Project 6: User Testing & Final Release
Team Contacts
Team Email: 61040-project@mit.edu
Team Members
| Name | GitHub | |
|---|---|---|
| Henry Asa | henryasa@mit.edu | @HenryAsa |
| Amir Kazeminia | amirka@mit.edu | @amirika20 |
| Cal Wilson | calwilsn@mit.edu | @calwilsn |
| Jonatan Fontanez | jonfon01@mit.edu | @DragonStorm25 |
Team Project Mentors
| Name | |
|---|---|
| Ashley Granquist | ashleymg@mit.edu |
| Fabrizzio Orderique | porderiq@mit.edu |
User Test
| Title | Instruction | Goal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purchase a stock | Purchase one share of Apple stock | Users should be able to easily add stocks to their portfolio, as this is key functionality of the app |
| 2 | Copy-invest | Copy another user’s portfolio | This is the defining feature of the app, meaning that it must be intuitive |
| 3 | Consulting | Ask the AIAssistant to check if it is a good idea to invest in oil | Make sure that users can find the icon to get help and use the chatbox |
| 4 | Favorite articles | Find articles related to the stocks that you want to invest in | Make sure that users can find the news icon and select their favorite articles |
| 5 | Stocks | Find the stock of your favorite and track its price | Make sure that the users can find the |
Study Report
User Test 1
The user was confused for about 10 seconds when first opening the app, as he did not immediately realize that he had to create an account. When creating an account, it took some time to create a password that met the criteria of the strong password checker but mentioned that he appreciated the idea as it made the app feel more secure. The user didn’t have a picture readily available so he chose to upload a PDF file instead, which caused the profile photo in the top right to appear as a black box, making it difficult to find where this page could be accessed.
When looking at the home page, the user noted that he liked the format and how the number of users displayed on each row changed depending on the width of the window. However, he mentioned it may be difficult to see which profile you were hovering over, so changing the color of the link or adding some other pop-up when hovering over a profile may be beneficial.
The user struggled to find where the AI Assistant could be located. This is likely caused by a failure in our choice of symbols, as the question mark icon we are using would normally be used to signify a page the user could visit for help, but in this case, we are using it to represent asking questions to the AI Assistant.
The user was quite positive on the NewsFeed page. He liked the ease with which the user is able to filter articles by company and appreciated the value of a feature that compiled articles from different sources. He also mentioned that it would be nice to view articles when he was interested in purchasing a new stock.
User Test 2
Similarly to the first user, the second user was a bit confused about where he could create an account at first, as registering a new user is done from the Login page, while the user assumed there was a separate Register page. Creating a strong password took some thought, but he did mention that this check is something he would expect from other apps and it made Sharefolio feel more “legit”. He attempted to create his account without selecting a profile photo, and no error appeared but the account also was not created successfully, which confused him for several seconds before he uploaded a profile photo and tried again.
The user then navigated to the stock page. He liked the look of the graphs and the ability to change the duration of time which they displayed. One nitpick he had was that the price of the stocks should only be displayed to two decimal points. He next attempted to purchase a stock. He was confused as to why there was a second dropdown menu (which is unlabeled but displays all user portfolios once they have been created). He received error messages about purchasing stocks and had to be prompted to create a portfolio and deposit money. The user mentioned that it felt strange to be able to deposit an absurdly large sum of money, and that once the account balance should be displayed with commas to make it more readable.
When viewing the profile pages of other users, he noted that it seemed the “total wealth” of other users was tied to the amount of money that he had deposited.
Our second user was also positive about the newsfeed and mentioned that he would use this as a standalone app. He liked the simplicity of the UI and agreed with the motivation to compile relevant articles before purchasing a stock.
Finally, he also struggled to locate the AI Assistant and was a bit confused by the message that is displayed when the assistant is queried. However, he liked the design of the UI, as he was familiar with this interface from other AI Assistants and he also appreciated the color choice.
User Test 3
The user feedback spans across several key areas, highlighting both positive aspects and critical issues within the app. The positives include an appreciation for the visually appealing stock graphs and the straightforward, clean design of the stock pages. However, significant concerns were raised regarding usability and functionality. Users encountered obstacles during registration due to a lack of clear guidance, encountering errors about being logged in. The newsfeed presented readability issues with dates and checkboxes, obstructed by the menu bar. Additionally, the confusion around the necessity of portfolios for stock purchases led to usability challenges. The app's design, likened to a different platform (Runescape), suggests a need for a more tailored and distinctive interface to enhance user engagement and association with the app's identity.
Moreover, technical glitches such as the inability to change time series for stocks other than Amazon, complications arising from overly lengthy portfolio names causing errors during stock purchases, and potential vulnerabilities allowing unintended actions like selling stocks in different portfolios after a page refresh, raise concerns about functionality and security. The slow article filter update and ambiguity surrounding the AI Assistant's visibility add to the usability challenges. Stylistically, while the login page was praised, the overall website lacked styling and cohesive design elements, including overlooking background color. These insights point to the necessity for a comprehensive overhaul focusing on usability enhancements, technical stability, coherent design language, and a clear user journey to ensure a more intuitive and enjoyable user experience.
Design Revision
We changed the states of Asset concept because some of the data can be fetched using API calls to other servers, such as current price or the history of the asset.
We merged Article and NewsFeed into one concept called Interest because we do not need to store articles and using an API call we find the relevant articles to a user's interest.
We made users' portfolios public. However, the current ranking is solely based on the total wealth of users.