The Mindful App: Usability Report

Lindenwood University Lindenwood University

Digital Commons@Lindenwood University Digital Commons@Lindenwood University

Theses Theses & Dissertations

4-2022

The Mindful App: Usability Report The Mindful App: Usability Report

Jocelyn Sands

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Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons

The Better App to Sustainable Living | Usability Report

Sustainable Living

Application Design

The mindful app

the mindful app:

Prototype

Direct Link To Final Prototype Design:

https://xd.adobe.com/view/488b6bd9-6366-4189-9c67-b208e35e2df4-1dd8/?fullscreen&hints=off

The Mindful App is an all-in-one application that promotes reducing and reusing

materials within your home and community. We prioritize the user experience by

showcasing local shops, restaurants, and sustainable options in categories. The

Mindful App application promotes ways to live sustainable and mindfully.

Welcome to

The Mindful App

The Better App to Sustainable Living

Summary, Methodology, Literature

Review, Scope, Goals, Surveyed

User Background, Questionnaires,

Tasks Tested, Results, Issues, Dis-

claimers, and References

On-boarding, App presentation,

and clickable functions.

Usability Report

High Fidelity

Prototype

Methodology

Research Process

User Surveys

Quantitative: Qualitative:

User Interviews

The primary focus of this research is looking at the effects of qualitative & quantitative

methodologies during the creation of a user-centered designed application. Through

this process, I conducted product research on applications currently on the market. I also

conducted user interviews and surveys to understand user needs.

Throughout this process, I have used qualitative and quantitative information to gain knowl-

edge of what users may need while using this app. I used qualitative and quantitative method-

ology to screen participants by conducting testing in a variety of ways. This ensures users are

able to effectively discuss their thoughts on the products, but also, give them the freedom to

explore and understand the necessary tools to be successful.

The article Mobile Health for Smoking… states that “…the usability evaluation by end users and experts

revealed unique usability problems for this population.”

“Our app reﬁnement used the HCD (Human Centered Design) process of research, ideation, design,

evaluation, and implementation, including 6 cycles of design and evaluation” (Sonney, 2022).

“UX is a dynamic concept since users can perceive a product

before, during and after its use.” (Berni, 2021).

Literature Review

During the UX design process, researchers and designers create a usability report to understand

the desires of users. By conducting a usability report, researchers gain insight into how a typical

user would navigate an application.

The information provided in this usability report is also about the initial research analysis conducted

and reﬂects a branding guide app breakdown that has allowed me to conduct successful user testing.

The Mindful App usability report and prototyped application will showcase correspondence with

the research analysis of creating a user-centered application. The main objective of this research

and prototyped application is to see if the use of creating an app that promotes sustainability in

an educational and functional way can beneﬁt app users. The beneﬁt of conducting UX research,

as stated in the scholarly article Making Order in User Experience Research to Support Its Appli-

cation in Design and Beyond, is ...

Goals

Conducting this study allows me as a designer to understand the

user's needs and intentions with using the application itself.

Gaining adequate feedback from user testing participants, fellow

designers, and committee members throughout the design process

to learn and reﬂect on UX app design process.

Building an app design that promotes sustainable actions within a home

and community, by using testing results and feedback given to craft a

well-funtioning ﬁnal app design.

Testing

Action

Feedback

Questionaires & Testing

Screening

Questionaires

Unmoderated

Testing

Post Testing

Questionaire

Moderated

Testing

For user testing, ﬁve users participated in user testing. During this process, users were in-

tially given a screening questionaire (stage 1), a prototyped applications with a guided form

(stage 2: unmoderated testing) and a set scenario questions to answer while conducting

the test. Participating users were also given a facilitated testing scenario (stage 3: moderat-

ed testing). Finally, users wer given a post testing questiaire to answer (stage 4). Before,

during, and after this process, I was able to gain a bit insight into which features of the ap-

plication worked well and which features of the application needed improvement.

Throughout this process, additional features have been made for better ease of the site.

This four step process of understanding the users background and intentions with the foll-

woing application steps aligns with other UX designers and researchers model.

User One User Two User Three

User Four User Five User Six

Screening Questionaire

During the process of creating or updating an app or

website, UX (User Experience) researchers and design-

ers use testing as a way to understand the users needs.

The screening process helps me understand both the

demographics and experience candidates have while a

variety of digital products. Although not all participants

who screened for the testing participated in the un-

moderated and moderated testing, the information

provided an understading of who the key demograph-

ics could be for an application like this.

Characterize

your free time:

I am busy the majority of the time

I am busy at times

I have some free time

Highest Level

of Education

Bachelors

Associates or Certiﬁcation

High School or GED

Which device do

you use most?

Mobile

Desktop

50%

33.3%

16.7%

66.7% 83.3%

16.7%

User TwoUser One

User Three

Unmoderated Testing

Conducting Unmoderated user testing is used to discover im-

portant insights about user behavior when they interact with

the application product unguided. In this phase, users of dif-

ferent backgrounds were asked to participate. Three user

were asked to interact with The Mindful App, observe their

own interactions (without the guidance of a moderator), and

answer a few questions. The information gained from this

form of testing offered insight to which parts of the app

people saw themseves using and which part they could see

themselfs wating to learn more from.

Within the discover sections,

what feature would you use

the most?

Which guide would you like to

learn more on the home screen?

Locate Local Eats

Locate Local Shops

Food

Cleaning

Pets & Plants

On the Go

Trash

100%

66.7%

33.3%

Would you use such a product

to locate sustainable options

near you in real life?

Ye s

66.7%

100%

33.3%

Moderated Testing

Conducting Moderated user testing is a way for researchers and UX designers to discover important insights

about user behavior when they are being guided through an application product. In this phase, users were

guided through a multi-step script and scenario while using The Mindful App product. The interviewer (myself)

observed their interactions, asked them to talk through each step, and provide feedback on what worked well

for them. This process focused on understanding ways the app design could be improved. This session focused

on the ways Jakob Nielsen discusses how to have a sucessful moderated testing session and by doing, I was

able to gain insight and feedback from users that participated.

Example Scenario: Recently, you decided that it is time to do some major spring cleaning. You have totally up-

hauled everything in your closet, pantry, and garage and realized you have plenty of things that need to be re-

cycled, donated, or gifted. Once you sort everything you realizes you have over 50 batteries that you need to get

rid but know you shouldn’t simply throw them away. Where would you go to ﬁgure out how to remove of them.

User FiveUser Three User FourUser TwoUser One

“The best results come from testing no more than 5 users and running as many

small tests as you can afford.”(World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience)

Post Test Questions

After the moderated testing occured, users were asked follow up questions. During the follow

up portion of the questionaire. I was able to gain a more “personal” understanding of how

each person felt during the testing process. The most important insights I was able to gain

was about how each participant felt about the design of the app itself. By asking these ques-

tions, it helped me understand which design atributions to keep. This was a great way to

engage in conversation with participants in a casual way.

The following questions were asked:

Question 1: Would you personally download an app like this. If so, which part of the ap-

plication would you use most frequently?

Question 2: What are your thoughts about the design of this app?

Question 3: Are there any attributions of this design you would change?

If so, what would that be?

Question 4: Did anything surprise or frustrate you during this process?

Questing 5: How frequently would you use this product?

Tasks Tested

While conducting testing, users are asked to test and give feedback on how certain functions

operate. During each process of testing, the feedback given was used to elevate the function-

ality of the app and mitigate any issues that could arise in the future.

During unmoderated testing, users were asked to go through the application as if it was an

actual application. They were told that the application itself may have limited features and

would not be able to access many parts. Each participant was guided by a Google Form to

each section of the application and asked whether each section was functional, how they

would access it, and which features they believe worked best.

Unmoderated Testing

During moderated testing, users were prompted to join a Zoom call and conduct testing.

They were emailed a consent form to record, prior to testing, and they were given scenarios to

conduct testing. During this testing phase, users were guided through the application and

were able to learn more about how the application functioned during this process.

Moderated Testing

During the Moderated Testing portion of this study that was conducted, I found it to be most

beneﬁcial for creating a well-design application. The main reason is because I was able to have

users further explain why certain portions of the application worked well (or did not work well). I

also learned that one of the questions I asked allowed users to self-determine how a question

could be interpreted. In some cases, this meant the user not taking the speciﬁc direction I had

desired. Throughout this learning experience, I realized that the more speciﬁc a question is,

the narrower path. Overall, the usability testing process was an essential way for me to gain ad-

equate feedback to create a user centered design.

As with most user conducted testing, I did ﬁnd minor issues with moderated testing along the

way. The main issue was from a personal perspective of giving biased responses or wanting to

tell the participants the “correct” way to navigating the app. I also found that there were times

where I realized that I was not telling the participant how to accurately navigate the app. In

those cases it was apprent the user stuggled based on my explanation. Due to the nature of

conducting testing with an application I have designed, I believe that it can, in some cases, bias

the type of results given from users. The feedback given is still lucrative and was very substantive.

“Human-product interaction involves concepts that have affective, hedonic and aesthetic

variables, which are often difﬁcult to measure in an objective way…”(Berni, 2021).

Results

Issues & Disclaimers

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Asif, A., AlFrraj, D., & Alshamari, M. A. (2022). A comprehensive approach of exploring usability problems in enterprise resource planning systems. Ap-

plied Sciences, 12(5), 2293. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app12052293

Brann, K. L., Daniels, B., Chafouleas, S. M., & DiOrio, C. A. (2022). Usability of social, emotional, and behavioral assessments in schools: A systematic

review from 2009 to 2019. School Psychology Review, 51(1), 6-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1836518

Berni, A. (2021). Making order in user experience research to support its application in design and beyond. Applied Sciences, 11(15), 6981. http://dx.-

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Derksen, M. E., Jaspers, M. W. M., Sander, v. S., & Fransen, M. P. (2021). Mobile health for smoking cessation among disadvantaged young women

during and after pregnancy: User-centered design and usability study. JMIR Formative Research, 5(8)http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/24112

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Satisfaction, usability, and compliance with the use of smartwatches for ecological momentary assessment of knee osteoarthritis symptoms in

older adults: Usability study. JMIR Aging, 4(3)http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/24553

Reichold, M., Heß, M., Kolominsky-Rabas, P., Gräßel, E., & Hans-Ulrich Prokosch. (2021). Usability evaluation of an ofﬂine electronic data capture app

in a prospective multicenter dementia registry (digiDEM bayern): Mixed method study. JMIR Formative Research, 5(11)http://dx.-

doi.org/10.2196/31649

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General Web References

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