Usability Evaluation of Fashion Nova App: A Comprehensive Report

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1st Author Name
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2nd Author Name
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3rd Author Name
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ABSTRACT
This paper is presenting the usability evaluation for the e-
commerce application in order to determine whether the
mobile application is fulfilling the user requirements. The
main purpose of doing usability evaluation is to bring more
efficiency and effectiveness in using the mobile application.
Since there is much competition in the market of e-
commerce so this evaluation helps the application to
enhance its usability features better. This paper mainly
focusses on evaluating the user experience regarding the e-
commerce application with the help of evaluation methods.
In the below following parts of the paper, the reader will
find about the scope and the purpose of the evaluation, the
method used for the evaluation i.e. heuristic principles, risk
assessment is also performed and then justify the evaluation
by providing the evidence of the selected mobile
application. The results obtained after the evaluation helps
in determining the issues regarding the user experience of
the selected mobile application and the enhanced version of
the application.
Author Keywords
Evaluation, User experience, Design, Evaluation.
ACM Classification Keywords
Classification keywords are Application evaluation, user-
design.
INTRODUCTION
From the past years, the mobile applications have
expanded exponentially and today everybody is using the
mobile application as it is very convenient and easy to use.
It is a challenge for the companies and organizations to
develop the well-designed and accurate mobile application.
This report unveils the usability evaluation for the mobile-
based application in order to determine its functioning and
user experience. This usability evaluation is performed and
evaluates on the mobile application named “Fashion Nova”
which is the e-commerce-based platform. This paper
includes some design principles to evaluate the functional
working of the application. For example, one of the
guidelines of the application development suggests that it is
essential to use all the benefits of the design principles for
the designing and evaluating the mobile application in order
to ensure the proper working of application’s functionality.
This paper has been divided into several sections. Firstly,
the paper describes the background and the functionality of
the chosen mobile application “Fashion Nova”. For the
evaluation of the application, three evaluation methods are
used which are Cognitive Walkthrough, User Interface
Task, and Heuristic Evaluation and to perform, the data is
collected and then an analysis is performed. The results
obtained from this evaluation helps in assessing the
application to make it better by enhancing the functions and
providing the solving methods. At last, in this paper
discussion is made and some recommendations are
suggested.
BACKGROUND AND FUNCTIONALITY
The mobile application which is selected for the usability
evaluation is “Fashion Nova”. This section summarizes the
background of the selected e-commerce mobile application
and also provides its functionality.
Background
Fashion Nova is the e-commerce platform which is the
fastest increasing clothing company for women on the
internet. The company aims to deliver the best services with
the hottest trends and the unbeatable price. There are five
retail places of the company and also owns website as well
as mobile application.
Figure 1: Ranking in terms of graph
The figure which is shown above represents the comparison
of the Fashion Nova with the other e-commerce companies
and obtains the results in terms of ranking in the form of a
graph. The main objective of Fashion Nova is to provide
customers with an enjoyable and convenient experience as
much as possible [2].
Functionality
Like all other mobile application, the mobile application of
Fashion Nova also provides some basic common
functionalities such as login/registration with the
application itself account or user can also connect it with
Facebook or Google account. It provides easy navigation so
that the user does not find it difficult to use the app. Apart
from this functionality, other features of the application are
filtering, searching, storing in the cart, etc.

EVALUATION
Evaluation is the procedure for gathering the data and the
information with the purpose to enhance the system and
make it better by providing good decisions regarding the
efficiency and effectiveness of the system. The attributes of
usability evaluation should be taken as the proper and
accurate development of the mobile application in order to
assist the making of the app more usable. The most
powerful approach to make efficient and effective learning
of the application is to make use of engaging evaluation
methods with the techniques of evaluating the application.
The usability evaluation is considered as one of the
important aspects of the mobile application learning that
bring success in the cognitive analysis.
Purpose
The basic purpose of performing this evaluation is to
understand the general functionalities of the mobile
application “Fashion Nova” in order to bring more
effectiveness and improves it. The evaluation methods use
will help in determining whether the mobile application of
Fashion Nova fulfils the user requirements while particular
action is performed and executes by the user.
Evaluation methods
Usability evaluation is often done in order to find out the
ways in which the system works and the ways in which the
application processes respond to the actions of the user
using the system or the application to complete their work
and to attain their objective.
The usability testing performed in this paper is of the
application Fashion Nova. This is an application mainly
used for the shopping of the products related to fashion. For
testing the application performance of Fashion Nova.
Three different methods were used. These three methods
are cognitive walkthrough, heuristic principles and the user
interface task. These methods were used to find out the
usability factors about the Fashion Nova application and to
produce the results.
1. Cognitive walkthrough
A cognitive walkthrough is a test of the usability in which
the series of questions and tasks are displayed to the users
and the user is asked to evaluate the application based on
their perspective for the same. The focus of the cognitive
walkthrough is to get the insight of the learning ability of
the naive user when using the application. This method of
evaluation was originally designed and framed for the
applications and machines that can be used like walk-in and
use like the vending machines and the ATMs [9].
Using the cognitive walkthrough approach provides many
benefits like it can be done on the application even by the
first-time user. It also provides one of the best results as this
testing is done completely from the user perspective. This
gives the insight into how the system should be used. This
approach can be applied in any phase of the application
development and use process. But using this approach also
has some disadvantages like the quality of data generated
depends upon the level of knowledge a user has and also
this mostly contains the results about the how the system
looks and not on how the system works [1].
For any application the cognitive walkthrough will be done
using the following procedure:
 Elaborate the users of the application.
 Elaborate the task to be performed and the goal to
be achieved through that task.
 Assemble all the users
 Provide the application for use and let the user
answer the evaluation questions.
 Observe the output and conclude the results [9].
2. Heuristic principles
The heuristic principles were given by Jacob Neilson in
order to define the standards using which the application or
the interaction side of any system can be designed in order
to make it more user-friendly and user favourable.
The heuristic principles are given in order of 10 different
checkpoints that should be covered in order to make the
interface for human interaction friendly and easily
accessible:
1. System status visibility: this is the approach of
design in which the interface should show the
status of the processor command provided by the
user to the system.
2. The similarity between the system and the real
world: from this approach, the system should use
the icons and symbols that are used in the real
world so that there is no confused faced by the
user.
3. Follow standard & consistency: the user should
not be confused about the use of the words and
phrases.
4. Control and freedom of use: according to this
approach, the system should allow the user to have
full control and freedom of use.
5. Preventing errors: the system should be so that
instead of resolving the error, it should prevent the
error causing situation at the first place.
6. Recognizing and resolving errors: according to
this approach of the interface design and
evaluation, the errors when cause should be
displayed to a user of the system and the user
should be made aware of the ways the error can be
removed.
7. Efficient and flexible to use: the system should be
developed in such a manner, that the user is not
forced to all the work. The work like filling the
columns after insertion of initials and others
should be used to provide better ease of use.
8. Minimize the load of user memory: the user
should feel comfortable while using the

application or system and for that, the system
should display the actions needed at that time.
9. Use of limited information: only the relevant
information should be displayed at the interface.
Unnecessary information makes the interface look
untidy.
10. Help for user: the user should be supported at
every place the help is needed [7].
3. User interface task
In this method of testing the interface for the usability and
better acceptability. The user of the system is asked to test
the system. For the testing of the system, the following
sequence of the actions is used:
 First, define the task to be done by the system.
 Secondly, define the goals that the user wants to
achieve using the task performed by the system.
 Ask the user to perform various tasks and record
the action response.
 Based on the success of the task done, evaluate the
system and its usability for the user [6].
Data Collection
All the evaluation methods are explained and discussed
briefly which are going to perform the usability evaluation
for the mobile-based application of Fashion Nova. Now, to
perform the analysis using all the three evaluation methods,
first of all, the data is collected.
1. Cognitive Walkthrough:
To perform the analysis with the help of the evaluation
method ‘Cognitive Walkthrough’, the data is collected
in form of a questionnaire. The application is used and
determines some basic question regarding the user’
requirements for e-commerce shopping application.
These questions are conducted and then asked this
question to the user. The questions (Q) that will be
asked to the user are:
Q1. Was the login process successful?
Q2. Was the log out from the app was successful at any
time?
Q3. Were you able to add/remove items in the
shopping cart?
Q4. Were you able to update/modify the user profile?
Q5. Were you able to search and explore all the
categories available? [8]
2. User Interface Task:
To perform the analysis with the help of the evaluation
method ‘User Interface Task’, the data is collected in
form of a survey. The application is used and
determines some survey-based question regarding the
user’ requirements for e-commerce shopping
application.
This survey was conducted among the three different
users where these users were asked to give ratings. The
data collected for the survey in terms of Task (T) are:
Table 1: User Interface task
S.no. Tasks
1 A user-friendly function of the application
2 System visibility of the ordered item
3 Easy search and exploration
4 Easy registration and login process
5 Easily Addition/Removal of the item in the cart
6 Profile Updation
7 Efficient to use all the functionalities of the app
8 Control over the emergency situation
9 Ability to take help from the help section
10 Easily ask queries in chatbot
3. Heuristic Principle:
To perform the analysis with the help of the evaluation
method of ‘Heuristic Principle’, the data is collected
by using and testing the Fashion Nova application.
Apart from using it, the review and comments of other
users on the application are also collected and used
which helps in evaluating the app on the basis of
heuristic principle. The evidence of user’s feedback
and comments on the application are:
Figure 2: User's feedback on Fashion Nova app
(Source: [10])
EVALUATION RESULTS
In the previous part, three usability methods are explained,
Cognitive Walkthrough, User Interface Task, and
Heuristic Evaluation. All these three methods are used to
perform the evaluation analysis and from the analysis, some

results are obtained. These evaluation results are discussed
one by one in the below sub-section.
Cognitive walkthrough
The process of cognitive is composed of many small steps
and these steps were used in order to evaluate the
application “Fashion Nova” for its usability and
simplicity/complexity of use [9]. As explained in the
evaluation methods, there were few steps and the following
are the steps and the results at the end of every step that
aided in the testing process:
Users:
As the application selected for review and testing of
usability is used for buying and selling of the products
related to fashion and styling, the major category of the user
of the application is the people with a smartphone having
either iOS or Android. The user of the application is of all
age groups but major are from the age group between 16-
30 years. The people of this age group are the major user of
the application and use this application on regular basis for
buying clothes, accessories and other products related to
fashion and styling. For conducting the research and
evaluating the usability of the Fashion Nova App, the user
was from 20-30 years age group and their responses were
used to evaluate and conclude results [9].
The task to be performed by the application:
Following are the task that must be performed by the
application in order to meet the user needs and achieve user
aims:
 The application should allow the users to get them
verified as the registered user.
 The application should allow the user to
update/modify/delete the existing information in
the system.
 The application shall also allow the user to add the
displayed products in the shopping cart and to
remove them if not needed.
 The application shall allow the user to log out at
any phase of system use.
 The application should allow the user to search
different products and to explore all the
functionalities.
Assembling users and conducting the usability test:
The test was conducted on the people using the Fashion
Nova application and the questions were asked in order to
obtain the data and conclude research. The following are
the questions:
a) Was the login process successful?
b) Was the log out from the system at any time was easy?
c) Were you able to add/remove items in the shopping
cart?
d) Were you able to update/modify the user profile?
e) Were you able to search and explore all the categories
available?
User response and conclusion of the cognitive
walkthrough:
As asked, the user of the system used the Fashion Nova
application and they were asked to give their response to
the questions for testing usability and ease of use [9]. From
the responses of the user, the following were the results:
Table 2: Questionnaire
S.no. Question Response
1. Was the login process
successful?
The response to the login
process was successful in
all the cases.
2. Was the log out from
the system at any time
was easy?
The system allowed the
user the freedom of use and
control over the use of the
application.
3. Were you able to
add/remove items in the
shopping cart?
The user was able to add
an item in the cart but at
the time of removal, they
faced the problem of
product not removed from
the cart.
4. Were you able to
update/modify the user
profile?
The users were able to
update and modify the
details in their user profile
5. Were you able to search
and explore all the
categories available?
The search showed the
problem as sometimes non-
relevant item were
displayed.
Heuristic Evaluation
The heuristic evaluation includes 10 usability principle
where all these principles are tested on the mobile
applications and then the following results are obtained.
1. Visibility of System Status:
The result obtained when to check this principle is that
the mobile application is not providing the status of the
ordered items like there is no way for the user to
identify whether the order is shipped or not and the
process of shipment details.
2. The match between system and the real world:
When implementing this principle, the result obtained
is that the application follows this principle clearly and
all the images and other components used depicts the
clear meaning to the user.
3. Consistency and standards:
The mobile application of Fashion Nova does not
follow this principle as there is no consistency on all
the screens when the application is evaluated.

4. Flexibility and efficiency of use:
When this principle is evaluated while using the
mobile application, it is found that the application is
efficient to use and any novice user can easily use all
the functions of the application.
5. Recognition rather than recall:
The result obtained after checking this principle on the
Fashion Nova app is that there are no breadcrumbs
used and it becomes difficult to go to the page in case
the path is not remembered.
6. Help and Documentation:
The principle ‘Help and Documentation’ is also not
found in the mobile application as there is no way to
get help for the issue regarding the items or purchasing.
Also, there is no way to contact the app’s helping
agent.
7. Error prevention and control:
The error prevention and control are evaluated on the
Fashion Nova app and it is finding that this principle is
followed and if the user mistakenly clicks on any
action, the message is displayed regarding the error.
8. Aesthetic and Minimalistic design:
This principle is completely followed by the Fashion
Nova app as the design made is simple and contains
only necessary stuff.
9. User control and freedom: The result obtained is that
the app follows this principle as when mistakenly
clicks on the logout option, then a popup box asked the
confirmation log out. Thus, the app allows control to
the user to use the app with complete freedom.
10. Help users, recognize, diagnose, and recover from
error:
The Fashion Nova app partially follows this principle
and the result evaluated that if the user types wrong
spelling in order to search any clothing, then the error
message is generating regarding the error message. But
if the user searches those stuff which is not available
then this message does not display any message ‘Not
Available’ instead displays those stuff, though not
available.
Some of the main screens for the Fashion Nova app has
been designed in the Balsamiq software and they are:
Figure 3: Home screen
(Source: Balsamiq)
Figure 4: Menu Screen
(Source: Balsamiq)

Figure 5: Cart Screen
(Source: Balsamiq)
Figure 6: Registration Screen
(Source: Balsamiq)
Figure 7: Categories Screen
(Source: Balsamiq)
User Interface Task
The user interface task evaluation method is defined in the
previous section and here the results are representing which
are obtained after conducting the user interface task.
For this evaluation method, the survey is conducted and ask
users to give ratings out of 5 on the particular question.
With the help of the rating analysis, it will be helpful in
determining how much the Fashion Nova app meets the
users’ requirements and fulfils the user experience [3].
The survey conducted and the rating obtained is shown in
the below table 1. The Symbol U1, U2, and U3 mean user
1, user 2, and user 3 respectively and they have given the
rating on the basis of scale 5.
Table 3: Results obtained from user interface task
Tasks U1 U2 U3
User-friendly function of
application
3 4 3.5
System visibility of the ordered
item
2.5 2 2.5
Easy search and exploration 3 3.5 3
Easy registration and login
process
15 4.5 4.5
Easily Addition/Removal of an
item in the cart
4 4 4.5
Profile Updation 4.5 3.5 4

Efficient to use all the
functionalities of the app
5 4 5
Control over the emergency
situation
3.5 4 3.5
Ability to take help from the help
section
3 2.5 3
Easily ask queries in chatbot 2.5 3 3.5
Figure 8: Ratings in terms of graph
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
As defined in the introduction of the paper, the application
Fashion Nova was evaluated for the usability principles
and the level of ease of use. The main purpose of doing
usability evaluation is to bring more efficiency and
effectiveness in using the mobile application. The results
obtained after the evaluation helps in determining the issues
regarding the user experience of the selected mobile
application and the enhanced version of the application.
For evaluating the usability of the application, the three
main points were focused and considered. The three main
points are the efficiency of use, the effective response and
the satisfaction level of the user. These three factors were
evaluated, and the results were drawn to obtain the results
for the mentioned factors. According to the definition of
usability and usability evaluation, the level of user
satisfaction is defined as how much good response is
provided to the user. According to the efficiency of use the
level of speed and ease at which the task is done, and the
goals of the user are achieved and effective is the system
that provides the response in the desired time with
accuracy. This usability evaluation is performed and
evaluates the mobile application named “Fashion Nova”
which is the e-commerce-based platform. This paper
includes some design principles to evaluate the functional
working of the application. For the evaluation of the
application, three evaluation methods are used which are
Cognitive Walkthrough, User Interface Task, and Heuristic
Evaluation and to perform, the data is collected and then the
analysis is performed [11].
In the cognitive walkthrough evaluation of the application
Fashion Nova, the results concluded that the response for
the login process was successful, system allowed the user
the freedom of use and the control over the use of
application, user was able to add item in the cart but at the
time of removal they faced the problem of product not
removed from cart and others. From this, it was concluded
that the major part of the application was easy to use, and
the user was supported at every step of use of the
application. The user faced some problem and those are the
problems that need to be resolved in order to make the
application more usable.
In the heuristic principle evaluation, it was found that the
application of Fashion Nova is not showing the order status
and shipment tracking, and there is no consistency in the
screens of the application, also there was no use of the
breadcrumbs and the application does not provide the help
and documentation service to the user. The application
follows major of the heuristic principles as explained but
some of the principles are not followed in the application.
From the user interface task approach of testing the
usability, the following questions were responded by the
user and the results are as a user-friendly function of the
application was found supportive. System visibility of the
ordered item was not supported. Easy search and
exploration were not supported as the relevant products
were shown. Easy registration and login process were
supported. Easily Addition/Removal of the item in the cart
was partially supported. Profile Updating was supported.
The app was found efficient to use all the functionalities of
the app were efficient in nature and use. Control over the
emergency was provided by the application. Ability to take
help from the help section was not supported and easily ask
queries in chatbot was found partially supportive [12].
FUTURE WORK SUGGESTION
The application is pretty much supportive and provides
major of the usability functions. Following are some
suggestions for the future the future development of the
Fashion Nova application:
The application should support the search option by
displaying only in-stock items and displaying relevant
products.
The application should use breadcrumbs in order to be more
and more consistent.
The help and documentation service should be provided by
the application to the application user.
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APPENDIX
RISK ASSESSMENT
In this study, the work done is to study and test the usability of the application of fashion Nova. The risk that was associated
with the research is the incompatibility of the application with the device, slow internet speed, old device configuration and
factors like virus and bugs in devices.
CONSENT FORM
PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM
OVERALL CONCLUSION
The application is pretty much supportive and provides major of the usability functions. There are some suggestions for the
future the future development of the Fashion Nova application and they are the application should support the search option
by displaying only in-stock items and displaying relevant products, the application should use breadcrumbs in order to be
more and more consistent, the help and documentation service should be provided by the application to the application user,
and there is a need to work upon the order status and tracking shipment part of the application.
For [please enter group]:
Name of department:
Title of study: Usability evaluation of Fashion Nova App
Purpose of study: the main purpose of the study was to learn how the usability principles are implemented in order to
make the user experience of use of application successful.
I confirm that the work done here is completely done by me and I am completely answerable to it.
I confirm that I got the full time to complete the study and find the relevant data to support my study.
I confirm that in case of any contradiction related to data presented in the research, I will be fully responsible.
I also understand that I can extract the data from the study at any time.
Title of project: Usability evaluation of Fashion Nova App
Name of researcher:
I confirm that I have read and understood the information sheet for the above study and what my contribution will be.
I have been given the opportunity to ask questions.
I agree to take part in the study.
I agree that the study will be recorded and used.
I agree that the answers will be recorded and used in the study.
I confirm that I am aware of the fact that no acknowledgement or benefits will be provided to me in the final research
document.
I confirm that my participation was voluntary.
Name of the participant ____________________________
Signature ____________________________
Date _____________________________
Name of researcher taking consent __________________________