Wireframe Interviews and Analysis

Interview 1:

U: I’m a new user I just want to learn

P: What do you think this is about?
U: I think that this is about using meal plans as currency, meeting other people, and exchanging information. I am an upperclassman so I think this could get me food so I am interested.

P: proceed to the sign in.

U: I am a new user so I’m going to make a new username.

Then I’ll continue.

It looks like I am in a profile. I’ll fill everything out. College is spelled wrong. So I filled out all my information so I’ll submit it. I’ll put a profile picture in there’re.

P: what else do you see on the page?

It looks like I can edit it if I missed something or if I changed my major or something. I see recent posts I’m not really sure if they are recent posts of mine or recent posts of other people. It’d probably be clear if it were other people’s if there was context and there were other people’s words, I’d know that they weren’t mine.

P: So let’s go to the homepage, what would you do here?

U: We have filters and tags. I see that someone else has posted something, and they have their swipes and their tags. And lets say they have tags that I’m interested in so I’d reply to them. If I’m timid and thinking about it, maybe I’d just star him.

P: What do you think the tags would do

U: Since each post has a tag under it, I would think that the filter would filter the responses based on the tags. If there’s someone who has tags that I don’t care about it I don’t want to see it.

P: Try to compose a post

U: I don’t know I would assume that there’d be something on top of the newsfeed. I think the messages section would be something more along the lines of personal messages, but I guess I’ll check it out and see if there’s an option to compose a public message.

Oh I guess I clicked on messages and found something that was compose to public, but I’d rather see something on the newsfeed/home page that would let me do that. If I go into messages, I would assume I’d be personal messaging someone. .. I’m not popular so no one sent me anything yet.

I would use delete if I really didn’t like someone I met. I would use starred if there were a couple people I was thinking about meeting.  Or if I wanted to use this site but didn’t want to use it today, so I’d star a post and maybe come back to it later.

P: What about if you wanted to look at someone’s profile

U: I’d go to the homepage and probably click on their name / picture and go to their profile.

P: Would you like to see a search bar?
U: If I already knew who I was looking for then why would I be on their site? Like on OKcupid, if you knew someone and wanted to go on a date with them, you’d already have asked them.

P: How do you feel about the website in general?

U: I like it. It’s serene right now. I like that the top navigation bar is always on the screen because I like to have access to whatever links that I need. I also like the filtering option. The profile looks good and its condensed so I don’t have to fill out paragraphs which would seem unnecessary and the message page is laid out well too.

So I guess I’d log out using the top icon and log out. … Neat

Summarization if/thens:

The main problems that the user experienced were making a public post on the newsfeed, figuring out what the posts section was on their own profile, and differentiating between public and private messages.

If the user had these problems listed above, they could be solved by adding a box at the top of the newsfeed that would allow the user to post there instead of having to navigate to the messages portion of the site. To clarify on the applicable post section on their profile, content would have to be added. If it was other user’s information, it would be clear that it was not their own posts or vice versa. Implementing a post feature on the main newsfeed page would eliminate the need for a compose to public feature in the messaging area. Then, you could just respond and use the inbox, sent, starred and deleted features in the messaging area.

Interview 2:

P: So what are your initial impressions?

U: There’s a logo. And the description. It looks like some sort of trading thing happens where you trade swipes which is the currency for university insights. … somehow trading swipes for students meeting other students.

I’m going to fill out this profile and hit continue.

After I would hit submit.

So now I’m looking at what I believe is my profile page or what would be my profile page.

I see this top navigation. The link to the home page, my profile, messages, log out.

All my information and recent posts. I’m not really sure what that would look like yet.

P: What would you like to see there?

U: Either things that I have posted or other people’s stuff that applies to me and my preset demographics.

P: Which would you prefer to see?

U: I would prefer to see what other people posted that applies to me. I’ve written my own posts so it wouldn’t be as helpful to see that. If I was looking at someone else’s profile, it would be more useful to see what they had posted.

Is the same as a homepage newsfeed or is it a public profile?

P: Are you done exploring the profile page?

U: Yes

P: what would you like to do now?

U: I would look for other people who match my desires.

P: why don’t you try navigating to the home page

U: It looks like a thread of posts by people. Their name, content, tags. That seems like what I was looking for. So this box on the left side has filters. Without any content, I’m unsure what it would do.

P: What would you want it to do?

U: Something on the left side that says I’m looking for blocks from freshman in whatever major I’m in, on these days. Almost like a search box similar to the flight booker.

P: So if you wanted to post something to that wall, how would you go about doing that?

U: On the homepage? I would respond to each individual post. Otherwise, I would go to…. I’m not sure.

I don’t see a page. Maybe messages, I’m not sure if that’s private messages or messages to the website in general.

P: Let’s explore the messages area

U: I see the folders on the left side. It looks like standard email options. So they look like individual messages to the broad general public.

P: Why would you ever want to message someone personally.

U: If I saw a post that had the same interests and hobbies that fit what I was looking for.  If they were really legit to meet up but they weren’t available on the date I was available, I’d message them to see if there was another day to meet up. Or after you met up with someone, maybe if you wanted to arrange another hangout and continue that friendship.

So I’m on the compose page now. This looks like where I would make the broad post as opposed to a private message.

P: Any suggestions to make things clearer?

U: Maybe having a link to the compose a post, maybe in the top or something so that it’s easier to find out how to make a post. The messages you starred … is that how you save messages to look at them later? Maybe after it’s developed it’ll make more sense.

P: How do you feel about the concept?

U: I like the idea. I like the idea of getting food for the knowledge I have. It’s really appealing.

Summarization/ if/thens.

In general, the user navigated through our website and was able to gather what he needed to know in able to perform the basic user tasks. However, there were issues with being able to publically post on the news feed, how filters would work, and what functionality the starred messages feature would have for a user.  (If they wanted to post on the newsfeed, if they wanted to filter, if they wanted to use the starred messages features…. Etc )

Some things that can be done to increase usability and get rid of these points of confusion would to be: 1. Adding a post to newsfeed option at the top of the newsfeed similar to how facebook has their newsfeed. 2. In the real version and not the wireframe, we expect the filter options to be really clear because they would be available to the user. 3.  The team still considers the started messages option to be valid; however we shall introduce the star icons to the newsfeed so that it’s clear there is a connection between the two.