University of Maryland Testing

First, we built a paper prototype using our background research focused on your users and their needs. Next, we tested this paper prototype with six users that were closely related to your three main user groups. We made some big changes to the design after each user test during this phase.

Then, we used Adobe XD to make the final version of our paper prototype more of a technical reality. We tested that prototype with 9 users who were part of the potential student demographic, making changes as needed after each group of 3 testers. Any changes that were obviously good design practice we made in between these 3 testing rounds, and the others we waited to see if more than one user suggested them. For example, keeping the buttons in a static place was a suggestion that aligned with heuristics, so we implemented that after the first round of testing. More complicated unique suggestions, however, like changing the way a button looked, we waited to see how many users mentioned it. At the end of that iterative process, we made additional changes to our prototype if two or more users suggested the change and if it was not related to branding or color schemes. For example, we alphabetized the list of results, added a information icon, and added a help button.