Assignment Task
This project aims to research and analyse the UX Strategy for the Solent University Alumni Association (SUAA). A project Gantt chart will be needed to produce a work plan for the 3 K word final report. Weekly progress will be shared in each class session and online.
This is a summary of the overall assessment tasks:
A market research study will be done with at least 1 other university similar to SU.
Conduct a review of the Solent University mission, vision, value etc. statements in light of corporate social responsibility to identify any gaps.
Critically compare this to at least 1 comparable UK University.
Critically compare the Solent website to at least 1 other UK university alumni – Roehampton University. NOTE: figures and tables can be put in the report appendix to save on word count.
The data collected and analysed will help inform some recommended changes to the resources e.g. UX designs.
All ethical guidelines for research and NDA (non-disclosure agreements) or data protection policies will be followed. e.g. consent forms for current Computing students will be used to get primary data on the current website and resources, compared to the student’s recommendations.
Students will compile short interview questions for Mike and Mark as part of the business and website review process to submit as a group (not individuals).
Any surveys or interviews will done with current students (prospective alumni), not with SU graduates due to data privacy regulations.
A 3K word summary report will be provided based on last year’s assessment to provide consistency as detailed below.
Part 1 Introduction to System
Will be the assimilation of relevant information about the functionality of the system and requirements for the interface based on the type of user and frequency of use and clearly defined business goals. This section aims at what stockholders/shareholders want An introduction should be provided to introduce your team idea, what solution it solves using context analysis or based on gain and pain model.
Questions
What is the context?
Who are the users?
What is the system?
What is the problem?
Why is it important?
Who should benefit from it?
What impact does technology have on that context?
What is the feature list comparison of existing systems?
2. User Research Analysis
In UX, it is important to understand who the users are and what their needs are. In order to do that you should utilise a variety of UX methods, minimum required:
Contextual Interviews – Enable you to observe users in their natural environment, giving you a better understanding of the way users work.
Surveys – A series of questions asked to multiple users of your idea. You should produce a valid list of user groups (Demographics, Geographic, Psychographic and behavioural) attributes table. You must also produce a list of user needs in a form of a table.
3. User Journey
At this point, as per part 1 and part 2, you should have two essential UX outcomes available, User Research findings in a form user needs and objectives and a clearly defined business goal. In this section, you are required to produce a fully detailed user journey including all the following elements:
User Persona (Minimum 2 persona representing two typical user groups)
User Scenario (Minimum 2)
User Goals
Flow of Tasks/Information/Screens/IXDs/Contents/Information Architecture
Empathy Mapping
Usability Metrics
4. Prototype
will be the production of a prototype. You are required to produce the prototype interface using an appropriate prototyping tool. Each team member is responsible for ensuring that their design area is prototyped. Populate your interface prototype with example data sufficient to demonstrate the prototypes functionality. You will be required to demonstrate your software prototype in your normal Tutorial, times to be advised during class by the unit tutor. Please make sure that your prototype is accessible online. Make sure that when you chose the prototyping tool to consider whether it could be exported and extracted for SOL submission. Alternatively, a web link of the prototype needs to be valid for at least days.
5. Usability Testing
Part five will be the usability testing. As part of your interface implementation process, you will have to test your interface. Your will be responsible for what UX or Usability testing you carrying out, and accordingly, design the test and have it approved by your tutor. You should recruit participants to test the project, with predefined demographical criteria, you will be responsible to bring them to the lab and test your interface. Data analysis of this part should inform the final design, and this should be documented in words report supported with heat maps and gaze plots.
Usability testing metrics:
Layout: Inability to detect something users need to find; Aesthetic problems; Unnecessary Information.
Terminology: Unable to understand the terminology.
Comprehension: Inability to understand the instructions given to users on the site.
Data Entry: Problems with entering information.
Navigation: Problems with finding users’ way around the test site/system/software.
