LIB 251 Final Project- Caroline Helms

Caroline Helms

LIBR 251

08/10/12

Creating a More Social Medium:

Interactive Improvement for Web Design

Views vary on what makes a website usable. Is it the visual scheme that makes it

bearable? Or is it the various features? In this time of increasing online connectivity and

the proliferation of social outlets such as Twitter, many sites are implementing their own

versions of this.

To adapt to these changes as a designer, I have devised a prototype of a forum

where users of my organization’s website will be able to mingle with each other and

those who manage the site. Not only will this give users a feeling of having control over

the site’s activity, designers will learn from the users on how best to improve

functionality.

Design has always been a process of modification; scrap ideas that no longer

work and add in features to enrich the experience of the user. My hope is to always

improve features. One clear way to do this is to allow feedback from the users. This way,

we designers can always have the challenge of meeting the user expectations. The

continuous dialog between designer and user will strengthen our interactions.

The proliferation of the Internet has allowed new avenues for this interaction.

Communication can be conducted visually and/or auditory instantaneously from

anywhere in the world. The ease with which users can find the information they seek or

others with similar interests has never been easier. Users can have their voices heard to

anyone at anytime. Websites with feedback options allows designers of the site to address

the concerns of those users.

User-centered design made the most sense in my prototype for user feedback.

Since this design problem affects users, who else to design for? The best results would be

achieved by directly working with and for users. Their feedback would be invaluable in

development of the design. In regards to my prototype, user input has molded the way the

website looks and interacts with the user.

Being a digital domain, interaction with our users is limited. Unless someone is

continuously on staff, dialog will be delayed. A delay would be beneficial in allotting

time to formulate a detailed, thoughtful response. That is the single thought that we as

designers for our website hope; communication with our users which will benefit both

parties. They have the questions and we should have the answers.

The hope from my design is to strengthen the goals and understanding of both

designer and user. By a clear mode of communication, this can be done. By providing an

area of the website which allows dialog, user and designer can work together to create a

better product. There is little to be had of flaws in this plan. By listening to the user-base,

designers can best address their needs.

The description of my design is necessary to “explain what it is, what makes it

unique, and why someone would use it instead of something else” (Saffer, 2010). I

wanted to ensure the users that the inclusion of a comment/discussion section would be

beneficial to them. This will allow the users to socialize with others as well as the

designers to address user concerns. Design improvement would go nowhere without user

feedback.

My user feedback has shown that features should be kept to a minimum. Too

much on the screen overwhelms the user in the process of finding what they are looking

for. On the other hand, too few features also limit the user on finding exactly what they

want. The solution is finding a balance though that could prove challenging. The

placement of their options on both the top and bottom of the screen provides the

satisfaction that the user is never far from the information they seek.

A strong prototype would give proof that my design is worth implementing. This

would be something to prove to both the users and the organization which manages the

website. Great care and effort must be taken in the ideation stage as well as the

preparation of the prototype.

One way in which to support the users is through abstraction (Saffer, 2010). By

weeding through the numerous user comments, we can find some of the most relevant

data for future design issues. Of course, I should be concerned with listening to what

everyone has to say. One would hope that whatever the users have to say is relevant to

the topic at hand.

Much thinking and testing should go into a project before finalization. To truly

find out how a comment/discussion section would respond to its core audience requires

many bouts of testing with a wide variety of subjects. With the limited time available, I

was able to have two users who seemed promising. Tester 1 was a 59 year old female

who is just discovering the social connectivity of the Internet using websites such as

Facebook and Twitter. The second tester is a 20 year old male who blogs often and

converses extensively on Facebook.

During the testing period, I realized that some of the best ideas for website

improvement came from the interaction between designer and user. This is exactly the

point I was trying to prove. The addition of a comment/discussion area to our site will

strengthen our bond to our users as well as more easily address their concerns for later

design improvement.

Being someone who visualizes ideas most easily with colors, this helped with the

design of a prototype. Having a prototype with colors to highlight important features of

the page focused the tester’s attention. Colors also helped me in structuring the site

layout. I asked both users - with a blue marker - to mark on the initial sketch where the

comment/discussion area should be. The use of markers for highlighting drew the user’s

attention on what I wanted them to focus on (Butow, 2007).

The testers appreciated my attempt at addressing their concerns with a

comment/discussion area. Tester 2 commented on the potential of a liaison between user

and designer. How else could we improve our services if not for continuous

communication? How else would users interact with each other to find people who share

similar interests provided through my site?

A great concern of mine was the placement of the comment/discussion area and

how it might affect navigation. Both testers saw the bottom of the page as the logical

placement. Tester 1 thought that a link near the top in the left or right-hand corner could

also be implemented. I then asked her if it would be better to have that link send the user

to the comment/discussion area at the bottom of the page or be sent to another page

entirely. Her answer was not so simple. She thought that the link should send the user to

an area of the site for general comments and discussion. The comment/discussion area at

the bottom of the page should only be for users who wish to speak only about that page.

When working with my testers, all pages of the paper prototype were numbered to

not allow the user to become confused and lost. It also helped me not become lost

myself! In a business-oriented test, it would be quite embarrassing as the designer to lose

control. The tester and whomever they represent might lose respect for the designer and

their organization. Being prepared is always essential.

Being a low-fidelity prototype, the tester had to use their imagination. Although I

tried to involve myself as little as possible, there were times when I had to explain the

image and what the user was expected to do. I learned from my designing experience that

instruction is also a necessary skill. If the user does not understand how to perform the

test, the results will do little to validate my findings.

From my results, I have learned that designers should devote a large portion of

their time to the user and what they want. In regards to the development of a web based

forum, this is especially crucial. Through this medium both user and designer collaborate

to create an altogether satisfying product. As social media changes, so too must the

interactive designer.

Works Cited

Butow, E. (2007). User interface design for mere mortals. Addison-Wesley Professional.

Saffer, D. (2009). Designing for interaction: Creating innovative applications and

devices. (2 ed.). Berkeley: New Riders.

Tester 1

(59 year old woman) used a blue sharpie to notate where

comment/discussion area should be located.

Tester 2 (20 year old male) used

a blue sharpie to notate where

comment/discussion area should

be located.

Tester 1 also thought link should be provided for an area of the website

specifically for general discussion.