Usability and UX

At SIPSA we strive to assure the quality of software products and in order to do this we placethe end user at the heart of this quality, which is why we attach great importance to usability and user experience. In this article we are going to explain these two concepts, so closely related, but so different.

Usability and user experience are often confused because they have a similar objective: to respond as quickly and efficiently as possible to the needs posed by the user.

Definition of USABILITY

According to the International Organisation for Standardisation ISO 25010, the term "Usability" refers to the ability of the software product to be understood, learned, used, and appealing to the user, when used under certain conditions. This characteristic is further subdivided into the following sub-characteristics:

• Ability to recognise its suitability: ability of the product to enable the user to understand whether the software is suitable for his needs.
• Ease of learning: the ability to see how practical an application is.
• Capability to be used: capability of the product that allows the user to operate and control it with ease.
• User error protection: the ability of the system to protect users from making errors.
• Aesthetics of the user interface: ability of the interface to be pleasing and satisfying to the user interaction.
• Accessibility: the ability of the product to be used by users with certain characteristics or with certain limitations in their abilities.

The following three attributes are considered to assess usability:

1. Effectiveness.
2. Efficiency.
3. Degree of satisfaction.

These attributes are validated through surveys, tests, visual tracking, heat maps, etc. so as to eliminate failures that affect the achievement of the objective in a simple manner.

Usability, when interpreted from the perspective of users' personal goals, can include the kind of perceptual and emotional aspects associated with the user experience. Usability criteria can be used to evaluate aspects of the user experience.

The usability of a website, application or program is measured by how easy and intuitive it is to operate.

Definition of USER EXPERIENCE (UX)

On the other hand, according to the International Organisation for Standardisation ISO9241-21 the "User Experience (UX)" is the result of a person's perceptions and responses to the use or anticipation of the use of a product, system, or service. It is the complete experience of a person using a product, system, or service.

User experience encompasses more factors and goes one step further, referring to user satisfaction, and includes all the user's emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, physical and psychological responses, behaviour and achievements that occur before, during and after use of that product, system or service. From the outcome of the user's interaction with that product, a positive or negative experience may be generated. This is the key:

The different experts of each knowledge area, not only the designers, anticipate the wishes of the users or customers and in this process are able to cover all or almost all the customer's needs.

The user experience is a consequence of the brand image, presentation, functionality, system performance, interactive behaviour and assistance capabilities of the system, the user's internal and physical state resulting from previous experiences, attitudes, skills and personality, and the context of use.

For example, if users can navigate the web easily, it has a good usability rating, as it fulfils its functional purpose. If, in addition, the experience is pleasant, comfortable, and positive, we can speak of a favourable user experience, supported by the design of the website and the navigation menu, capturing the user's attention, and making it possible for them to want to return at another time to visit that page and even recommend it to other users.

In conclusion, both concepts go hand in hand, as good usability is essential to ensure a positive user experience.

Factors that help to generate a good user experience:

 
Usability: refers to the user-friendliness of the user interface. If we offer a pleasant browsing experience, the user's perception will be greater. We must use colours that do not tire the eyes; avoid processes that involve long waiting times; ensure that the user achieves optimum handling of the software in the shortest possible time, etc.
Utility: all the elements of the software must have a specific purpose, aimed at meeting a user need. Revision must be constant so as to In this way, users can fulfil the objective they intended when using the product.
Trust: it is important to establish explanations in the form of a FAQ so that the user has all the necessary information at each step.
Credibility: in the case of access to websites, the content of these websites must generate credibility in the user, especially if they are an e-commerce website. This credibility will give confidence to the user and its UX will be good.
Desirability: design, aesthetics and quality multimedia content can make a product much more desirable, directly affecting a positive user experience. We will have an excellent UX if we manage, through an attractive design, to evoke emotion in the user, making it desirable for them to use the product again. This will reinforce our brand and image and will position us within the user's preferences. This is why it is essential to take this concept into account.
Ease of search: in the case of Internet users, if the content of the website is correctly structured and organised and the user finds what he/she is looking for in a few seconds, it will positively increase the UX.
Security: is fundamental regarding personal data or confidential information.
Value creation: the software product must offer value to the user, beyond the economics, meeting their expectations and highlighting what differentiates you from the competition.
Knowing the users: for us this is one of the most important concepts of UX. Before developing a software product or designing an application or website, we must know who our target users are for this product, application or website and what they are looking for... If we know what they want or what they are looking for,  it will be much easier to guarantee an excellent UX. The difficulty always lies in getting right what we believe our target audience expects and for this it is advisable to study the competition to learn from their successes and mistakes.

As we said at the beginning of this post, at SIPSA we ensure the quality of software products, and we place the end user at the heart of this quality. Within our Spherical Quality methodology, we work on 3 fundamental axes:

X - axis: selection and application of quality assurance (QA) standards.

Y - axis: understanding the business environment in which the software is used and/or developed.

Z - axis: involve end-users whenever possible. When it is not, we must ensure that we know and understand their priorities and needs.

It is on this last axis, the Z-axis, that we focus on getting to know the users. To this end, we conducted a series of design thinking workshops.

Design thinking is presented as a methodology for developing people-centric  innovation, offering a lens through which to observe challenges, detect needs and, finally, solve them.

It is carried out in three phases: inspiration, creation, and implementation, which take place in moderated work sessions or workshops in which the whole team participates.

These  are very dynamic and graphic sessions in which we use visual tools.

We divide these workshops into 3 blocks:

Segmentation workshop: Segmentation studies the segmentation of user behaviour, dividing
 them into unique groups, to analyse their needs and the main functionalities they require from the services.
Segmentation is used to group the users of the application and to identify their priorities for services and functionalities. Segmentation variables, the criteria used to segment. These  are conventional variables such as demographic, geographic, behavioural or psychographic and others that determine the user's relationship with the application or service as a benefit, problem and/or added value.

User Persona workshop: The user persona allows us to move from segments to identifying/creating a series of fictitious or real people that are representative of the most common users of these segments for the application's services.
This identification provides two benefits:
It forces us to think in terms of persons, which after all are the users.
It is much easier to understand them when you identify persons rather than segments. Since segments can be measured, but people can be described.

The mechanisms for identifying the user personas of an application are:

Cross-referencing segmentation variables, cross-referencing only the most important variables.
From some of the real users. Flesh and blood people.

Once the user persona of an application has been identified, graphic cards like this one are generated:

Empathy map workshop: The empathy map is a visual tool used to get to know the perspective of a user. It allows us to access the mind of a user and get their unique perspective, so as to understand what priorities to give to the requirement, the tests, as well as the defects detected.

It allows us to visualize the impact of the application on the users identified, to understand their priorities, their needs and their likes and dislikes. It allows us to access the mind of the user and get to know their unique perspective.

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