Moodtrack Mobile App
Usability & Comparison Testing
PROCESS
PROCESS
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We designed a within-subjects usability test plan that included a pre-test interview, five tasks, a post-test interview, and a post-test questionnaire.
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We conducted pilot testing, revised our test plan based on the results of the pilot, and then proceeded to conduct testing sessions with four participants.
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During the test, we collected qualitative data (participant comments during tasks, responses to post-test interview) and quantitative data (number of steps taken to complete task vs. benchmark, participant responses to post-test questionnaire).
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We performed an analysis of our results by grouping test data based on relevance to our research questions.
We learned the following from the usability test:
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All participants easily created accounts in Moodtrack, but not all were confident if account creation was successful.
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All participants successfully entered current mood information, but some found this process to be moderately difficult.
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Editing an existing mood was an easy task for participants.
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Iconography is not universally clear; participants had very differing opinions on what they expected different icons to mean.
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Cloud sync was a quick, easy process for most participants.
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Participants mostly did not seek out the “Help” section of the app.
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Participants expressed dislike and concern toward negative mood entries inputted by other Moodtrack users on the “Everyone” section.
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Participants were not interested in a feature that would allow users to report suicidal comments to doctors. Alternative approaches suggested by users included: 1. The app performing a routine scan of comments and forwarding suicidal comments to an Administrator/Counselor who works in the mental health field, and 2. Provide users with the ability to reach a suicide hotline via notification when users have posted a suicidal comment.
Phase Two - Comparison Test
We wanted to compare the effectiveness of the mood entry interaction on the original Moodtrack UI and on a newly re-designed UI that we created. The UI we created had the same visual style as the original Moodtrack app, but we made some changes to the layout based on the results we obtained from our usability test.
We created an updated prototype of the Moodtrack app in Axure that incorporated the feedback from our first usability test.
Current App Design
Team Prototype
The Axure prototype designed by our team performed better in both Time on Task (p<0.05) and Total Error Count (p>0.05).
Time on Task
Statistically significant; t(14) = 3.26, p = 0.004
Original Moodtrack UI (Mean = 57.87 seconds)
Axure Prototype (Mean = 38.60 seconds)
Axure Prototype was 19.27 seconds faster
Total Error Count
Not statistically significant; t(14) = 1.62, p > 0.05
Original Moodtrack UI (Mean = 2.63 errors)
Axure Prototype (Mean = 1.75 errors)
Axure Prototype had 0.88 fewer errors
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Team Size
4
Year
2016
My Role
Developing test protocol, facilitating usability testing sessions, results analysis,
developing recommendations for improvement
Phase One - Usability Test
Moodtrack is a mobile app that allows users to:
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Graph moods on-the-go
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Track moods over a period of time (weeks, months, years, etc.)
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View mood entries from other users
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Connect with and offer support to other users
We hoped to answer the following questions through our usability evaluation:
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How easily can users setup their account and get started with Moodtrack?
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How quickly can users enter their mood into the tracker?
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How well do users understand the icons and symbols in the app?
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How easy is it for users to sign up or enable cloud sync on their account?
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Do users look for help and documentation? Are they willing to tweet the support team for help instead of looking for available documentation?
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How do users react to public mood posts?
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How do users feel about the mood tracking process on Moodtrack? Are they satisfied with the app?