High fidelity prototypes

As described in class, you are expected to come ready to conduct a usability test with a high-fidelity prototype of you app.

The expectation is that a user should be able to carry out at least a realistic simulation of your benchmark tasks in your app without intervention or explanations.

Please publish your project so you have a copy running on your device without the need to be tethered to a development server.

The code for your project should be committed to your GitHub repository and tagged 'prototype'. I expect it to build and run without errors and use reasonable development practices.

Benchmark tasks

As before, you should have a minimum of three benchmark tasks. They should fundamental to the functioning of your app, and one should be a complex task. Please have these written out clearly on a sheet of paper available for your study participants. The task should have enough information for an uninformed user to be able to figure out what they are trying to accomplish.

You are welcome, but not required, to use the same tasks as you used for the paper prototyping. Please do not make this choice out of pragmatism ("oh, we've already got this, don't have to do that this time"). Your goal is to learn how to make your app better. If you didn't learn much from a task the last time, you are unlikely to learn much from it this time.

For each benchmark task, I would like a description of what the task is designed to explore. Is this a critical task and you want to make sure the user understands how to go through the steps? Does it involve a non-standard component and you want to make sure users can use it? This is mostly to make sure you aren't testing the same flow through the app with every task.

Sales copy

Write the description of your app that you would use when posting it on the Apple or Google app store. In most cases, this is the one chance an app has to tell potential users what the app does and why they should use it. Write your description with this in mind.

Put your description at the top of your repository README.

Script

When conducting user studies we typically want to have a script that we read to participants so everyone hears exactly the same thing. You will read your script out to each participant and provide minimal explanation beyond that until the end (when open conversation is permitted). Your script should introduce the app (read the sales copy to them) and present the tasks and what the user is expected to do (should they just flow through the tasks? will you confirm when a task is completed? Should they say when they think they have finished?). You should also encourage the user to use "think aloud" protocol (i.e., get them to talk through why they are taking particular actions and moments when they are surprised, etc). You are welcome to remind them to do this throughout the process.

Deliverables

To summarize:

In class

• A working prototype that has been published and is running on a device
• A sheet of paper containing the benchmark tasks (this should not include the explanation of the goals for each task)
• You should have a script prepared that can be read to participants

Turned in

• The working version of your code should be committed on Github and tagged 'prototype'
• The README of your repository should include the sales copy for your app
• A PDF document containing the tasks with explanation and your script should be turned in on Canvas

Grading

Points	Requirement
18	Working prototype
4	Benchmark tasks
3	Task explanations
2	Sales copy
2	Script
1	Followed directions