Chelsea Eckberg: April 2010 Archives

Eco-Friendly Vs. Usability. Usability is the level of friendliness and ease of use of products and interfaces. Products should be easy to use, designed clearly, and fit the needs of the user. (1) Often companies design products without considering usability, and the users end up using only 5 percent of the features available to them, or the product ends up sitting at the store un-purchased.

(high powered grill = not so eco-friendly)

Considering the discussion we had in class the other day about adjustable office chairs. These crazy chairs with all they adjustable parts are made for people to create the perfect chair for their body-type and become more comfortable when sitting. But, because these chairs have so many different levers and knobs, the usability of the product becomes very difficult. Many people adjust one or two levers and leave the rest. This is where the 5 percent of the features are being used. Sure there are directions to be read on how to adjust the chairs, but a large percent of people don't read directions that come with products.

Now chairs are being invented where they are made from less material and give the support people need. Usability is being considered along with the environment. There are less materials being wasted in the production of the chair, the design is easy to use, while fitting the needs of the user.

The Aeron chair by Herman Miller is just that. It has broken the mold as well as the "rules". This chair is said to be the best selling chair of all time and has also been featured in the Museum of Modern Art. This environmentally sustainable chair was "constructed and planned to be the greenest most responsible chair ever". It is sleek, devoid of foam or stuffing and features several design elements that are very different from your average office chair.

"The Aeron chair's seat curved upwards at the edges, cradling the hips and creating a comfort pocket for the user. The lip of the seat curved downward, saving thighs from the wear and tear of eight-hour days at the desk, and increasing user circulation. The back of the chair didn't subscribe to straight lines either; it had been designed for support, curving inward to the small of the back then fanning out to the shoulders, keeping posture erect and comfort intact." (2)

The environment and usability were two of the many things considered when designing this chair. "Thinking about every aspect of the product for how it will be used to who will us it is the only way to move forward into uncharted territories in the design world". (Don Chadwick, Aeron designer)

1.http://www.greenprophet.com/2008/08/28/2082/eco-friendly-vs-usability/
2.http://www.smartfurniture.com/products/Aeron-Chair.html

For the first blog entry I talked about web usability and user testing. I want to go back to this topic slightly and cover the financial aspect of usability within user testing for web-based projects. When a designer begins working on a project for the web, design must be considered, but more importantly usability. User experience needs to be created and in order for any design to succeed. So, an easy way to figure out if your website is user friendly is to complete user testing.

Most people when doing anything want things done the fast way or the cheap way. This can be okay when you need to immediately improve a user interface and you don't have a lot of financial backing. One reason usability testing is not used is because of the cost, or the "perceived" cost of usability testing (1). But depending on the value of the project or the revenue it will bring in, a more expensive usability method could pay off.

The table below shows the result of adjusting a usability budget according to the discount usability engineering method. The numbers in this table are for a medium scale software project (about 32,000 lines of code). For small projects, even cheaper methods can be used, while really large projects might consider additional funds to usability and the full-blown traditional methodology, though even large projects can benefit considerably from using discount usability engineering.

Original usability cost estimate by [Mantei and Teorey 1988] $128,330
Scenario developed as paper mockup instead of on videotape -$2,160
Prototyping done with free hypertext package -$16,000
All user testing done with 3 subjects instead of 5 -$11,520
Thinking aloud studies analyzed by taking notes instead of by video taping -$5,520
Special video laboratory not needed -$17,600
Only 2 focus groups instead of 3 for market research -$2,000
Only 1 focus group instead of 3 for accept analysis -$4,000
Questionnaires only used in feedback phase, not after prototype testing -$7,200
Usability expert brought in for heuristic evaluation + $3,000
Cost for "discount usability engineering" project $65,330

Even though user testing can be expensive, it has financial benefits that are a result of the expensive service. Studies have shown that "Following a usability redesign, websites increase a desired metrics by 135 percent on average" (Jakob Nielsen, Alterbox). Websites become easier to use, differentiation from other sites is obtained, more visitors become paying customers, less support calls, positive brand image, customer loyalty, and a greater return on your website can all be achieved by taking the time to test.

1. www.useit.com/papers/guerrilla_hci.html
2.www.useit.com/alertbox/expensive-usability.html
3.simpleusability.com/services/usability/testing

website that estimates usability cost
4.www.simpleusability.com/services/usability/usability-costs