Usability

Test Report

April 24, 2024 WRIT 4501 https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation

Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Usability Test Focus

Park Recreation
Rental details
information and athletics
Introduction Methods Results
Research Question
Other Questions of Interest
Can website visitors find
what they are looking for in
an appropriate amount of
time indicated by our
testing standards? Does the
system architecture match
the user’s mental model?
Discussion Recommendations Questions
Can users identify the services offered at
each facility and hours of operation within a
period of time?
Does the site’s gulf of evaluation and the
gulf of execution match the users
expectations?
Can users easily learn how to find activities,
programs, and events that interest them?
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Participants
Targeted Actual
People who want to
register for a recreation Two women between
activity or program 41-50 years
Young Adults Three young adults
Families between 18-25 years
Seniors
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Methods
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Background Questionnaire
In the past three
months, how many
times have you
participated in a
a recreational facility
recreational activity
(athletic training, group
center) maintained by
fitness, etc.) provided
by your local
government?
Think about the last
time you tried to obtain
In the past three information about a
months, how many service provided by
How would you
times have you used
say you typically How would you your local government
find information rate your ability to via the Web, whether
(park, recreation
about a navigate through relating to parks or not.
government the web? How successful would
your local
service? you say that you were
government?
in finding what you
were looking for?
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Background Questionnaire
Age # of Children
18 - 25 🧑🧑👩 0, 0, 0
41 - 50 👵👵 5, 3

All 5 live in the Twin Cities metro area

Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenarios and Tasks

01

Scenario 1
You are planning a birthday party for your 10 year old child and eight of their friends. You
are interested in having the party outside at a local park, and you discover Highland Park.
Before finalizing your plan, you want to know if Highland Park has picnic tables, a
playground, and what the park hours are.
1. Start at the Parks and Recreation homepage.
2. Find the Highland Park page.
3. Find the park hours.
4. Then check for a list of amenities.
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenarios and Tasks

02

Scenario 2
You're interested in getting a fitness membership at a local park facility and you live near
Battle Creek Recreation Center. You’re curious how much it costs for a yearly vs. monthly
membership. In addition, you want to know the hours so you could possibly go today
sometime after work. You enjoy running and want to see if they have an outdoor track.
1. Find Battle Creek Recreation Center, don’t use the search bar unless you have to.
2. Find membership costs
3. Find operating hours
4. Is there an outdoor track? Once you decide if there is one or not, say “ im done”.
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenarios and Tasks

03

Scenario 3
You want to go play pickleball with some of your friends tonight around 7pm. Start from the
homepage and find the map of indoor and outdoor pickleball courts.

1. Start on the homepage.

2. Without using the search feature, find a map of indoor and outdoor pickleball courts.
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenarios and Tasks

04

Scenario 4
You want to rent a picnic shelter at Como Regional Park for a 40-person company
barbecue at the Como Picnic Shelter.

1. Start at the Como Park front page.

2. Find more details on the Como Picnic Shelter.
3. Reserve the Picnic Shelter online.
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Results
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenario 1
Finding picnic tables at Highland Park

Task 1: Find the Highland Park page.

Task 2: Find the park hours.
Task 3: Then check for a list of amenities.

“Oh... these are the

customer service
hours, not the park
hours.” P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
-P4
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenario 1
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenario 2
Info on a fitness membership at Battle Creek Recreation Center

Task 1: Find Battle Creek Recreation Center.

Task 2: Find membership costs
Task 3: Find operating hours
Task 4: Find amenities (outdoor track)

“There’s a lot to look

through on here... I’m not
really sure what I’m
looking at”
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenario 2
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenario 3
Finding a map of indoor and outdoor pickleball courts

Task 1: Without using the navigation bar at

the top of the screen, find a map of indoor and
outdoor pickleball courts.

When making a typo as

‘pickle ball’ rather than
‘pickleball’, there were no
search results

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenario 3
Finding a map of indoor and outdoor pickleball courts
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Scenario 4
You want to rent a picnic shelter for a 40-person company
barbecue at the Como Picnic Shelter.

Task 1: Find Battle Creek

Recreation Center.
Task 2: Find membership costs

“That was
pretty easy”
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Discussion
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Key Findings
Suboptimal placement of
important information

Search Term Errors

Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Key Findings
Inability to identify park hours

Generic background images

Confusion over Athletics vs.

Amenities
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Time on Task

Average Time
Scenario 1: 02:34

Scenario 2: 03:13

Scenario 3: 01:45

Scenario 4: 01:06
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

PRC
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Recommendations
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

Recommendations
1. Change the structure of the landing page
2. Clearly display park hours
3. Allow term overlapping
4. Change each park image to reflect correct location
5. Add a FAQ page
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

1. Change the structure of the landing page

Finding “Parks” currently requires two clicks
Our Proposal
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

2. Clearly display park hours

Current hours Proposed hours location

Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

2. Clearly display park hours

Proposed hours location

Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

3. Allow term overlapping

Currently, Pickleball is listed only as an amenity in the
“Find a Park Amenity” page.
Users might want to find it from “Athletics.”
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

4. Replace park images in the footer

(Before)

(After)
Introduction Methods Results Discussion Recommendations Questions

5. Add a FAQ/Help page

We need to support users
with an FAQ page that
has useful instantaneous
informational pieces.
If people are calling in, there
must be a CRM, or some form of
call monitoring system. Use the
most called in questions to help
mitigate amounts of call-ins
from confused users.
Thank you!
Recommended questions:

1. How did you address any challenges or

limitations encountered during the test?
2. What steps did you take to ensure the validity
and reliability of the usability test results?
3. Favorite color palette that passes AA
accessibility?
4. Were there any particular aspects of the
product or interface that users found
especially challenging or intuitive?