User Experience Design: Usability Specification and Website Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of usability specifications and user interaction problems within the context of user experience design. It begins by defining usability and its increasing importance in meeting user preferences. The report identifies and evaluates two websites, Yale University School of Art and Suzanne Collins Books, highlighting their poor usability designs and specific user interaction issues. It then details the usability specification for a prototype website, Clean House Website, outlining how it should be designed to meet user needs. The analysis employs heuristic evaluation and Nielsen's usability principles to identify design flaws such as lack of contrast, non-responsiveness, poor information architecture, inconsistent style, and inadequate feedback functions. Finally, the report suggests improvements for the Clean House website, emphasizing effortless user interface design and a focus on user experience. Desklib offers this report as a valuable resource for students studying UX design, along with a wealth of other solved assignments and past papers.

USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN 1
User Experience Design
Student Name
Course
Institution
Course

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Executive Summary
This report has attempted to discuss the various issues around usability specification.
The report has identified two websites: Yale University School of art and Suzanne Collins
Books. These websites have depicted poor usability designs. This report has discussed the
different user interaction problems associated with the two websites and pointed out the
specific issues with the individual website. The report further describes the usability
specification of a prototype website, Clean House Website, and how it should be designed in
order to meet the usability specifications and users’ needs. This report has defined usability
as the quality and standard of experiences the users get when interacting or using a particular
system or product including application, devices, software, or websites. The aspect of
usability is quickly becoming a competitive aspect in responding to the dynamic market
demands for applications that meet the increasing and distinct user preferences. Users expect
that systems that are easy to use, quick to learn, and enjoyable from designers.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Task 1: Usability Specification..................................................................................................6
Task 2: User Interaction Problems.............................................................................................8
Task 3: Improvements..............................................................................................................10
Task 4: Prototype Evaluation...................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................15
List of References....................................................................................................................17

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Introduction
One of the important aspects that have become very competitive and essential in
software development is the element of usability. Usability can be defined as the quality and
standard of experiences the users get when interacting or using a particular system or product
including application, devices, software, or websites. It is all about user satisfaction,
efficiency, and effectiveness of the product (Darejeh, 2013). Application usability
engineering is a coordinated methodology of building an application or software that is in line
with the user requirements in different environments and computer experience. This
methodology focuses on observing user while they are interacting with a system in order to
identify what the users need from application software. There are three main usability tasks
involves in application usability engineering including user observation, development of
usability specification, and delivery of the application system (Leventhal and Barnes, 2011).
This report will attempt to analyze two websites Suzanne Collins Books
(http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/) and Yale University School of art
(http://art.yale.edu/). The two websites will be evaluated for usability and ease of use.
Many users expect that Yale University Art website should be one of the most
extraordinary, but looking at the website, it is poorly designed and lacks any sense of
usability or user interaction. The users are left wondering if they have actually opened the
right website because they expect to be a school of art, the website should be more visually
appealing. The website has poor usability options including poor fonts, tiled background
images are not excusable. The layout of the menu is also confusing and lacks a standard
layout.

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Figure 1: Yale University School of Art Website (Source: Yale, 2019)
The second website is Suzanne Collins Books, owned by Suzanne Collins, who is the
author of the Hunger Games series. Many people expect Suzanne Collins books website to be
trendy and suave having detailed futuristic fashion and great narrative of citadel people in the
book. The website is full of white spaces, dead links, and difficulties in navigation. The
website is non-responsive as nothing happens when you click on book images. This website
has gone against all the usability principles one could think of.
Figure 2: Suzanne Collins Books (Source: SuzanneCollinsBooks, 2019)

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Task 1: Usability Specification
Many software systems designed for a long time have not been embracing a user-
centered approach to system design. As an alternative, they have always resort to human-
computer interaction questions by employing introspective criteria like conceptual appeal or
personal preference (Galitz, 2010). If actual users are represented by software engineers, a
more usable system can be produced from the introspective method to user interface design.
Nevertheless, today, computer systems are being designed for a wide range of users who have
different needs and expectations. Usability is quickly becoming a competitive aspect in
responding to the dynamic market demands for applications that meet the increasing and
distinct user preferences (Parveen, Beg and Khan, 2014). Users expect that systems that are
easy to use, quick to learn, and enjoyable from designers. As such, it has become a necessity
for system engineers and designers to understand the preferences and need of the actual users
and the systems they create should accommodate them.
When creating a usability specification document, one should understand the user
environment through imagination and actual observation of users as they interact with
different systems (Karim, 2014). This enables the system designers to come up with several
ideas that can be used to satisfy the needs of the different users. System designers should
employ scientific knowledge and skills to develop usable systems that meet specific user
needs and are economically devised.
Observing the users is one way that designers can get a holistic and rich
understanding of how users interact and experience with the different system (Roth, 2017).
Nevertheless, every individual has a different understanding of user experience as it is
associated with usability. Even the members of the development team have a different
understanding of usability for the particular product they are developing (Wilson, 2012).
These understandings should be put into context to avoid creating products that are
undesirable as in the case of the two websites identified above. The table below provides a
usability specification for a website that will be developed (Clean House website). Clean
house website targets the users both homes and offices who desire to have their premises
cleaned. In the table, five elements are described for every usability attribute.

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Table 1: Usability Specification Summary Table (Zhu, 2015)
Usability specification is one of the integral elements in usability engineering. It is used
by the development team as a guideline for developing the user interface by determining the
main interaction scenarios which the user will interact with the system. It is important to
ensure that the usability specification has been documented clearly. The following steps were
followed while developing the usability specification for Clean House Website.
 First, the key functions of the website were identified by identifying the functions that
are most essential to the user and reviewing system specifications.
 User scenarios such as user context were define relating to key system functions. This
entails the outcome of different user actions, the purpose of carrying out those actions,
and the functional state of the system when an action is launched. Both rarely used
tasks and common tasks were included in the scenarios.
 User interface requirements were defined for risk mitigation and key operating
functions that can be easily identified by the users.
 Testable requirements were defined for verifying usability to make sure that the user
interface has satisfied the usability specification requirements. This serves as a
guideline for testing the Clean House Website.

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Task 2: User Interaction Problems
Heuristic evaluation approach was used to evaluate Yale University and Suzanne
Collins Book Websites to identify the different user interaction problems. Heuristic
evaluation is a technique in usability engineering that is used for identifying the different
usability issues in the user interface design and solving the problems as part of the iterative
design methodology (Atashi et al., 2016). The designs were evaluated while adhering to
Nielsen Usability principles. The two websites depicted multiple poor usability designs. The
following are the common mistakes that the designers of the two websites made.
First, the two websites designs lacked contrast. Users always want to see a fresh and
clear contrast when browsing a website (Belay, McCrickard and Besufekad, 2016). This
allows the users to read and understand the contents of the website including the choice of
colors and font styles used. From figure 1 and 2, it can be noted that the contents are not
appealing and thus, are difficult to read.
Secondly, both websites are not responsive. This means that the websites cannot be
viewed on a smaller screen such as mobile phones (Boag, 2017). This is very inappropriate
having in mind that many users today prefer using their phones to access different websites.
When a user accesses the websites from a smaller screen, several contents are hidden and the
user is forced to keep sliding the website across the screen.
Thirdly, the designs have poor information architect. The information has been
displayed poorly on the website and is scattered with no proper and consistent layout of the
information (Dai, 2018). It is essential to maintain a good balance of visual her achy in order
to offer the users a better experience. For instance, the Yale University art website has a lot of
information displayed in one area making it difficult for the users to distinguish them. On the
other hand, information on Suzanne Collins Books website is scattered with no proper
structure.
Fourth, the two websites lack a consistent style. A good user interface design should
have a consistent layout and proper alignment of content. There is no consistency in the way
the menu is laid out (Egger, 2017). The website lack distinct header, content, and footer
sections. It is difficult to distinguish the various sections, especially for Suzanne Collins
Books website.

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The two websites also have very poor feedback functions. The websites do not
provide the current state of the system or tell the users how their activities have been
processed (Sastry, Manjunath and C. Reddy, 2011). Also, the users are not shown what is
happening on the website. This leaves the user wondering and guessing on the actions that
they should undertake. A system that provides good feedback provides the users with the
information to know what they are doing. System feedback is very important to the users
especially when they are editing o modifying information on the website.
It is essential for users to have a clear understanding of what they can do on the
website because they differ in applications and scope (Seak, 2014). For instance, some
websites have provided tables where some columns are editable while others are not. Poor
feedback makes the users frustrated and may to visit the competitor’s website if they offer a
better experience. For instance, as identified earlier, the Suzanne Collins Books websites lack
user feedback. Users cannot tell what they are clicking on or what they are doing. For
instance, when one hovers over an image of a book, nothing is displayed or shown.
Additionally, nothing happens when you click on them.
The icons on the websites have not been labeled. It is quite difficult for a number of
users to identify icons if they have not been labeled. Even icons that are universal such as the
Ok Button being green, some users are not familiar with them (Malamed, 2019). Labeling
icons have several advantages including reduced access time because users are able to
identify and use icons easily, increased target sizes, allows users to learn how to use the
website quickly, and help the user to distinguish the different icons on the website. Having
several icons that are not labeled makes it difficult for users to understand or interpret them.
This is frustrating and users end up visiting other websites that may have information that
they are looking for. It is worse in situations where the websites have unique icons that are
unlabeled and are difficult for users to interpret them.

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Task 3: Improvements
In order to demonstrate how usability can be achieved while designing a Clean House
website, the following aspects will be considered. The user interface design should be made
effortless. This means that the user interface should be made easy and simple both to learn
and use in order to encourage more visitors to visit the website (Graham and Palanque, 2014).
Users will have the least resistance if they have a great experience while interacting with the
system. Users will tend to visit a website more frequently over competitors if they enjoy their
experience. A website should not be designed in such a way that it makes it difficult for users
to use it. For instance, rather than making the users choose more complex and harder to
remember passwords, another login options such as sending a one-time password to users’
phone number can be used as this will make it easier for them (MohdTuah and Ajor, 2010).
Making the user interface look good does not guarantee great user experience. System
designers should focus on the specific details that are of importance to the user. It is actually
the little things that enhance the usability of a website (Bollini, 2017). Users may find it more
frustrating if there is a little annoyance in the user interface such as constant pop-ups
prompting the users to accept cookies and so on. Also, the focus should be on clarity over
cleverness. Being ‘clever’ while designing a user interface is one of the bugbears. An
example of such is the 404-error page as it really annoys the users. The fact that a user clicks
on a link and is redirected to the 404 pages is very frustrating. Rather, the 404-error page
should provide the user with the information he/she is trying to look for (Lohr and Ursyn,
2010).
Task 4: Prototype Evaluation
Prototype evaluation is a very essential process in software engineering. This is
because the evaluation process verifies if the product that has been developed have met the
usability specifications and other user interaction requirements or if it needs improvement of
refinement. Basically, the process of evaluation enables the users and the designer to analyze
the viability or acceptance of the design. It also facilitates the identification of any problems
or faults and allows the designer to make the necessary changes. There are several reasons
why prototype evaluation is necessary including it enables the users to give their opinions on
their experience with the system and enables the designer the users feedback during design

USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN 11
improvement. Additionally, users can be allowed to interact and use the prototype system and
give their view on their experience. Any issues or faults can be easily identified because the
prototype has been subjected to actual users.
Usability testing is the process of verifying how easy the users find in interacting with
a particular system (Thorngate and Hoden, 2017). It entails the process of observing how the
users try to complete different tasks on the system by gauging how they use the user
interface. Usability testing is normally done in the course of software development from the
early phases to the time the product is released for use. Typically, it can be said that usability
testing is normally done on the prototypes rather than the final product by using different
fidelity levels such as attention to details (Blair-Early and Zender, 2013). Prototypes are
mostly primitive and are majorly done on paper as sketches. They are regularly refined to
improve on usability experience. System designers subject the system to test by allowing a
typical user to carry out a series of activities that they would do with the finished product.
The designer observes how the users perform different functions and recording the test
sessions using a camcorder for further analysis and evaluation. After analyzing the video, the
designer will use the analysis results to improve on the product after brainstorming and
agreeing with the users. Usability testing recognizes the different issues that need to be
highlighted and addressed in order to improve the user experience while interacting with the
system. Having a broader testing session means that the designer will have quite a big
number of issues raised because as mentioned earlier, people have a different interpretation of
usability. Also, this translates into a better and more successful software product.
Usability evaluation emphasizes on how different categories of users can learn and
use a system to attain their objectives. It also describes the satisfaction of users while carrying
out particular processes. Designers need to employ different approaches in order to collect
responses from the users about the prototype.
Usability is not just a one-dimensional or single characteristic of a user interface or
system but a combination of several factors including ease of learning, intuitiveness of the
design, error severity and frequency, efficiency of use, subjective satisfaction, and
memorability. These aspects have been used to evaluate the prototype that has been
developed as an improvement from the two identified websites in the previous sections of the
report.

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The prototype system should be evaluated against design patterns and guidelines to
check and verify if it has met the usability specifications and requirements. The following
guidelines were used to evaluate the prototype. The prototype provides a great experience to
the users as they can be able to view the status of the system, that is, they are able to know
where they are, the operation going on, or why the system is not responding. Also, the
website has been designed using design patterns that are familiar to the user. That is, they are
able to match between the real world and the system. The website offers easy-to-access/see
home and exit buttons that allows the users to have freedom and control over their actions.
The system also depicts great levels of consistency where the menu is consistent across the
website. Links, buttons, and wordings have maintained similar standards across the various
screens. The website also has the ability to detect and prevent user errors in the submission
forms.
Additionally, the website has employed the use of features that promote recognition
rather than recall. Users are able to recognize what they are doing without having to recall
how they did it. The website supports easy bookmarking as it is efficient and flexible. The
website has exhibited smooth color grids, smooth edges, right-parted information, and little
use of uppercase letters to support minimalistic and aesthetic design. Additionally, the
website supports prompt to enable users to identify, analyze, and recover from errors.
The menu and the footer are consistent across all the pages. Also, the font style used
is similar across the different pages. The choice of the background color makes the content of
the website clear and attractive. The images used on the slide show on the home page is
appealing and attractive. The contents have been well structured and easy to understand. The
contact us form is simple, clear and straight to the point. The following screenshot represents
the various parts of the Clean House website.
Figure 3: Menu (Source: Author, 2019)

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Figure 4: Footer (Source: Author, 2019)
Figure 5: Home Page (Source: Author, 2019)
Figure 6: About Us (Source: Author, 2019)

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Figure 7: Our Services (Source: Author, 2019)
Figure 8: Our Offers (Source: Author, 2019)

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Figure 9: Gallery (Source: Author, 2019)
Figure 10: Contact US (Source: Author, 2019)
Conclusion
In conclusion, the report has attempted to describe the different aspect around the
usability of a system. Usability describes the quality and standard of experiences the users get
when interacting or using a particular system or product including application, devices,
software, or websites. It is all about user satisfaction, efficiency, and effectiveness of the
product. Application usability engineering is a coordinated methodology of building an
application or software that is in line with the user requirements in different environments

USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN 16
and computer experience. When creating a usability specification document, one should
understand the user environment through imagination and actual observation of users as they
interact with different systems. This enables the system designers to come up with several
ideas that can be used to satisfy the needs of the different users. System designers should
employ scientific knowledge and skills to develop usable systems that meet specific user
needs and are economically devised.
Usability specification is one of the integral elements in usability engineering. It is
used by the development team as a guideline for developing the user interface by determining
the main interaction scenarios which the user will interact with the system. Making the user
interface look good does not guarantee great user experience. System designers should focus
on the specific details that are of importance to the user. It is actually the little things that
enhance the usability of a website.
Usability testing is the process of observing how the users try to complete different
tasks on the system by gauging how they use the user interface. Usability testing is normally
done in the course of software development from the early phases to the time the product is
released for use. Usability is not just a one-dimensional or single characteristic of a user
interface or system but a combination of several factors including ease of learning,
intuitiveness of the design, error severity and frequency, efficiency of use, subjective
satisfaction, and memorability.

USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN 17
List of References
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for Low-Literacy Trends and Recurrent Design Problems: A Perspective from Designers in
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Blair-Early, A. and Zender, M. (2013). User Interface Design Principles for Interaction
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Leventhal, L. and Barnes, J. (2011). Usability engineering. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:
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Zhu, H. (2015). Software design methodology. Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.