Usability and Card Sort Test for LaurenBateman.

com

Test Preparation:
To get ready to give the tests, I tried to go through the tasks as if I had no clue
about the site and where things were located. I was unsuccessful. Having already spent
a lot of time on LaurenBateman.com and knowing what kind of content she has meant I
could easily find things, and I couldn’t scrub that from my head enough to be “dumb”.
For the first task, finding the 4 easiest chords, I started on the homepage, scrolled down
to “technique” under “Popular Lessons”, and clicked the “First 4 Guitar Chords…” link. If
it had been some other lesson or technique I was looking for, I would have used the
header navigation, but since I had already been through that one, I knew it was directly
linked on the homepage. On the second task, I felt like I could answer that without even
looking, but I did my best to pretend. Knowing that Lauren had video lessons on her site
(and imagining I was someone who came to the site from Youtube), I went to the
“resources” tab on the header, then to “all guitar songs” and found a couple song
lessons that I could stare at until the imaginary person had learned enough about
Lauren. Again, the prior knowledge issue came up again, where if I had not known that
songs were under “resources”, I probably would have used the popular songs links on
the homepage then sifted around a bit to find the rest of the songs. Finally, the task to
find the strumming course. Starting on the homepage, I went to the “Products” header,
clicked on “strumming course” and boom, done.
I also did the card sorting myself to see how I would organize it. I put “Free Guitar
Crash Course”, “Beginner Guitar Course”, “7-Level Beginner Guitar System”, “Guitar
Strumming Course”, and “Guitar Technique Lessons” into a group that I would call
“Courses” or “Teaching”. The next group included “Beginner Guitar Songs”,
“Intermediate Guitar Songs”, “Christmas Guitar Songs” and “Guitar Chord Charts” and
would be called “Songs”. (Yes, charts with songs. Reason being, there is no actual page
of just chord charts. There is a link in the footer labeled as such but that link takes you
to the page for “All Guitar Songs”. Additionally, the “All Guitar Songs” link from the
header uses the URL “laurenbateman.com/guitar-chord-charts”, which I think is a slight
issue.) Moving on, I grouped “Meet Lauren”, “Contact”, “Donate” and “Testimonials”, and
I would call this group “Get Involved” or something along the lines of including people in
the brand. The last group was “Youtube Lesson Playlists”, “Guitar Product
Recommendations”, “Lauren’s Music” and “T-Shirts”. The last group is called “Footer”
because I think this stuff is not as relevant to the brand and specifically the site, so it
can sit at the bottom and be largely ignored.

Choosing Participants:
Tester Comparison Summary Chart
 Grace Garrigan Wayne Coffman

Gender Female Male

Age 18 55 (for a few more days)

Hours Browsing/Week 19.5 21

Browsing Habits Most computer use is for Though he spends a lot of

schoolwork, did not use
computer much growing
up
time on the computer for
work, it does not include a lot
of internet use. Most internet
time is using phone, on
Facebook, ESPN and
Craigslist

Other Observations -Sat very far leaned back -Wears glasses with
(dorm chairs are not progressive lenses for
comfy) reading
-Uses 3 monitors for work

Tester 1 Details:
Grace is a student, a freshman at Northwest, majoring in Speech Theater
Education. She has no familiarity with LaurenBateman.com or any other guitar lessons
sites, having never attempted to learn to play the guitar (also does not listen to music
with a lot of real guitar in it, e.g. Taylor Swift). Her time on the internet is spent either
doing school work on her school-issued laptop or some social media on her phone. As a
percentage, she said she spends 0% of her time on shopping, 60% general browsing
and 40% on social media. Grace is a good fit for this test because she is a young
female (a group that has been trending upward in guitar-lesson-taking) and does not
have to pretend to know nothing about playing the guitar.

Environment for Tester 1:

Location of the Test:
The test was conducted in a lounge on the 3rd floor of South Complex, where
Grace lives. She spends a lot of her time doing homework in the study room or lounges
in the dorms, often with many people around
Physical Environment:
The dorm lounge was well lit, we were sitting at a table with the regular crappy
chairs. There were on average 3.5 people also at the table, as one came and went. The
others were also working on homework, studying, or just on their phones but talking.
There were also occasionally people walking by down the hall or going up and down the
nearby stairs.
Technical Environment:
Grace was using her Northwest laptop, which uses the Windows operating
system, and the browser she uses is Google Chrome. Since we were in the dorms we
were on the school WiFi, and her browser did not have any add-ons or extensions.

Tester 2 Details:
Wayne, besides being my father, is a project manager for MultiPlan, a kind-of
insurance middle man. (I still don’t really understand what exactly he does, “Business
Systems Analysis”) He works from home in his “office”, attending virtual meetings and
doing some stuff with data on the programs that they use. He breaks down his internet
usage as 95% general browsing and 5% social media, claiming to not shop at all (no
comment). He does not play guitar and has never tried to learn, but has taken interest in
some of the terminology watching me build my guitars. However, what I’ve taught him is
more manufacturing than musical, so he doesn’t know “chords” and other terminology.
Wayne is a good fit for this test because he fits perfectly with Lauren’s main audience,
50+ men. He likes the kind of music that she teaches, and has limited internet
experience outside of work functions.

Environment for Tester 2:

Location of the Test:
The test was conducted in Wayne’s office, which used to be my brother’s
bedroom. This is where his computer is, where he works, and where he spends 99% of
his time on the internet.
Physical Environment:
He was sitting at his desk, with a full keyboard and mouse setup. The room had
an overhead light/ceiling fan and a lamp for lighting, and there were no distractions
besides the cat making a short visit.
Technical Environment:
The test was conducted on his desktop computer, running Windows 10. As a
work PC, it had a long and secure login process that did not affect the test, but did delay
the start slightly. The computer was connected to the internet via an ethernet cord, and
our internet speed is very good, at least over 400mb/s. He chose to use Google
Chrome, with no add-ons or extensions.

Test Results:
Initial Site Thoughts:
Tester 1:
Immediately upon opening the site and being asked what she thought she could
do on it, Grace said “I can buy”. I assume this was from seeing the “Products” tab, but
there was a bit of confusion as to what was being sold. Scrolling a bit down, she noticed
the news coverage area, and mentioned Yahoo news as being outdated, surprised it still
existed. Looking around more she noticed that “I can get lessons on this site”. Finally,
she read the small bio section and said that quitting cancer research is “wild”.
Tester 2:
From the first look at the homepage, Wayne said the site looked “cookie-cutter”
and “cheap”. He also said he didn’t like the picture of Lauren that is above the fold. The
next thing he noticed was the “Members Login” button and made a comment about
becoming one. Scrolling down a bit, he saw the latest song lessons and said he knew
some of the songs. When prompted as to the purpose of the site, he said something to
the effect of “get lessons”.
Similarities:
Both subjects noticed the “Products” tab on the header very soon, but did not
know what they could buy, so it seemed a bit distracting. One difference is that the
younger tester Grace read more of the paragraphs, while Wayne focused on the bigger
words in headings and links. (Age or eyesight perhaps?) Finally, there was one big
similarity that is not pleasant to say but happened almost immediately in both tests.
Looking at Lauren’s picture on the homepage, both testers said they thought she was a
man. (Their words, not mine) Wayne also commented about the little lens flare on the
picture and said it was distracting and annoying.

Task 1: Beginner Guitar Chords

Summary for Both Testers:
Tester 1 Tester 2 Average

Average Satisfaction 4 4 4

Success Rate 100% 100% 100%

Tester 1 Task Completion Process:

From the homepage, she went to “Resources” on the header, then clicked on
“Beginner Guitar Songs”. Scrolling down a bit in the intro paragraph she found the
correct answer, Em, G, C, and D. Though she was not on the page specifically titled
“Easiest Guitar Chords for Beginners”, she still found the answer in under a minute.

Tester 2 Task Completion Process:

Using a slightly different strategy, he used Ctrl+F (Find) on the homepage and
searched for “chords”. This led him right to the “First 4 Guitar Chords to Play Songs”
link, where he found the correct answer at the top of the page, Em, G, C, and D. This
task took him a bit over a minute to complete, with the longest time coming from typing
the word “chords” and reading
Biggest Problem:
From the tests, there doesn’t seem to be any major problem with this area of
navigation but I do think it could be improved upon. Learning these basic chords are the
first step for just about anyone learning the guitar, and it should be emphasized that
they are important and a good place to start for someone who has no idea what they
are looking at. Currently, the 4 Chords page is mixed in on the homepage with other
song and technique lessons just under the fold. I think it would be better to separate this
page and maybe another beginner page on their own, more visible section.

Alignment to Heuristic: Consistency and Standards

This heuristic means that people should be able to tell when things are the same,
and don’t have to wonder if a word or function is being used in the way they’re used to.
As it stands, the items listed in the technique section are aimed at people in a variety of
different stages of learning. Though they are all labeled beginner or late beginner,
someone who is picking up a guitar for the first time is not going to be able to figure out
strumming patterns or fingerpicking. For consistency's sake, I think they should be split
up.

Task 2: Teaching Style

Summary for Both Testers:
 Tester 1 Tester 2 Average

Average Satisfaction 3 3 3

Success Rate 95% 95% 95%

Tester 1 Task Completion Process:

Grace went first to the “Meet Lauren” button on the header and began skimming
the page. She made a small comment about not caring Lauren had cancer, and then
noticed that Lauren does not have a music degree. She then mentioned that it would be
helpful if she “actually read the words”, but didn’t seem to learn anything from what she
read and went back to the homepage through the top bar. On the homepage she
scrolled down the section on “Lauren’s Approach” and said she was confused about the
private group and the community. Then a bit above that she saw a mention of a
“step-by-step guitar system” and said she was trying to find it. Scrolling back to the top
of the homepage, she clicked the link for the Beginner Course that was next to the
picture of Lauren. (Between the 2 tests, this part of the homepage was changed. At the
time of the first test, the link went to the beginner course, but now goes to the free crash
course.) On the course page she was scrolling fast and not reading much detail, looking
for some quick summary of how Lauren works. Also on the course page she noticed
more details on the Facebook group, and after a bit of reading decided she had an
answer. In her opinion, Lauren’s teaching style is that “you pace yourself but she will
help. It’s a different approach, uses more visual stuff and figures. There’s more options
and you do whatever works for you.” I gave the success a 95% because she did read a
lot of what Lauren says is her style, but never actually reached a lesson or song page to
get a feel for that. In total it took her about 5 minutes to complete the task, mostly spent
reading the long paragraphs.

Tester 2 Task Completion Process:

Wayne also went directly to the “Meet Lauren” tab from the homepage and read
a bit of Lauren’s bio. He thought he saw a grammar error in one section but was wrong.
While reading the page the points he noticed and mentioned were that Lauren is
passionate about music, doesn’t have a degree in music, has a non-traditional
approach, no confusing music theory, and has fun. After reading most of the “Meet
Lauren” page, he said “seems like she tries to get you playing as quickly as possible”.
On this page he also saw the step-by-step system mentioned but couldn’t find his way
to it. His final answer on Lauren’s teaching style was “unorthodox and fun”. It took him
around 3 minutes to complete the task, almost entirely spent reading the Meet Lauren
page. I gave him a 95% success rating for much of the same reason as Grace, that he
never reached a lesson or course page to actually see how she teaches.

Biggest Problem:
I think that the biggest problem with learning Lauren’s teaching style is that
people will gravitate towards the “Meet Lauren” page and are met with long paragraphs
and no tangible examples. Additionally, the step-by-step system is mentioned but there
is no immediate way to get to it from the page. I think that there could be links to
lessons or pages that do a good job of showing what she mentions about how she
teaches, or a section for embedded video clips to give visitors a taste of Lauren’s
lessons.

Alignment to Heuristic: Match between system and the real world

Lauren’s description of herself and her teaching uses a lot of lingo and
buzzwords that sound good on a bulleted list or in an ad, but don’t really tell us what we
will learn and how we will learn it. This heuristic is about speaking the user’s language,
which we can do by changing what words we use to describe things, but also by not
speaking a language at all. It is better to show rather than tell, so Lauren’s approach
should be shown, whether through videos, images, or some other method.

Task 3: Strumming Course

Summary of Both Testers:
Tester 1 Tester 2 Average

Average Satisfaction 5 4 4.5

Success Rate 95% 100% 97.5%

Tester 1 Task Completion Process:

She went up to the header, first to the resources, then over to products and found
the link for “Strumming Course”. Reading the first paragraph, she said the strumming
course was called “Expressive Strumming”. Scrolling down a bit and reading more, she
said that the strumming course teaches “how to add real emotion, percussive rhythms
and expressive dynamics.” Overall, this task took a little over a minute to complete.

Tester 2 Task Completion Process:

Starting on the homepage, Wayne scrolled down to the “Technique” section with
links just under the fold. He clicked on “7 Cool Strumming Patterns”, which took him off
the site to a Youtube video. After being guided back onto LaurenBateman.com, he used
Ctrl+F and searched for “strumming”, which took him to the “Guitar Strumming Course”
link in the footer. The first thing he noticed on the course page was the price, and then
he read the first paragraph and found the title of “Expressive Strumming” course.
Scrolling and reading the descriptions, he said that the course teaches “fun, more
freedom in your strumming hand, feeling good about your guitar playing, and different
techniques for strumming.” Then scrolling down further, he clicked one of the many links
to the page for purchasing the course, and found the name “Expressive Rhythm
Course”, changing his earlier answer (however, this was found on
LaurenBatemanGuitar.com, a different site). Completing this task took around 3 and a
half minutes to complete.

Biggest Problem:
I see 2 problems with this task. First, visitors aren’t exactly sure what the course
is called. The first name they see near the top of the page is “Expressive Strumming”,
with the “S” capitalized. But as you move down the page, you see it called “Expressive
Rhythm”, which creates confusion. Also, there are like 6 different sections describing
the course, all saying the same thing with a few different words and in a different format.
It just becomes very confusing and overwhelming to have to read a bunch and not learn
more.

Alignment to Heuristic: Aesthetic and Minimalist Design

This heuristic is about cutting down on irrelevant and unnecessary information to
streamline the information process. Calling the course multiple things and describing it
in the same way multiple times confuses people, and having the information in a variety
of different formats (bullets, list, columns, etc.) does not look good and makes the parts
people should see less visible.

Open Card Sorting:

Tester 1 Card Sort:
● About Lauren: Meet Lauren, Lauren’s Music, Testimonials, Contact
● Songs and Chords: Guitar Chord Charts, Beginner Songs, Intermediate Songs,
Christmas Songs
● Getting Started: Youtube Lesson Playlists, Technique Lessons, Guitar Product
Recommendations
● Support Lauren: T-Shirts, Donate
 ● Basic Courses: Strumming Course, Beginner Guitar Course, Free Guitar Crash
Course, 7-Level Beginner Guitar System
(Something to note for tester 1, she wanted to put the “7-Level” card together with the
“Beginner Course” card, which is interesting because they are the same thing, but she
did not actually see that on the site.)

Tester 2 Card Sort:

● Lessons; Technique Lessons, Strumming Course, 7-Level Beginner Guitar
System, Beginner Guitar Course, Free Guitar Crash Course
● All About Lauren: Meet Lauren, Contact, Donate, Testimonials
● Free Resources: Beginner Songs, Intermediate Songs, Christmas Songs, Guitar
Chord Charts, Youtube Lesson Playlists
● Products: Lauren’s Music, T-Shirts, Guitar Product Recommendations

Final Thoughts:
Tester 2 said he didn’t recognize the Youtube logo in the top right of the
homepage since it wasn’t in the usual red color

Recommendation to Improve Content Structure:

I made a lot of changes to the header navigation, with the aim of making things
more understandable and to draw new visitors to certain content. The first header tab I
would have is “Getting Started”, which would include the free crash course, the easiest
songs and the technique lessons in its drop-down menu. This way, people that come to
the site with very little or no knowledge of the guitar will quickly see where to go first.
Currently, this is only served by the link above the fold on the homepage to the crash
course, but even with saying that it is free, I think people will be somewhat scared away
by a “course”, fearing a sign-up and the future need to pay. The next tab is “Free
Resources”, which keeps some of the stuff that the current “Resources” tab has and
adds the product recommendations. By adding “free” to the title, we can emphasize that
this is where to go if you want to get more content from Lauren without having to pay.
Plus, people just like to see the word free and will be attracted to it.
Third on the header (left to right) is “Courses”. This tab collects all the courses
that are not free into one place, since the free course is sorted with the rest of the free
stuff. You may notice a new box that was not included in the card sorting and is also not
on the site yet. Earlier this month, there was an email about the upcoming Blues
Course, offering a pre-sale discount. Though it isn’t on the site yet, I think we should still
plan for what is to come. Also, having a tab with only 2 items wouldn’t seem natural, but
3 works alright. Finally for the header, an “All About Lauren” tab. Right now “Meet
Lauren” and “Testimonials” each have their own header tab, but I think they make a lot
more sense together. A link for contacting Lauren is put here as well, so that it can be
found easier than just in the footer.
Lastly we have the footer itself. These would be the bigger items towards the
bottom, and I suggest keeping the mailing list box and social media links below that.
The first footer item is “Songs” which would take you to the “All Songs” page (which
hopefully would have some improved structure). Next, a link for “Courses”, which would
go to a new page that lists all the courses available and describes each of them more
succinctly than they are on their own pages. Then the “Contact” button makes another
appearance, this time to keep consistency with other sites. People are used to having a
way to find contact information at the bottom of a page, and even though we already
have a link at the top, we have to meet expectations. Finally a button for donating,
called “Donate”. The thing to note here is that I have removed the link for “T-Shirts”,
because (in my opinion) they aren’t really an important part of the business and
shouldn’t clutter important areas like “Products”. If Lauren thinks otherwise and wants to
keep hyping her merch, I would change this link to say “Support Lauren”, with a new
page with links to Paypal donations, the Patreon page, and a merch page.