

A communal carpool coordination social network connecting users that are traveling to the same activity, using location data to help plan the most efficient and convenient routes.

Frontend Deployment ​

GitHub Repository for Community Carpool's Frontend ​

Vercel Deployment for Community Carpool's Frontend ​

Data Population & Realistic Data ​

I populated my application with a variety of different data objects to simulate a realistic configuration that a user who uses the application might have. This includes a couple of Activity groups, multiple User profiles with unique profile photos and names, as well as membership in these Activity groups.

Specifically, I created multiple Activity groups based off of NBA Basketball teams. Using publicly available photographs of these NBA stars and their coaches, I simulated how members of the Golden State Warriors might use this app. I created realistic User profiles for these players, and even simulated dialogue between multiple different users within Activity groups to demonstrate the discourse and coordination that might take place on this app.

In terms of my testing, I focused on evaluating the User Interface of my application, observing what the Test Users struggled to do, where they got stuck, as well as their natural "journey" while visiting the application. Unsurprisingly, some of the design decisions I had made turned out to be less intuitive than I had anticipated. This was very informative, and patterns did emerge in the areas where my assumptions diverged from the users'.

Task List ​

This ordering of tasks is structured in a way that leads users through a logical progression, starting from registration and moving on to basic functionalities like searching for, joining, and participating in activities. This gradually progresses to more involved tasks like creating activities, and engaging in communication within the app. At the end, a relatively nuanced feature is tested to validate how well these functionalities are communicated to the user. The rationale for each task focuses on evaluating the app's ease of use, user navigation, and the overall user experience related to activity features.

These tasks are designed to assess different aspects of the app's usability, aiming to uncover potential challenges users might face and the app's strengths/weaknesses in meeting users' needs. Conducting user tests with these tasks as a framework will provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the app's design and user interface. It will also identify shortcomings in the app's UI and areas that can be improved.

User Study: Sima Eskenazi ​

Overview and Objectives of the Study ​

As outlined in the Task List section of this assignment, I entered the meeting well-prepared with direction. I aimed to test different features and functionalities of the app, particularly core functions that are essential and would be most frequently used by users. I provided Sima with a summary of the application I designed, how I envision it would be used if deployed in the real world, and gave Sima guidance on what is expected from her, and how feedback during every step of her process would be valuable. I also received consent from Sima to do this study.

Key Moments and Observations ​

1. User Registration ​

Sima navigated through the registration process relatively smoothly. Even though she had originally typed "61040-app-frontend.vercel.app" into her browser's address bar, she was automatically redirected to the login page which prompted her to create an account. She mentioned that the layout was intuitive, but got frustrated by the amount of requirements needed to submit a valid password (a capital letter, special character, number, etc.). She did, however, mention that the password feedback indicator was helpful. Notably, she initially tried to register for the application without uploading a profile picture, and was confused why she wasn't able to proceed beyond the registration page. After a few seconds, she realized the need to upload a picture and did so, and successfully logged into the app. This positive interaction implies that the initial user registration flow is user-friendly and efficiently designed.

2. Searching for an Activity ​

The process of searching for activities was very intuitive for Sima. The search responses were clear and immediate, and even though Sima didn't write an "exact match" for what she was searching for, the app's built-in search capabilities handled this properly.

3. Creating an Activity ​

Sima faced challenges in creating a new activity. She was able to create the activity relatively easily using the form (same feedback regarding implementing a "Show Password" type button in the join code section).

4. Joining an Activity ​

Joining an existing activity was relatively straightforward for Sima. However, she hesitated briefly while confirming the join code, as the confirmation button was not prominently displayed. She also expressed that she wishes there were a way to "Show Password" so that she could confirm what she had typed, similar to the registration form from earlier. This highlights the importance of clear and visible call-to-action buttons for user engagement and consistent functionality throughout an application.

5. Messaging a Member in an Activity ​

Communicating within an activity was another area of concern for Sima. The messaging feature was not immediately noticeable (as it was at the bottom of the activity page), and she hesitated to locate and engage in a conversation with others. She also stated that the layout of messages was confusing, citing the fact that some posts were shown spanning the entire row and other rows would have multiple posts (it depends on the length of the post, but I completely agree that this is confusing and arbitrary). The interface's visibility and accessibility for communication functions must be improved to facilitate easier user interaction.

6. Promoting a Member in an Activity ​

Sima struggled to navigate back to the main Home page of the website from the Activity page. Once she navigated back, it took her a very long time to realize that she was automatically a made to be a manager of the activity she had created herself, and could only promote users to managers in activities that she herself was already a manager in. She said that it should be more clear/prominent displayed when she is and isn't a manager of an activity. Later she did agree that some activities had more buttons than others (in the activities she is a manager of, additional buttons enable additional functionality exclusive to managers), but she said that this wasn't enough.

Debriefing with Sima ​

Sima appreciated the app's core concept and its potential to streamline activity organization and carpooling. However, she emphasized the need for a more streamlined UI, clearer call-to-action buttons, improved visibility of communication features, and more obvious distinctions when users have more/less privileges within an activity.

Analyzing Sima's Experience ​

Sima's user testing revealed both positive and negative aspects of the app. She was impressed by how streamlined the registration process was, but wished that profile pictures were made optional. However, she emphasized the need for a more streamlined UI, clearer call-to-action buttons, improved visibility of communication features, and more obvious distinctions when users have more/less privileges within an activity. Sima's feedback emphasized the importance of refining the user interface to enhance user experience, primarily by providing clearer instructions, making behaviors across the application more consistent, and enhancing the visibility of essential features.

User Study: Henning Schliker ​

Overview and Objectives of the Study ​

As outlined in the Task List section of this assignment, I entered the meeting well-prepared with direction. I aimed to test different features and functionalities of the app, particularly core functions that are essential and would be most frequently used by users. I provided Sima with a summary of the application I designed, how I envision it would be used if deployed in the real world, and gave Sima guidance on what is expected from her, and how feedback during every step of her process would be valuable. I also received consent from Sima to do this study.

Key Moments and Observations ​

1. User Registration ​

Henning had an easy time registering as a new user. He followed all of the instructions correctly, and uploaded a profile picture to his newly created account. Like Sima, Henning also originally typed "61040-app-frontend.vercel.app" into his browser's address bar, but he was automatically redirected to the login page which prompted him to create an account.

2. Searching for an Activity ​

During the activity search, Henning was able to quickly scroll through different results and narrow down to exactly what he was looking for. That being said, he mentioned that he would have liked there to be a way to search for activities by a different metric other than name. He suggested the ability to search by the location of an activity, as this would have help him narrow down which activities are actually relevant to him. He desired more specific filters, such as location or other users' membership status ("search by activities' members"). This observation suggests the potential for improved filtering options for a more personalized and relevant search experience.

3. Creating an Activity ​

Henning faced challenges in creating a new activity. He struggled with the always hidden password field. He said that this makes it difficult to ensure that the password was typed correctly, especially since there is not any "match passwords" field. Additionally, he later remarked that there is no clear way to modify the join code of an activity, so if he had accidentally mistyped it or misremembered what the join code is, there wouldn't be a way for him to figure it out or correct the erroneous spelling, which could basically completely cripple the functionality of the application.

4. Joining an Activity ​

Joining an existing activity was a straightforward process for Henning. He was able to identify which activities he was not currently a member of remarking that "I can't see activities' members because I'm not a member of that activity. That makes sense. And I notice the "Join Activity" button." This highlights the importance of smart UI, where functionality is hidden when it cannot be accessed, and functionality appears when a user can perform those actions.

5. Messaging a Member in an Activity ​

Henning echoed Sima's thoughts and experience when instructed to message a member in an activity. The messaging feature was not immediately noticeable (as it was at the bottom of the activity page), and Henning was thrown off by the "Click Here to View the Activity" button at the top of the page even though he had already clicked it and was currently in the activity page. He clicked the button multiple times, but it did nothing (since he was already in the correct page). Like Sima, Henning also mentioned that the layout of messages was confusing, citing the fact that some posts were shown spanning the entire row and other rows would have multiple posts (it depends on the length of the post, but I completely agree that this is confusing and arbitrary). The interface's visibility and accessibility for communication functions must be improved to facilitate easier user interaction. Additionally, a synchronization should be implemented to only show the "Click Here" button when outside of the activity view.

6. Promoting a Member in an Activity ​

Henning had an easier time promoting members in an activity to manager. He noticed that the "Promotion" buttons appeared for specific activities and not for others, so he just needed to find the activities that it appeared for and promoted users there. He mentioned that the should be a way to filter activities to only show the activities a user is a manager in.

Debriefing with Henning ​

Henning really enjoyed the process and asked many questions about how a certain feature was implemented as he was going through the study. He believes that the User Interface could be streamlined a little bit more, specifically in regards to consistency and displaying only relevant information to the user. He said that posts section of the activity page needs t be revamped, as it is confusing and "sloppy" (I agree with him).

Analyzing Sima's Experience ​

Henning was impressed by how streamlined the registration process was, and enjoyed many of the synchronizations that were implemented. But he called out the few synchronizations that had been missed. He wanted the experience to be consistent, and struggled when the UI was inconsistent. He also emphasized the need to improve the visibility of communication features within activities.

User Study Takeaways ​

Based on my user studies, it is clear that the importance of refining the user interface to enhance user experience is quintessential to delivering a positive experience for the user. Consistency was another aspect that seemed to be heavily emphasized; behaviors should be repeated throughout the application, and should not vary for any illogical reason.

Flaws and Opportunities for Improvement ​

[Moderate, Physical] How Posts are Displayed Within Activities ​

[Minor, Physical] Include the Show Password Button Every Time There is a Password Entry Field ​

[Major, Conceptual] Changing the Join Codes of Activities ​

This is what this resetJoinCode action's implementation might look like.

resetActivityJoinCode(user: User, activity: Activity, new_join_code: str)
    assert user in activity.managers
    assert new_password != activity.join_code
    activity.join_code = new_join_code
    for manager in activity.managers:
        notify(manager, new_join_code)

resetActivityJoinCode(user: User, activity: Activity, new_join_code: str)
    assert user in activity.managers
    assert new_password != activity.join_code
    activity.join_code = new_join_code
    for manager in activity.managers:
        notify(manager, new_join_code)

[Moderate, Linguistic] Remove "Click Here to View Activity" Button from the Activity View ​

Special Thanks! ​

Thank you 6.1040 Staff for all of your hard work and for designing such an incredible class! I really enjoyed this class and learned a tremendous amount. I really appreciate it. This individual social media application assignment has been one of the most exciting and fun projects I've worked on at MIT!