I carried out some usability tests on my healthcare app. This allowed me to uncover any usability issues that I haven’t thought about. The app is almost done so this was helpful for me when making last-minute changes.
I tested the app on 3 different users. I tried to have variation in the people I tested in terms of age, technology knowledge, etc. This was important because this app has quite a wide target audience with varying abilities.
I decided to put the results into a table showing if the task was completed, their satisfaction levels, and any comments they had through the process. I had each user complete 5 tasks, so they were able to use a variety of the app’s features. This blog post will show the results from these tests and the changes I have made to my app based on these.
Usability Test
Task 1: Retrieve the directions for the panda Chi Chi.
Task 2: Add a new panda
Task 3: Find the alert for the panda Chi Chi
Task 4: Locate Chi Chi’s profile and find his vaccination status.
Task 5: Find the total distance Chi-Chi traveled for the month.
Key takeaways and changes
On the first task, the user was asked to find the directions screen. All 3 users struggled to scroll on this page and 1 user didn’t know that you could scroll. This issue was due to the map. The map is scrollable which means when you try to scroll down the page, the map moves instead. This was an issue because it took up a large portion of the screen. The space at the bottom of the screen was small so it is easy for users to miss this and not know that there is more information below.
To fix this issue, I made the map smaller. This allowed me to bring the content below this up. This way, the users could see more of the text and know that you could scroll down.
On task 3, user 2 struggled with pressing the home button. They had to press it a few times before it worked which was frustrating. Things like this should work first time, especially as my users will be using this app in stressful situations where they don’t have much time. Therefore, it was essential that I improved this.
I did this by adding a box behind the home button and reducing its opacity. I then grouped these together. This meant that there was now a wider clickable area, making it much easier for users to click on it.
Overall, I found doing this very beneficial. If I hadn’t done these tests, these issues would have never been found and they would have caused problems down the line. I am happy with the changes I have made as it has improved the useability of my app. I also liked receiving positive feedback as it reassures me and the design decisions I have made.