Topic 5: ‘user testing and community feedback’
Introduction:
User testing and community feedback are valuable tools for good software development. They can provide insight and different perspectives on a problem to find a solution to implement. The variety of user giving their feedback can also avoid accessibility issues. In this article I will look at how User testing and community feedback can be implemented in software development and how they apply my contribution.
Case study:
The Oculus Go is a good exemple of lack of research about users. Arwa Michelle Mboya Worked on a project where she had to make people wear the headset to take part in a VR experience. She realised that black hair was affecting the user experiences as the headset was not designed for the diversity of African hairstyles. The headset broke many times and participants struggled to get it on. Arwa Michelle Mboya then decided to design her own attachment. This accessibility issue is very important as marginalised communities access in technology is a broader issue that still needs to be addressed and worked against. It could have been avoided if black people took part in usability tests during the design process of the headset (Mboya, A.M., 2020).
My contribution
What I did
During my contribution, I was very insecure about the quality of my design. To feel more confident, I decided to ask for community feedback. I posted a message on discord asking for opinions on it.
All I got back was a thumbs up. It is difficult to work on this feedback so I decided to also add the screenshot to my pull request as a demo and say it is just a proposal. In the end, I got merged without much feedback.
I was also constantly sharing my work in progress with the other person I was working with. This turned out to be very useful but two sets of eyes still wasn’t enough. I felt a bit disappointed as I was looking forward to responding to feedback to create better content.
What I could have done
On the other hand, I haven’t looked at potential accessibilities issues in the design. As the change I have done is very small. I didn’t think it would be necessary to research users. Thinking back on it, I think I should have as making sure design is inclusive is very important. Even if it is just a button. for exemple in this design:
The contrast is quite low and there is important text stating the function of the button in the middle. I tried to view it through multiple types of colour blindness and it was still readable. But people with contrast sensitivity issues may struggle when reading this.
Conclusion
Learning about the importance of user testing and community feedback in class will affect how I work with design in the future. It was useful to observe and experience this part of the design in software development. I also got insight from thinking back on my process and understanding what I could have improved.
Mboya, A.M. (2020). The Oculus Go wasn’t designed for Black hair. [online] MIT Media Lab. Available at: https://www.media.mit.edu/articles/the-oculus-go-wasn-t-designed-for-black-hair/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2023].