Usability Evaluation and Site Redesign

Ironhack’s Prework — Challenge 3

Esraluijken
4 min readJan 3, 2021

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The third challenge of the Ironhack UX/UI course pre-work is about usability. I had to do a usability evaluation and site redesign for a travel app.

The process of usability evaluation and redesign consists of six steps: User type and scenario, research, benchmarking, testing, insight and redesign wireframes.

User type and scenario

The user type is the world trotter/ backpacker who travels alone, aged between 18–38 years and who wants to visit one of the 7 world wonders. In this scenario the backpacker wants to visit the Machu Picchu in Peru.

Research

The user’s dream is going to Machu Picchu in Peru. I did some research to get more understanding about their dream destination.

Benchmarking

In order to find out which travel app is the best for my user type group, I compared these three: Kayak, Skyscanner and Trip Advisor.

With the help of the Jakob Nielsen’s Principles in the benchmarking phase, I decided that Tripadvisor offers the best features and best process for my user’s needs. The main reason is that Tripadvisor also offers ‘things to do’. My user type is traveling alone and would like to meet new people while sightseeing.

Testing

I did my tests on four people. First I wanted to test the look and feel. I gave the user 5 seconds to take a look at the home screen of the Tripadvisor app. After 5 seconds I asked them: What did you see? What can this tool do for you? Where would you search for a flight?

Surprisingly, the answers from the participants’ tests were different from each other. Not all icons were detected within 5 seconds. Also it wasn’t clear that you can buy tickets through the app. Two out of four said they were overwhelmed by too much information.

These are the 3 separate tasks I had the users complete:

  • Find the cheapest flight from Amsterdam to Cuzco.
  • You want to book a group trip from Cuszo to Machu Picchu. You want to travel by train. Find the best option.
  • You want to visit Machu Picchu longer. Find a cheap accommodation close to Machu Picchu for 2 nights.

Insight

After usability testing, my goal was to analyze the data I collected and uncover the major pain points. With their permission, I was allowed to film each user’s actions. This made it possible to review their behavior afterwards and count the number of clicks they needed. Below is an image with the measurable results. The clock stands for time in minutes. The hand for their number of clicks. The smiley indicates whether the user has passed the desired task.

Next, I grouped together my insights to create an affinity map. This mapping is based on which task the user was performing, with different colors representing the different users.

Affinity map

Redesign

The user test and the insights from the affinity map yielded two clear pain points. Based on the importance of Tripadvisor and its users, here are two pain points that surfaced and how I redesigned them.

pain points
pain point 1 + redesign
pain point 2 + redesign

What I’ve learned

I have gained insights into how a redesign process works. This assignment gives me a better understanding of how I can conduct user tests and how to process the acquired information. User tests can quickly find pain points. Users often use the app differently than you do yourself, which results in unexpected actions.

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Esraluijken

Former teacher currently pivoting to a career in UX/UI Design.