Skip to main content

The Usability Testessen – An Innovative Framework for Usability Testing in Practice

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Book cover Design, User Experience, and Usability. Interaction Design (HCII 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12200))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The knowledge and application of usability methods and practices have not yet found widespread adoption in practice. It is still frequently the case that products are launched on the market that have not been tested for usability once and therefore do not meet the demands and requirements of their customers. This fact seems to be surprising, as customers, especially in the last few years, have developed ever higher demands on the user-friendliness of products and services. Therefore, this paper presents a new framework for testing the usability of products and services - the so-called Usability Testessen. This concept is based on the approach of discount usability engineering developed by Nielsen and is an event that provides a creative and at the same time productive space to test products of several companies free of costs by independent third parties using well-known discount usability methods. Due to the reduction of costs and effort for the preparation and execution of usability tests, this concept is a great advantage especially for small and medium-sized companies and startups, as they usually have to struggle with scarce resources and at the same time high market pressure. In this paper, the individual phases of the Usability Testessen and the stakeholders involved are presented in more detail. A short summary of the key results of a qualitative evaluation should also show that the newly developed concept is very well received in practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Woywode, M., Mädche, A., Wallach, D., Plach, M.: Gebrauchstauglichkeit von Anwendungssoftware als Wettbewerbsfaktor für kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU). Universität Mannheim, Abschlussbericht des Forschungsprojekts (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Burmester, M., Laib, M., Benke, I., Minge, M.: Vom ersten Schritt bis zum Dauerlauf. Wie bringt man Usability und User Experience (UUX) ins Unternehmen? In: Mensch und Computer 2019 – Workshopband, pp. 265–268. Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., Bonn (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Laib, M., et al.: User Experience bei Softwareanbietern. In: Mensch und Computer 2015 Tagungsband, pp. 93–102. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Stuttgart (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Scoreberlin: Usability Awareness – Umfrage zum Usability Bewusstsein (2002). https://www.scoreberlin.de/usability-artikel/usability-umfrage/. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  5. Shorrock, S.T., Williams, C.A.: Human factors and ergonomics methods in practice: three fundamental constraints. In: Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, vol. 17, pp. 468–482. Taylor & Francis (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hastreiter, I., Heckner, M., Wilhelm, T., Wolff, C.: Software und usability engineering und user experience in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen. In: Mensch und Computer 2017 – Workshopband, pp. 473–477. Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., Regensburg (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  7. de Lima Salgado, A., Amaral, L.A., Pimenta Freire, A., Fortes, R.P.M.: Usability and UX practices in small enterprises: lessons from a survey of the Brazilian context. In: Proceedings of the 34th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication (SIGDOC 2016), pp. 1–9. Association for Computing Machinery, New York (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bellotti, V.: Implications of current design practice for the use of HCI techniques. In: Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the British Computer Society on People and computers IV, pp. 13–34. Cambridge University Press (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Nielsen, J.: How many test users in a usability study? (2012). https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-many-test-users/. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  10. Deutsches Normungsinstitut e.V. (Hrsg.): Ergonomische Anforderungen für Bürotätigkeiten mit Bildschirmgeräten, Teil 11: Anforderungen an die Gebrauchstauglichkeit—Leitsätze, (ISO 9241-11: 1998) Deutsche Fassung EN ISO 9241-11: 1998, S. 4. Beuth Verlag, Berlin/Wien/Zürich, Januar 1999

    Google Scholar 

  11. Böttcher, B., Nüttgens, M.: Überprüfung der Gebrauchstauglichkeit von Anwendungssoftware. HMD Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik 50, 16–25 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03342065

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Landauer, T.K.: The Trouble With Computers: Usefulness, Usability, and Productivity. Bradford Books. MIT Press, Cambridge (1996)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  13. Bossert, J.L.: Quality Function Deployment: A Practitioner’s Approach. Quality and Reliability, vol. 21. ASQC Quality Press, Milwaukee (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Zerfaß, A., Zimmermann, H.: Erfolgsfaktor Usability. In: Zerfaß, A., Zimmermann, H. (eds.) Usability von Internet-Angeboten – Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Medienwirtschaft, Nr. 10, pp. 5–8 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Karwowski, W., Kosiba, E., Benabdallah, S., Salvendy, G.: Fuzzy data and communication in human-computer interaction: for bad or for good. In: Salvendy, G., Smith, M.J. (eds.) Designing and Using Human-Computer Interfaces and Knowledge Based Systems, pp. 402–409. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Sardonick, F., Brau, H.: Methoden der Usability Evaluation: Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen und praktische Anwendungen, 3rd edn. Verlag Hofgrebe, Bern (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Löffler, J., Polkehn, K., Hüttner, J.: Erfolgreiche Usability & UX in Unternehmen Thesen und Erfolgsfaktoren zu Usability/UX-Prozessen, -Strategie und Change. In: Brau, H., Lehmann, A., Petrovic, K., Schroeder, M.C. (eds.) Tagungsband UP13, pp. 22–25. German UPA e.V., Stuttgart (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Braun GmbH (eds.): Design for what matters, Kronberg (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  19. WinFuture: Office 2007: Der lange Weg zur neuen Oberfläche. https://winfuture.de/news,38052.html4. Accessed 12 Mar 2008

  20. Hülsbömer, S., Dirscherl, H.-C.: Die Geschichte von Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, Access (2019). https://www.pcwelt.de/ratgeber/Microsoft-Office-Mit-einer-Maus-fing-alles-an-6091613.html. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  21. Wilhelm, T.: Visuelle Designer sind Künstler und Handwerker. https://www.nutzerbrille.de/visuelles-design/. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  22. Nielsen, J.: Fast, Cheap, and Good: Yes, You Can Have It All (2007). https://www.nngroup.com/articles/fast-cheap-and-good-methods/. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  23. Milsted, U., Varnild, A., Jørgensen, A.H.: Assuring the quality of user interfaces in system development (in Danish). In: Proceedings NordDATA 1989 Joint Scandinavian Computer Conference, pp. 479–484 (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Gould, J.D., Lewis, C.H.: Designing for usability: key principles and what designers think. Commun. ACM 28, 300–311 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Nielsen, J.: Guerrilla HCI: using discount usability engineering to penetrate the intimidation barrier. In: Cost-Justifying Usability, pp. 245–272. Academic Press, Inc. (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ericsson, K.A., Simon, H.A.: Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. The MIT Press, Cambridge (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Maurer, F., Ghanam, Y.: Discount Usability Testing (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Perlman, G.: Teaching user interface development to software engineers. In: Proceedings Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting, pp. 391–394 (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Perlman, G.: Teaching user-interface development. IEEE Softw. 7, 85–86 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Nielsen, J., Molich, R.: Teaching user interface design based on usability engineering. ACM SIGCHI Bull. 21, 45–48 (1989)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Nielsen, J.: Big paybacks from ‘discount’ usability engineering. IEEE Softw. 7, 107–108 (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Voltaire, F.M.A.: Dictionnaire Philosophique (1764)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Deming, W.E.: Out of the Crisis: Quality, Productivity and Competitive Position. University Press, Cambridge (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Nielsen, J.: Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users (2000). https://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  35. Nielsen, J., Landauer, T.K.: A mathematical model of the finding of usability problems. In: Proceedings of the INTERACT 1993 and CHI 1993 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 1993), pp. 206–213. Association for Computing Machinery, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Richter, M., Flückiger, M.D.: Usability und UX kompakt – Produkte für Menschen, 4th edn. Springer, Heidelberg (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49828-6

    Book  Google Scholar 

  37. Pressebereich Usability Testessen. https://usability-testessen.org/presse/. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  38. Nielsen, J.: Return on Investment for Usability (2003). https://www.nngroup.com/articles/return-on-investment-for-usability/. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  39. Faulkner, L.: Beyond the five-user assumption: benefits of increased sample sizes in usability testing. Behav. Res. Methods Instrum. Comput. 35, 379–383 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hannes Feuersenger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Feuersenger, H., Arndt, HK., Riechers, K.A. (2020). The Usability Testessen – An Innovative Framework for Usability Testing in Practice. In: Marcus, A., Rosenzweig, E. (eds) Design, User Experience, and Usability. Interaction Design. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12200. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49713-2_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49713-2_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49712-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49713-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics