Project Duration: 1 Month

Platform: Web

Software: Figma, Miro, Google Drive (Docs, Slides, Forms, Sheets), Zoom

My Contributions:

  • Created a screener form in Google Forms to find appropriate usability test subjects

    • Here is a link to see these screener questions in detail.

  • Conducted two usability tests as a Moderator, and one test as an observer/ note taker

    • I would have been able to take notes for one more usability test, but the subject was unfortunately a no-show.

  • Analyzed usability test interviews and results

    • Concluded findings based off of results

    • Made conclusions for suggested edits based off of results and findings

  •  Helped create high fidelity mockups of suggested page edits

  • Helped design and create presentation of our process and findings

  • Presented Methodology to our client, Julie Turgeon— Product at The Met, and was in charge of physically presenting our slides

  • Authored a significant portion of the report (fairly first draft-based) , which was then refined and edited by teammates

  • Contributed ideas to the team, while also listening to others

    • Helped create a safe space for ideas to efficiently flow and helped keep team on task and up to schedule

Founded in 1870, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (commonly referred to as “The Met”), houses and presents over 5,000 years of art from around the globe. In addition to two iconic sites in New York City, millions of visitors experience the Met’s collection online at www.metmuseum.org. The museums’ myriad digital resources include MetPublications, an online portal to the institution’s comprehensive art publishing program, which features over 1,700 unique titles. In addition to featuring six decades’ worth of books, guides, bulletins, and journals, the MetPublications catalog provides access to over 1,400 out-of-print titles which can be freely accessed, searched, and downloaded.

Each of The Met’s publications contains a unique record that includes the title’s description, table of contents, author bio(s), reviews, and awards. In addition, links are provided to artworks hailing from The Met Collection, as well any accompanying exhibitions, related titles, or related essays in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Finally, MetPublications facilitates access to physical copies of its publications (where available), including connected library resources like WorldCat and WATSONLINE.


Create Screener and Design the Study:

As mentioned earlier, remote, moderated usability testing was chosen as the main method to conduct these usability tests. This was due to geographical distance of our subjects, time constraints, and Covid-19 safety precautions. This method was beneficial to the team and the study as it is cost-efficient, less time consuming, and gave the team a fair amount of flexibility for choosing participants that were not necessarily in the geographical area of the team, allowing us to maximize our number of participants in a short amount of time.

To ensure that we recruited the correct participants and a successful study, we utilized eight tools that allowed consistency and accuracy:

  • 8 Screener Questions

    • This secures constraints to our participant population, so that it fits the correct user profiles.

  • Call for Participation email

    • We utilized contacts that our professor Madhav had access of through his connections with The Met, due to time constraints.

  • 5 Pre-Test Questions

    • Helps us learn more about the participants’ backgrounds and experiences

  • Consent Forms (as well as verbally asking for consent)

    • This allows us to record the usability test

    • We had one participant who decided not to consent for privacy reasons, but their user test information was still useful

  • Scripts

    • We used scripts to make sure that we each hit the same talking points within the usability test.

    • This included a short introduction and conclusion to inform the participants what their role is, what the test will consist of, why we are doing it, and a quick thank you to the participant.

    • Moderators were given the freedom to alter the script so to their needs, in the moment, to keep the test conversational and seamless.

  • 1 Impression Task:

    • This ensures that we get records of what the user’s first impressions of the site are.

  • 6 Directed Usability Tasks (some tasks had follow up sub questions)

    • Shows us how users navigate to and through the website

    • Helps us determine if there are needed changes to the website that could improve the user’s experience.

  • Post Test Questions

    • To conclude the test

    • See the User’s overall impression of the site after using it

    • Finalize gauging any frustrations and pain points of the participants’ experiences throughout the usability test and navigating through the website


Conducting the Tests:

  • 8 Tests in total

    • Conducted over Zoom

    • Utilized Screen Sharing and Screen Recording

  • Each test was 30-40 minutes

  • Participants were encouraged to think out loud.

  • Most tests consisted of one moderator, one observer/ note taker, and one participant.


Analyzing Results:

After conducting the eight interviews, we collaborated as a team to identify key findings by analyzing and organizing our data. We utilized Miro as well as the Nielson Norman Group’s Severity Scale during our analyzation process.

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Conclusion

We presented our process, results, findings, and recommendations to our client, and overall she was very pleased, validating to us— to her surprise— that even the small changes we recommended will make a big difference in understanding the content for users on MetPublications. We as a team, and our client, realized from this process that a website does not have to be fully reconstructed to function more efficiently and effectively. Our client gave us positive feedback and overall we were all pleased of the research we conducted for MetPublications.

“These findings were incredibly helpful and thorough. I want to assure you all that we will be implementing changes as soon as possible and that your hard work will not go to waste and sit in a folder somewhere.” — Julie Turgeon