Something that really stood out to me this lecture was the eye tracking map of the web page, specifically that it showed the user’s attention being focused on the left side of the screen. This highlighted to me the importance of keeping things simple for the user, as they may not even read the whole title of a page when they are looking for something specific, so even if your page does have what they are looking for, they may not even click on it if it is not clearly displayed to them, and to save time they will simply look elsewhere. This also ties in with the “dumbing down” of button text. I also thought this was interesting, because when looking at well designed webpages, even such as Notion, each option is well defined and in concisely put in one word, and due to this I have never had to consider for any amount of time what something actually does. In contrast to this, when I first used the Ulster University Student Portal, I had to press buttons to find out what they do, and then go back if it was not what I wanted. Often button text is also several words long, which further wastes the user’s time.
I also did a mock usability test, in which I was the participant. It was extremely intriguing to be in this position, as it not only helped me to learn the process of a usability test but also caused me to consider the site’s design as I was using it. The process was in my opinion longer than it should have been, but I was able to return from mistakes and eventually complete the task. A main issue was the amount and design of navigation bars. On some pages within the site there were up to three navigation bars, and it was difficult to remember which one each was for (which the user shouldn’t have to think about at all), and they all had different layouts which further added to the confusion.
I also created some sketches for the SDG app project, where I conceptualised some possible games to include within the app. These include games where the user has to drag statements into true or false columns, link connected information together, and sort items into chronological order. I also considered here to include a sound effect when the user gets an answer correct.