Creative Ways to Deliver Usability Findings

Question

I'm working on a series of usability test sessions to gain both qualitative and quantitative data. Normally, we would produce reports to outline the findings and recommendations, but since it's a big project, I want to produce both a report and an infographic-like deliverable.

Ideally, the infographic would contain all the main qualitative findings and suggestion, but also contain quantitative measurements as well (ex. mean task time, error rate). I imagine that this would help product owners and pm's to better understand the problems & good points of the product at few glances. Also, the product we are working on is quite complex, so having lots of graphics will definitely help.

But I can't seem to find many precedents on delivering user research results using an infographic. Most companies seem to do a report only - does anyone have experience and/or thoughts on using this kind of delivery method?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I love this question. One of the things Gregg Bernstein mentioned in his interview on Steve Portigal's podcast was the idea of being able to tell the same story in multiple ways. Put another way, this is considering the usability of user research.

I had no trouble pulling together a quick board of inspiration in the form of simple poster-style infographics that showcase research of some kind:

https://pin.it/znkt5od5xnvwlw

In general I would say that any visually appealing way of presenting a question and and its answer is fair game for relevant comparison.

Answer 2

Realistically, the findings may not be valid for long enough to warrant spending multiple days on the way you present the findings. That is, you could be fixing the problems and testing again.

A deck is a pretty common way to present the findings. However, in instances where there are trust issues with product owners and others, video and audio snippets from the testing session are very effective.

With infographics and slides you still need to make the mental connection to the screen that is being referenced. Will video snippets, you're witnessing the problem and it's hard to ignore.

Video should complement, not replace, the traditional way to present findings. It is definitely time consuming but may be more effective than an infographic.

Answer 3

Make a site. Don't edit down all your findings and work into just one small presentation. Put it all in a site. You should show your work. Show what you do. It's a site so people can easily and quickly get the highlights or get the deepest level of info you have.

You can make graphics and animations that simply highlight your findings versus having to highlight and present and validate etc. All that is behind the graphic in the site. Present your findings in a graphic and text then give the supporting documentation and media.

This is an opportunity work with designers and devs too. They may have something you can use or just get a squarespace site.