Project Overview
Nashyar is an Iranian startup in the printing industry. In this project, I was the solo designer. I worked with a manager who was the connection between the stakeholders and me. I was responsible for stakeholder interviews and creating personas, user journey maps, wireframes, UI design, usability testing, and documentations. Nashryar is one of the pioneers in self-publishing industry in Iran. The website is in Farsi language, and it is designed from Right to Left.
Design Process
In this project, I used the Design Thinking approach. In the diagram below, I explained my process for this project.
Online Interviews and Surveys
I did two stakeholder interviews. One was an online meeting that I took notes from, and the other was a form that I asked them to fill out. Below you can see the results of the form. (The language used for this project is Farsi)
Personas
After talking with the stakeholders and researching, I came up with the personas for this website. You can see the results below.
User Journey Map
After creating the personas, I created a user journey map. You can see the map below.
Wireframes
So I started the design process by wireframing the website, and I sent it to the stakeholders to get feedback. To make sure that I understood their exact wants and needs. Below you can see some of them.
UI Design
After applying the stakeholders’ feedback on the wireframes, I started the UI process by adding colors and images. Below, you can see a short video of the final design.
Usability Testing
I did this project during the COVID-19 shutdown. So I couldn't do the usability testing in person. The other challenge was that the online user testing platforms didn't have my target persona. So It took a lot of time to find potential users, and I had to develop a way to conduct the research remotely.
Back then, the user testing plugin wasn't available on Adobe XD, so I created a viewer link and asked the users to record their screens. I used the Concurrent Think Aloud protocol. I made a document explaining the screen recording process to the users. I provided five tasks which were the main objectives of the website. And I asked them to read the document, set up a screen record, fill out the first questionnaire, do the study while thinking aloud, and fill out the second questionnaire.
I gathered the data and analyzed it, and I wrote an extensive report on that. Then I recommended a couple of ways to make the design better and I sent my proposal to stakeholders. (You can see some parts of the report and the task sheet that I gave to users. It is in the Farsi language but I translated some parts of it in the sections below.)
First Questionnaire Results
Five users participated in this study, four women and one man. The age range was between 20 to 50. Three participants were between the ages of 20 to 30. One was in the range of 30 to 40, and one was in the range of 40 to 50. The test duration was approximately 15 minutes to 30 minutes. And 60% of the users weren't familiar with the printing and publishing process.
Think-aloud Usability Testing Results
The test had five tasks. The first, second, and last task was successfully done by all participants. The third and fourth task was successfully done by 60% of the participants.
Second Questionnaire Results
80% of the participants believed that the tasks were easy. 100% of participants believed it was memorable. 60% of the participants believed it was efficient. 60% of the users believed that the system was satisfying to use.
Takeaways
It was my first experience conducting online think-aloud usability testing, and I learned a lot during that experience:
- The user flows that I thought are really obvious, weren’t so for users.
- The order of the tasks in the task list matters a lot.
- The first two tasks should test obvious parts of the design.
- I should remind my user that I’m not testing their ability, I’m testing my design.
- And finally, usability testing is not an IQ test, you shouldn’t try to make tasks sophisticated.