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Reading & writing · Grades 7–10

The prototype and the practiced team

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The prototype and the practiced team

A team designed a puzzle app and tested it on its own members. Everyone completed the first screen quickly, so the team reported that the instructions were obvious. A new volunteer then hesitated over an unlabeled icon. The designers knew the icon's meaning because they had discussed it for days; the volunteer did not. In the next test, participants received no verbal hints, and the team recorded where they paused. The revised interface included a short label. The team no longer treated familiarity among its members as evidence that every new user would understand.

Try it yourself

  1. Why was the first test limited?

    1. The icon was mathematically impossible.
    2. The test used no people.
    3. The app had no screen.
    4. Team members already knew the design.

  2. Why did the volunteer's hesitation provide useful evidence?

  3. What changed in the later testing procedure?

    1. No verbal hints were supplied.
    2. Only designers participated.
    3. The screen was never shown.
    4. Pauses were ignored.

  4. Explain why supplying hints during a usability test can hide a problem.

  5. What interface change was made?

    1. a short label was added
    2. all text was hidden
    3. every question was removed
    4. the app was renamed only

  1. What wider claim did the team stop making?

Answers and marking notes

Answers and marking notes
  1. Team members already knew the design.

    Prior familiarity could mask unclear instructions.

  2. It revealed a barrier for someone without the designers' background knowledge.

    Credit the new-user perspective.

  3. No verbal hints were supplied.

    Participants had to rely on the interface itself.

  4. The hints replace information the product should communicate, so success may depend on the tester rather than the interface.

    Credit the altered task conditions.

  5. a short label was added

    The label clarified the icon's meaning.

  6. That successful use by familiar team members proved all new users would understand the interface.

    Credit the limited generalizability of the original sample.

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