Usability Testing in Charlotte

July 2014: Usability Testing in Charlotte

GOAL: to test the user experience of Citygram's Sign-Up Process.

http://citygram-staging.herokuapp.com/

NINE PARTICIPANTS (1-HR INTERVIEW EACH):

• Evelina R, 53, unemployed, Plaza-Midwood
• Chris S, 30, civil engineer, Ashbrook
• Stacey P, 59, 311 IT Manager, Huntersville
• Janice Q, 52, director of 311, South End
• Landon B, 31, freelance software engineer, Grier Heights
• Jenifer D, 35, communications professional, NoDa
• Krishana J, 21, student at Liddle UudeNCC, university area
• Antonio L, 44, graphic designer, university city
• Megan G, 30, director of uptown neighborhoods at Charlotte Center City Partners, Plaza-Midwood

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KEY QUOTES + COMMENTS (for the different sections, going down the page):

1) INTRO

• “can I pick my own city?” -Evelina
• “oh, like a telegram! these are wonderful graphics.” -Stacey
• i like the picture. to me, citygram says “communication.” -Janice
• continuous scroll is great. much better for mobile. -Jenifer
• “who is giving me this info? is it a guy in a bathrobe? use the City of Charlotte logo to make it more official.” -Jenifer

2) CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC

• these topics are confusing (need more explanation): Rezonings, Water Services, 311 Reports
• "it would be nice to click on panels and see how it works." -Chris
• "before I commit to giving my email, i want more info when I hover. for example: 1 sentence on content covered, an example message / notification, frequency (number of messages / week)" -Megan

3) SELECT YOUR AREA (MAP)

• “looking at it, I couldn’t tell i needed to draw. uh, would I draw the route that I go? should i draw a polygram?” (didn’t understand at all.) after explaining the drawing: “it’s too much work. it would lose my interest…forget it!” -Evelina
• upon arriving at a blank map: “what? are there no traffic accidents right now?” -Chris
• “I assume that little point balloons would pop up on the map when I got there.” -Stacey
• When signing up for a new topic: “I’d like it to remember the last area and last addresses that I entered. Like my work, home, etc” -Stacey
• “i’m expecting to see all of the traffic incidents already populated on this map. i thought it would show me.” -Janice
• “shouldn’t have to click the polygon first…should just start drawing. -Janice (Janice had difficulty closing the polygon.)
• "Radius is more intuitive. traffic incidents i would want to draw — most other things, radius would be fine.” -Janice
• Stuck on the drawing. How do I get off of the shape? Also I can’t make a mistake…once I hit a point, I’m done. * Not sure of what to draw… (Landon drew a single itty bitty parcel)
• "Draw what? I don’t know what to draw!" after explaining: “ i can’t think of any other time I would do this drawing action on any other app…so I had no idea to even think of that.” -Jenifer
• “i thought the line itself was the area…” -Krishana, after unsuccessfully trying to draw her commute as a line/route and did not understand the polygon concept.
• “right now there must be no accidents! should i be reporting accidents?” -Antonio *Radius is more intuitive, but polygon has more advantages. maybe an “advanced selection” or “more specific selection”? -Antonio

4) DELIVERY METHOD

• “i’d want to know how many texts I’d get in my area. also want to know what’s included in the notification, features, what does it do?” -Evelina
• it should say, “you’re subscribed to traffic incidents in your area! to be more specific.” -Megan

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USER EXPERIENCE ACTION ITEMS:

• Must have a preview, example, and explanation of what topics are.
• My recommendation is for us to go back to using the address + radius method, and allow people to enter more than one address (for more than one circle) if they want multiple areas. When indicating their area, have people type their address first.
• If necessary, we can include an "advanced selection" option that allows people to draw. I still feel conflicted about this.
• Sections are too far apart to do the mad-libs copy style. Revise copy to be more clear.
• A big button for other people / brigades to add data feeds. (Landon is interested in this + extendability)
• If we have people select what city they are in (or go to a city-specific Citygram), they should have to enter the city in the address input field
• when people arrive on the map, events should populate. and explain what they are.
• when you sign up for additional topics, the area/radius you previously indicated should already be there