A Website Analysis

The Research

The Qualifying Survey

35 individuals responded to the survey, 13 of which qualified for the usability testing and open card sort. The below are the dominant Qualifying Questions. (There were 10 questions in total)

A Site Map

Examining Navigability

Creating a site map provided a clear picture of how the site’s navigation elements were prioritised and labelled and helped lay the foundations for an open card sort.

Original Site Map

3 qualifying users were selected to do an open card sort. Consistence groupings, behaviour and comments by users informed the changes to the original site map. Miro was used by users to group shuffled cards in relation to similar properties.

User 1: Card Sort

User 1: Groupings

The data from all three users was synthesised and the below modifications were made.

The Modified Site Map

Annotations

Upon completion of the card sort an annotated changes, it was time to see how users navigated the site through a usability test.

Website Usability Test

Task 1

Objective:: You would like to find the date and time of the “Virtual Roundtable” event advertised on a poster you saw on the subway.

Result Overview:

• 4/4 users made errors while accessing the required information.
• The pathways users took to reach their goal varied.
• When scanning the events information, 2/2 users overlooked their target due to small sizing of heading and event date along.

Deliverable: Annotated Changes on Event’s Page

Task 2

Objective: Purchase tickets for Thursday, January 14th.

Results Overview:

• The six pages in the users checkout process caused frustration in all users
• The pages had too much written information resulting in errors when users neglected mandatory data input fields.
• The pages had irrelevant information for the checkout process.

Recommendations Implemented

• I modified the checkout process reducing the number of pages by two and decreasing visual clutter.
• I decreased written information on ticket’s page by 20 percent.
• I reprioritised section hierarchy to reflect user’s goals.
• I restructured the ticketing form reducing length by 50 percent.

Deliverable: Annotations of the ticket pages changes.

Deliverable: Increase form usability

The above deliverables were created based on usability tests. More testing is to be done to ensure the new versions allow users to achieve their goals effectively.

A Heuristic Evaluation

The Open Card sort and Usability tests informed the site’s heuristics. The Brooklyn Museum’s three main pages were examined based on there adherence to Nielsen’s ten main design principles. Each Heuristic was categorised based on their issue level- no, low, medium or major issue.

The following pages underwent a heuristic evaluation:

• Home Page
• Ticketing
• Events

Overall, 9 level 3 issues were found across the three pages. The Event’s Page had the greatest issues with 3/10 of its heuristics (accessibility, usability and learnability) scoring in the red.

For the full report containing all 30 assessments, please download.

In Summary

The heuristic evaluation, usability tests and card sorting uncovered major issues that impact the users ability to complete their goals. The heuristic report outlines each change that should be made, but the priority should be the events page as this caused users the most issues and impacted their ability to view what the Brooklyn Museum is offering in the upcoming months.