itunes Usability Report SUNNY FAGALDE CONCEPTS & PRACTICES IN USABILITY TESTING
Contents Executive Summary Research Goals Participant Information Methodology Research Findings Recommendations Appendix
Executive Summary itunes seems a little cluttered because it s trying to manage your iphone, music and videos make the program seem convoluted ~ Participant 1 All the participants experienced some amount of difficulty performing the tasks given to them. They described the interface as tricky with functions that are difficult to find. 50% of the participants stated that this program is one of the reasons they no longer use iphones. Despite their difficulties, 50% of participants also described itunes as powerful with necessary features that few other programs can match.
Research Goals Discover if the user finds it easy to configure iphone settings in itunes. Find out if users can easily navigate between iphone library, itunes library and itunes store and be able to discern where they are. Find out their process and reactions to browsing and purchasing music from itunes. Find out the user s process and reaction to organizing music in itunes.
Participant Information (4) Female/male Age 25 40 Currently owns or have owned an iphone in the last 5 years. Have had experience itunes in the past 5 years. Currently plays digital music off their phone at least once a week and have purchased a minimum of 3 songs via an online media store.
Methodology Research Plan Participants are asked to perform basic tasks in the program. Reactions are monitored and recorded for each task. Participants are probed for their expectation of how the task should be completed. Stimuli Participants are provided with a laptop, dummy iphone and Apple ID for test use. The latest version of itunes for PC was used. Test session performed at a location and date of the participant s choosing and comfort level.
Methodology (cont.) Primary Tasks Configure iphone to sync only checked songs and videos. Navigate between iphone and itunes. Navigate between itunes and itunes store. Search for specific song in itunes Store and purchase. Create and name a new playlist. Add purchased song to playlist. Sync playlist from itunes to iphone.
Research Findings 100% of Participants had trouble finding the itunes store from itunes home screen or iphone home screen. All of the participants were unclear on where the itunes is located and went straight to the menu bar located up top. Only after clicking through the buttons available up top did they find the Library button and only then did the itunes store button appear. itunes store isn t even available from the iphone page
Research Findings (cont.) Each participant had their own way of performing a task that was vastly different and it was unclear to them whether their procedure was effective. For 3 out of 4 tasks, at least one participant was able to find a different process to achieve the same result but the effectiveness was unclear. The remaining task where there was only one single way to perform was rated very difficult to execute. 25% of participants had a different way of syncing music. 50% of participants had a different way of creating playlists. 25% of participants had a different way of syncing song to iphone. Two separate sections of iphone settings that seems to perform the same function but wording is inconsistent.
Research Findings (cont.) Participants had a hard time orienting themselves between each subpage of the program. Participants seemed frustrated at the clutter of each screen as they clicked on all the submenus but not being able to see what they re looking for. 25% of the participants did not see the submenu at all. One participant clicked 31 times before being able to find the playlist screen. I just had it, where did it go? You can tell I m a rare user You would think it would be one of these (buttons) Not intuitive as I would like.
Recommendations Hire an information architect to group and classify the amount of features and settings so that the information is displayed to the user in a succinct and organized manner. Also, further research will be required to determine what functions the users frequently use (and have those easily accessible) versus those that could be organized into menus. A card-sorting test would be ideal. Make sure that all functions that pertains to a certain category (ie. iphone settings) are accessible from that section. If there are different ways to perform one function, the actions are accessible in the same screen and the wording is consistent. Minimize clutter by removing infrequently used settings and features and organizing into menus.
Recommendations (cont.) Each screen should follow a style guide as closely as possible so that users know certain functions and options are in a similar place from screen to screen. Also allows for quick ramp-up time for new users. Artist page Albums page Songs page Single template with nav bar with all pages/screens accessible. Items listed by album cover with the option of viewing as listing. See Appendix.
Recommendations (cont.) Keep navigation styles consistent by using just a few methods throughout versus different methods in different areas of the screen. Tabs Drop-down buttons Content list
Appendices Participant Data Participant Demographics How long have you used iphone? P1 P2 P3 P4 40s, married with child, IT 26, single, Bioengineering student 38, married with children, App Developer 40, married with child, marketing How often do you use itunes? How often do you purchase music online? 3 years, off and on 2x a year once a month 1.5 years Daily to charge iphone, launches but don t use 10 years, off and on Only for updates, monthly A couple of times Once or twice 10 years 2x a year 2x a year
Appendices Data Analysis by Problem Problem P1 P2 P3 P4 Difficulty finding sync options x x Trouble navigating to itunes store x x x x Difficulty in finding song in itunes store x Issues in navigating to playlist page & creating playlist x x x x Difficulty adding purchased song to playlist x x Confused to how to sync song to iphone x x x
Appendices (cont.) Example of a style template Breadcrumbs to indicate location. Nav bar where all pages are accessible throughout and the categories are separated into intuitive groups. Note that itunes will be a separate section but link is immediately available at all times. Files and media are displayed as icons on each page with the option to view as list.
Thank You