Reflection of the thinkaloud

Thinkalouds are used in situations where the user is put through a certain test, knows it is being subjected to the test, while constantly throughout the entire thing evaluate his or her actions by thinking out loud. It’s a method in usability testing to see if there are any apparent faults or confusing components. It is used to analyse misconceptions in the system, according to Jan Gullriksens lecture on October 5. The pros include capturing data about the user interface, both good and bad. It’s more quality testing than quantity testing. A thinkaloud identifies the issues straight away, but at the same time the cons include that it might be hard for some users to think out loud, and we kept this in mind while doing the testing.

In the scenario with the white light the users feel an urge to follow the light and don’t all understand that dark means it’s ok to stay there. It gets a little confusing for all of them that they then try to move towards the light and that result is the light turning off and instead turning on where they were previously. Some experience this color as more playful and not at all harmful.

When we use a red light instead all users agree that they don’t want to stay at the place where it’s red. They instead get confused when it turns red even when they move to another place. Maybe we need to think about having a clearer fulfillment for this scenario so that the user feel they reach a goal.

In this case color really mattered for the users. Many experienced the white light indicating available space and red meaning the area was full. As a reflection from both scenarios, how about if we combine them both into one? Using the red color but turning it off when the users are doing right, or using the white light but letting it stay lit. In either case it’s probably important to give some sort of confirmation when the user has done “the right thing”, and not just point out where they’re wrong. It also became clear that it is important for us to think about how not to confuse the users since many experienced a lot of confusion.

How did the order of our studies matter in terms of perception? Would the answers have been different if we subjected the users to the red light test before the white light test? Did it matter that we put the users through both tests, one after the other?