Usability Highlights from 2011
Nika Smith
As always, it is challenging to summarize the key takeaways from such a productive year. Here are a few of the research team’s favorite moments that make us proud to work at Blink.
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Eye Tracking Usability Studies
John Dirks
To determine what usability study participants look at and take in while viewing online media, we used to watch their mouse cursors, interactions with links and controls, and body language. We also listened carefully to their think-aloud narratives and comments. These traditional testing techniques, however, could never tell us definitively what users notice and what they don’t. Eye tracking usability studies open up a new frontier.
Usability Highlights from 2012
Tom Satwicz, Ph.D.
We sought to understand the how the needs and desires of users have changed as their devices morphed and multiplied into new form factors and platforms. Here is a sample of what we learned throughout the year that’s most relevant for 2013.
Usability Testing of Fruit
Kelly Franznick
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you did a usability test of fruit? We did. Blink created this fun look at something near and dear to our hearts – usability testing. We hope you enjoy it!
Usability Highlights: 2008 and Beyond
John Dirks
Just in time for spring, we’re posting our annual round-up of usability highlights. Blink usability specialists evaluated a host of technologies and applications in ‘08, from online games to web-based classroom tools to healthcare portals.
Turning Usability Findings into Design Changes
John Dirks
You’re coming up for air after an intense usability study. Your usability consultant has delivered actionable findings and recommendations to your team that you know would really improve the user experience. Now what?
Why You Should Usability Test Your Mobile Application
Nika Smith
Just like web sites and desktop applications, mobile applications benefit greatly from being evaluated via usability testing with target users. Mobile usability testing allows you to learn about your users’ expectations and prior experience with mobile interfaces and illustrates how they will use your application in real-time. Further, mobile testing enables development and product teams to identify and prioritize pain points that must be addressed prior to launch or future releases.
Trade-Offs In Moderated & Unmoderated Usability Testing
Siri Mehus, Ph.D.
At Blink we practice evidence-driven design. That means that the design recommendations and decisions we make are grounded in solid data and sound reasoning. But what counts as good evidence? What are the data and reasoning that stand behind a well-motivated design decision?
Why We Rebuilt Our Usability Lab Technology for Better UX
Mark Gsellman
We take pride in helping our clients design and build exceptional user experiences. So it comes as no surprise that we would want to do the same thing with our usability labs – ensure the user experience for our clients is seamless, innovative, and effective by keeping “technology” out of their way.
NFC: Think Outside the Device
Kelly Franznick
Kelly Franznick, Blink Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, participated on a panel about Near Field Communications (NFC) technology hosted by the MIT Enterprise Forum Northwest.
Matching Prototypes to Research Goals
Heidi Adkisson
One of the most important parts of planning for any type of user research or usability testing is a clear set of research questions: what do you want to find out as a result of the study? It seems like an obvious step, yet sometimes this is overlooked.
Mind Mapping as a Useful Tool in Navigation Studies
Tom Satwicz, Ph.D.
Usability studies are great for identifying issues that prevent users from getting things done, however our goals for user research often encompass trying to gain insight into what users understand about the overall structure and layout of a system. Recently I used mind mapping in a body of work around mobile navigation and found it was an effective and helpful research tool.