Usability Analysis of Bandcamp, Goodreads, and LinkedIn

The assignment involves a usability analysis of three e-commerce websites: Bandcamp, Goodreads, and LinkedIn. The study aims to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each website in terms of efficiency, engagement, error tolerance, and ease of use. The report provides an in-depth analysis of each website's user interface, navigation, and features, highlighting areas for improvement. The study also recommends strategies for enhancing the usability of these websites, including making them more scenario-based and data-oriented.

Usability Engineering
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

Introduction
The purpose of the study is to gather user information and experience regarding three
websites, Goodreads, Linkedin and Bandcamp and in the process to improve and test the
usability of these three websites. After a brief interview process, answers will be thoroughly
assessed as to infer how the overall performance of the website can be enhanced. With the
tool called usability engineering. Following the interviewing session a designer can evaluated
and improve the website in an efficient manner by comprehending the user. The project will
be responsible for focusing on how well the websites have their influences on the user and
how it can be made more popular amongst the users.
List of Interview Questions:
bandcamp.com-
1) How does the user normally discover and listen to music?
2) Under which circumstances do they choose to purchase music?
3) Does the user engage with the musicians they listen to in any way?
Goodreads.com
1) How many books does the user typically read?
2) What formats do they use for reading?
3) How do they discover or choose new books to read?
4) How do they engage with other people regarding books?
Linkedin.com

1) Has the user looked for jobs before? If so, how? If not, how would they look for a
job?
2) What information does the user want to know to decide on the relevance of a job?
3) What support does the user want in applying for a job?
Brief description of the usability test performed
Usability testing emphasizes on the flaws and drawbacks of websites in order to improve
its functioning and operations. There were a number of tasks stated previously in order to
attain information from the users regarding the stated websites. Bandcamp is a website
about singers and artists, striving to integrate music into everyday life and culture. The
tasks associated with Bandcamp are searching for the track LOL in order to find out in-
depth information about the task, for instance the copyright information. The above stated
task will be significant to analyse users’ interaction with the website, the scenario will
help the users to engage themselves with the website in a flawless manner. The task for
Goodreads and Linkedin will assess the same from the users. The most effective and
information seeking tasks are those assigned to Goodreads as it requires the user to write
a review on one of the books they have read from Goodreads and suggest how helpful
the site will be to the authors. The task gives the user a context or scenario for
understanding and consequently improves the interaction level of the user with the
website. The task poses an open-ended situation for the user to explore and write about
the website. The next most information-seeking task is of Linkedin as the amount of time
needed to asses and proceed with the task is significantly minimum. The task will able to
find out a number of issues like whether the cost of online job posting is posing as a
major hindrance to the users of Linkedin. It also includes a group interaction process
whereby the test will bring to the forefront the users’ experience, issues since online job

posting has become the backbone of attaining talented employees for the recruiters and
vice-versa. The task will ensure to what degree the website is pleasant and advantageous
to use. It will focus on each and every user and their unique preferences and expectations
regarding Linkedin.
Summary of the information
Question
s
User A on B User B on C User C on User A
Q1. Q1. User A has
reported to read 5
books each month.
Q1. In case of Bandcamp.com,
we got to know that in today’s
generation, users or music
lovers generally access to their
favorite music from online
portals because of the
versatility of music available
there
Q1. Yes, they have
looked for jobs
before. With
Linkedin we came
to know that users
have used online
interface to look for
jobs befitting their
education and
experience. They
find online job
portal very
informative in a
well- listed manner.
Q2. Q2. In case of
Goodreads, we
came to know the
advantage of online
book reading and
its popularity
amongst readers of
wide age range and
occupation.
Q2. Purchase of music usually
is very rare, especially when it
came to gifting near ones
Q2. From online
portals they can
access a number of
information like
details of company,
employee ratings,
remuneration, and
availability of
similar jobs in
different cities and
the pre-requisites of
the job position
before proceeding
with applications.
The user want the
support of a filtered
job search from
online portals so
that they can look
through and apply to
jobs from their
domain of expertise
Q3. Q3. Users discovers Q3. The users engage with Q3. The availability

new books in
Goodreads based
on readers’ rating
and reviews,
suggestions from
Goodreads based
on user’s most read
authors and genres
and obtaining
suggestions from
friends who are
similar users of
Goodreads. The
recommendation
engine generates a
list of books that
are hardly heard of
with fascinating
descriptions to
intrigue the readers
the musicians with the help
of tags and this further
creates an opportunity for
the fans to discover new
artists and music belonging
from that genre.
of relevant jobs in
their own city or
other cities where
they would prefer to
move into could
also be useful to the
users.
Q4. Q4. The readers
engage amongst
themselves with
Goodreads
community
interaction and
book
recommendation
options.

TASKS
User A on B
(GOODREADS)
User B on C
(BANDCAMP)
User C on User A
(LINKEDIN)
Where does the user
look for the
commands or
information?
Goodreads Bandcamp.com Linkedin.com
What errors does the
user make, if any,
when attempting to
complete the tasks?
The user committed
wrong rhetorical
analysis of the book.
Confusing the book
with another book
was also frequent.
The uploaded image
file was corrupted.
Repeated errors
were made in
comprehending
certain technical
aspects of UX
designer job.
Mistakes in
calculating and
analyzing job costs.
How long does the
user take to
complete the tasks,
and any subtasks?
1 hour 25 minutes 30 minutes
What positive or
negative emotions
does the user
express while
completing the
tasks?
Negative-Biased
opinions.
Positive- amazement
to come across a
number of books.
Negative- Nothing
notable
Positive- Excitement
to explore more
artists and genres.
Negative- Lack of
participation while
working as a team.
Positive- Eager to
What notable
comments are made
by the user while
thinking aloud?
The easy navigation
and availability of
books sped up the
process of
completing the task.
In-depth artist
information
prompted a quick
emotional
attachment with the
songs.
There is a stark
variety of people
with vast number of
job preferences
accessing Linkedin.
Additional Task
Goodreads Bandcamp Linkedin
1. Create a community and discuss book
genre, interesting points and social
contexts approached, to be viewed by
public.
Identify your
favorite genre and
collect more
information on the
singers of that genre.
Mass messaging to
survey individual
user’s experience
and expectations
after using Linkedin.

Dimension of Usability
Effective: the websites are useful to the users because of the convenient and easy user-
friendly interface. With Bandcamp, users effectively came across music and songs from the
favorite genres or genres closed to being their favorite. Goodreads and Linkedin were also
effective in showcasing or making the users aware of products of their liking. The books and
types of jobs that Linkedin produced in front of the users were both relatable and useful for
them.
Efficient: Efficiency depends on the amount of time the websites are taking along with the
accuracy of results that they are being able to produce. The users found it easy to navigate
through the websites and the results were structured in an organized manner with relevant
information grouped together for users. The same is especially true with Goodreads where the
users came across interesting books from different genres without hassles.
Engaging: some users found Linkedin and its contents structured in a haphazard manner.
Many users found it rather creative and presented in a curiously professional way. The
number of parameters for job search also perplexed some of its users. With Bandcamp and
Goodreads were vary systematic with easy book recommendation options and genre
enumerated in alphabetical manner. The same is applicable for Bandcamp with a clear view
of interviews in a neat e professional manner.
Error Tolerant: the three websites are well-reputed amongst users for providing error free
content and important details to be accessed by users.

Easy to Learn: users have been using these three websites because of their informative
manner. Linkedin especially provides with an easy apply feature explaining in lucid language
the operations and features. Goodreads and Bandcamp provides with colorful illustrations to
make the products more appealing and relatable to the audience.
Conclusion
Linkedin is accessed by millions of people unrestricted by geographical boundaries with
lesser number of problems like ‘repeat your password’ and the like. However, many users
have complained about the lack of relevancy in job searches and different pages use different
button styles which tend to become a bit deviating and problematic. Gopdreads on the other
hand is very illustrative following a simple page format. With Bandcamp, it uses bright color
combination, creation of multiple number of lucidly written blogs and coverage to influence
album sales accelerating its growth and profit level. According to data, users had greater
accessibility to music and artists owing to Bandcamp’s strategic usage of tags and visual aid
to work on the music track’s popularity.
Limitations of the study and recommendations
1) Communicational problems amongst the different users completing the tasks therefore
delaying the process.
2) Is not adequate enough for a thorough market research and opinions depend from
person to person thereby making the process of preparing a statistical graph erroneous
for websites like Bandcamp.
3) Is not dependable for carrying out long-term plans or deducting definite conclusions
like which one is the best-selling album as in the case of Bandcamp and therefore
developing strategic marketing plans. The above method is only useful for designing
short-term innovative ideas.

Recommendations
1) Making it less scenario-based and more data-oriented. Vague recommendations
should be avoided by providing screenshots and thereby working on the illustration
section to generate more audiences for this kind of study. Bandcamp can make use of
‘image map’ to improve accessibility of users.
2) Justification of recommendations and synchronize it with the business goals and
technical constraints. For instance, in case of Bandcamp a community based research
should be conducted in order to come up with more varieties of music. This would be
an effective way for Bandcamp for promoting music and consequently website.
Reflection:
The process helps a business to identify and know in-depth about the choices and
psychological pattern of different customers and align the services and products accordingly.
The cost-effectiveness of the test further makes it wildly desirable and a comprehensive way
to assess the importance and significance of e-commerce and design ways to improve the
same. The results will encourage the designers of websites to come up with better options to
improve their service and can keep the usability report away from public gaze. The concept is
to create a realistic scenario to assess the usability of a product, in this case, the three
different websites goodreads, Bancamp and Linkedin. It would be of considerable help to
Bandcamp for branding and improving the quality of content, music, that the website has. It
ensures that quality and versatility is consistently met.