Project 3Intermediate
Design a responsive e-commerce experience
Design product discovery, product detail, basket and checkout for an independent shop, driven by usability testing and measured iteration.
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Stage 8 · Core · Intermediate
Usability testing and iteration
Plan and run usability tests, prioritise findings and improve designs with evidence.
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About this stage
Usability testing is the fastest way to find out whether a design works: give real people realistic tasks and watch. This stage covers planning, running, analysing and reporting tests, plus heuristic evaluation and accessibility audits.
Before this stage Stage 7: Interaction design and prototyping
Learning outcomes
- Write a usability test plan with unbiased tasks and success criteria.
- Moderate a session without leading the participant.
- Rate the severity of issues and turn findings into prioritised recommendations.
- Show how a design changed because of evidence.
Lessons
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Usability heuristics, including Nielsen's ten
A checklist for spotting common usability problems.
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Planning usability tests
Goals, participants, tasks and logistics.
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Writing unbiased tasks
Scenarios that do not give away the answer.
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Moderated and unmoderated testing
Trade-offs between the two.
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Recruiting representative participants
Who to test with and how many.
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Observing behaviour without leading users
Think-aloud, neutral prompts and silence.
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Recording findings ethically
Consent, privacy and storage.
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Severity and prioritisation of usability issues
Rating frequency, impact and persistence.
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Analysing results and recommending changes
From observations to recommendations.
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Accessibility audits
Combining automated and manual checks.
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Iterative design and validation
Design, test, change, repeat.
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Communicating evidence and design trade-offs
Reports and presentations people act on.