Week 15.2

Today's class we took time to study for the final. This was very helpful and beneficial for being able to have time to study before next Wednesday when we have our final exam.

Week 15.1

Today in class we worked on our documentation for the usability testing we completed this weekend. I decided to create more pages to add on to my study that I created previously. I wanted to show the two different types of testing as well as give my findings and the changes that I thought were necessary. Below you can see the three pages I ended up adding to my documentation.

Outside Class Week 14

This week out of class we had a few readings to do and also to keep an eye on our studies that people were completing. For the reading I ended up learning a lot about what exactly usability testing was. And that you should test at least once, but as many and as often as you can is more important. There was also the idea of completing 3-4 tests at a time and then fixing things till the next month when you would complete 3-4 more.

Week 14.2

Today in class we had our final critique on our last project. We were not able to see our feedback though to make any changes. After that we started working on our next project. For this we are working with user testing. We created 2 different simple usability testing, one that was goal focused and one that is a 5 second test. You can see my studies and complete them yourself at the links below

5 second test:
http://fivesecondtest.com/test/_E3IHcFQCHH6mVSj

Goal focused:
https://candylady.optimalworkshop.com/chalkmark/candylady

Week 14.1

Today in class we had an informal critique of our progress so far. Most of the feedback I received was positive with only a few suggestions of getting rid of intro pages and lining icons. Here is the process I made during class today with adding the content to my pages.

Outside Class Week 13

This weekend I completed 50% of my documentation case study for thecandylady.com. I worked on getting all the imagery into the piece as well as the styles and backgrounds. All I have to do yet is work on content and make sure that I proofread. I decided to add small illustrations to go with the cover illustration I created as well as connect the sections together and with the table of contents as well. With my imagery I focused on trying to show in as much detail what I worked on throughout this process.

Week 13.2

Today in class we had time to just work on our things. I was able to meet with my professor and another student to go over all the components that I have so far. I got a lot of feedback on changes I could make to my personas and wireframes and well as add to my case study as well. 

Week 13.1

Today in class we went over our finally project and what it would encompass. We will be creating a case study about the process we have so far on redesigning the site (in my case the Candy Lady). Here is a list of components that we are to have in our final case study:

cover page
table of contents
about section
process (audit, cardsortimg. sitemap, persona, and wireframes)
summary of findings
colophon (notes not in the summary)

Here is the progress I made during class today

Outside of Class Week 12

This weekend I worked on completing my wireframes. After reading the chapter on wireframes in A Project Guide to UX Design, I felt like I understood more of what a wireframe needs to encompass. I took the time to sketch out different options of how to arrange things for the candy lady site and finally came up with what I felt was the best decision. Once the sketch was complete I was able to transfer that into a digital form making it easier to read and follow. 

I also took the time to fix the suggestions I had on my persona and also start a second one since my cliental for the Candy Lady shop could be two completely different things. I was really struggling with what type of graph or what to show in the graph for the second persona so I ended up leaving it blank for now and will try and talk to some students in class to get feedback on what they think as well. 

Week 12.2

Today in class we had a critique on our personas that we created. Here is the feedback that I received after the class looked over mine.

- Title it as a persona and who it is for
- Change user goals to online activities
- Fix organization
- Show how much of a fan of the show she is (how much time she spends watching it a week)
- Change online activities to bullets to break up space
- Missing the "e" in personal interests
- Change picture (Not Chelsea Clinton)
- Make a second persona based on someone who loves candy
- Proof read!

We also went over wireframes and how to create them. That is our homework for the weekend, to create a home and sub page wireframe taking into consideration our persona and site map.

Week 12.1

Todays class we started content area studies. For this we looked for 5 websites that have similar content to our own (In my case the Candy Lady site). We then identified the content elements on both the home page and a sub page of each site. This was a way to see patterns in site that have similar content to our own and eventually be able to apply it to our site as well. Below are the sites I used as well as the area study for each. My findings are at the bottom of the page as well.

http://www.momandpopcorn.com/candy/saltwatertaffy.html

 

http://www.valerieconfections.com/shop.html

http://www.gertrudehawkchocolates.com/products

http://www.godiva.com/chocolate-menu/collections,default,sc.html

http://stores.phillysweettooth.com/-strse-Nostalgic-Candy/Categories.bok

When going over all the different sites I looked at. I found many differences and similarities between the home page and sub page of each. One thing that was similar was how the product pages where presented. Mostly it would be just a page of products with an option to add to your cart. Going with that I also noticed that your cart was usually easily accessible on each page. Breadcrumbs were really hit or miss with these sites. I think they are less important for this type of webpage since there wont be too many layers to dive into the site. I did notice that on the more expensive chocolate sites, there seemed to be more of an impact section pulling you in. An example was on Valerie Confections site  where the home page was simply just a large scrolling photo of cakes and chocolate. On the more fun sites (ex: Philly sweet tooth) the home page was almost an introduction to what you could go to on the site. The images where all links to take you to a different candy type. All of the sites I looked at also had a main navigation going across the top and a side bar navigation on the home page or sub pages as well. This may be something to look into with my site, especially with the types of candy category since there are so many options and no way to split them up.

Outside Class Week 11

This weekend I worked on my advanced persona. I translated the information that I created last class into a visual or written description. Below is the final product.

Week 11.2

Today we took the time to work on personas. To do this we started with calling our site and talking to them about the users of the site. My talk with the candy lady was very insightful and helped a lot with developing my persona and also changes that I have to make to my sitemap as well.

Who is the primary user of the site?
"mostly anyone, we've had a lot of publicity over the breaking bad tour and it really is anyone who is a fan of the show. We have gotten world travelers all the way from Ireland, Englad, and Alustraia just to name a few. We also specialize in homemade black licorice and really have a nice old fashioned feel to our store. We pride ourselves in our custom shop experience and really attract anyone."

What do you want them to get out of the site?
"Breaking Bad is our biggest publicity and really brings people in, when they google breaking bad, the Candy Lady will show up. It is important that they can view this information in an easy way and know what we have to offer. While they are looking at breaking bad things most people also try our other candy that we have to offer. We are very specific about our candy and creating the best quality products  from scratch without using any preservatives. "

After talking with The Candy Lady I learned just how important the Breaking Bad experience is to their customers and who comes into the store. I took the time to change my site map first and then start working on my persona of who I felt would most likely use the site.

Revised Site Map

Persona List

Name: Joan Parker

Age: 34

Location: Central City, Colorado

Occupation: Journalist

Biography: Joan is a happily married to her Husband (Michael) and a mother of 3 children a boy age 2 (Brady) a girl age 5 (Hilary) and the oldest daughter age 7 (Amanda). She has worked at her job in Central City Colorado for 12 years now writing for the local paper on entertainment. Joan loves her job as a journalist and loves anything the topics she gets to write about telling her readers about the latest entertainment available. Her favorite TV show currently is Breaking Bad on AMC and enjoys sharing her thoughts through paper.

Joan is constantly on the move going to premiers and seeing locally what is available to the public of Central City. Downtime really is a luxury with always being on the move and a family of 5 at home. Movies and TV shows are her biggest outlet for letting go and relaxing.

Quote: “My family is my life, but entertainment is my business”

Online Activities: Being a journalist for the local paper, Joan is constantly online looking for new things to write about. Her latest obsession is watching TV shows online that she needs to catch up on.

Motivations: Joan found The Candy Lady on her search for tours based off TV shows and movies. The Breaking Bad Experience caught her eye as something that her readers (and herself) would really enjoy.

User Goals: Her goal in using the site is to find out as much information about the experience that she can in hopes that she can buy tickets and visit the shop. This would be a great story for her to write about and enter into the paper.

Interests: family, writing, entertainment, travel, shopping, communicating, researching,  

Week 11.1

Today in class we critiqued our visual site maps. Here are the comments I go from the class viewing mine: add a title, match the color of the key to the boxes, changes color of dynamic page, add experience to breaking bad, make type a little smaller, and changes specialty candy to items since there is more then just candy involved. Below is how I implemented the comments I got from class and changed my design.

Outside Class Week 10

Out of class this week we were to make any changes to our visual mapping that were suggested after talking over our site. There were a few things that I was told to move around, but because I got the map mostly finished last class, I did not have a lot of changes to make. One thing that seemed vauge was the info tag. Information is such a broad topic and could include anything so it was suggested that I make that link just for contact since that is a main part of my site and move the price list pdf to where you would be looking for candy. It was also questioned why the breaking bad link needed a separate link for merchandise  When I first thought about it I agreed that it could be condensed into one page, but when I looked into the site further I decided that it needed to be a separate link. The main reason I came to this conclusion is because so many people where confused as to why breaking bad had anything to do with candy. The breaking bad experience is also a large tour of where they film the show and I think that is important information that needs to be on it's own page before you can purchase any merchandise affiliated with the show.

Week 10.2

Today in class we had a refresher on visual site mapping and then took our contents from last class and put them into a visual from. There were a few things that I had issues with trying to find way to show them. For example, my assorted candy pages each have their own list of types of candy that you then can choose your quantity and add to the cart. Instead of showing the many different options I isolated the group with a dotted line saying that these contain items that can be added to the cart. I aso took advantage of the "page clusters" block for my news articles page. This page lists many different articles, some internal and some eternal. This was a easier way to show that there are multiple pages here.

Week 10.1

Today in class we had time to go over our card sorting and elaborate more on what we had. I made changes to my previous post from the weekend to make it up to par of where we are supposed to be. We also had time to meet with our professor and talk about what we have content wise from the card sorting. However, there was not enough time to meet with all the groups so I was not able to go over my card sorts. I began working on my site map, but didn't get very far because I was trying to figure out my content from the card sorts most of class. I am going to finish that for homework and will be posting my sitemap before next class.

Here is my in-progress written sitemap. I was unsure of the numbering system and believe that I did it right, but could be mistaken. Here is what I have, any changes that need to be made I will do in class tomorrow.

1.0 Home Page

            2.0 Assorted Candy

                        2.1 Caramels

                        2.2 Licorice

                        2.3 Nut Clusters

                        2.4 Creams and Jellies

                        2.5 Truffles

                        2.6 Hard Candy

                        2.7 Dipped Fruit

                        2.8 Molded Chocolate

                        2.9 Fudge

                        2.10 Dipping Chocolate
                        2.11 Full Price List

            3.0 Specialty Candy

                        3.1 Sugar Free

                        3.2 Holiday Chocolate

                        3.3 House Specials

                        3.4 Cakes and Bouquets

                        3.5 Southwestern and New Mexican Flavors

            4.0 News

                        4.1 Breaking Bad Experience

                                    4.1.1 Breaking Bad Merchandise

                        4.2 News Article Archives
                                    4.2.1 New Mexico Woman Magazine
                                    4.2.2 Albuquerque Journal
                                    4.2.4 "The Sweet Spot"
                                    4.2.5 USA Today 10 great places
                                    4.2.6 Yahoo Travel
                                    4.2.7 Food Network secret life of southwest foods
                                    4.2.8 Last minute Valentines
                                    4.2.9 Green Offers presents: The Candy Lady
                                    4.2.10 Breaking Bad homage

            5.0 Contact

                        5.1 Email Form

                        5.2 Our Location

1.1 Shopping Cart

Week 9 Out of Class

This week we had to continue with our card sorting by completing 3 open remote card sorts, 3 closed card sorts, and 3 closed remote sorts.

OPEN

For my open remote card sort I received a lot of the same answers that I did in class. Most people still organized all the candy into one group, calling it food, candy types, or sweets. I completed this sort with some of my family members who had no explanation before completing the sort as to what the site was about. I feel that this is why I received some many various answers. One even titled a category "miscellaneous" and only put 2 items in there. Overall the open sort didn't help me a lot because it really just told me what I already have. Based on the data I received and the personas of those completing the card sorts, I am understanding that the participants weren't thinking in a website navigational way and were just putting things into categories. This sort was still helpful to help me narrow down my category list for the closed sort. 

CLOSED

 The categories I used for the closed sort were news, info, home, shopping, and specials. I did it this way to try and see if people would split up the candy into more then just one category. Most people still created their own candy category, but some created separate categories. A lot of people put the cakes, sugar free, and southwest flavors into the specials category as well which I never thought of, but I would make sense for it not to be part of the types of candy. One of my sorters also created a separate chocolate and fudge category which was something different but could possibly work to separate the candy a little bit. It was interesting to see what the sorters put on the home page, It had everything from videos, calendars, magazine articles, contact information, and house specials. 

Week 9.2

Today in class we did our open card sorting. From my observations most of my worries actually came true. Most people put all the candy types into one big category and didn't split them up how I wanted. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. I'm assuming that this is how they want it to be organized so we will see how the remote sorts go as well. My first sorter basically set the site up the with the same navigation that I already has. This was good to see that maybe the site wasn't as disorganized as I thought and the real problem lies with the number of links on the home page.

My second sorter had a similar technique, she just put things into more categories. Mostly everyone put the calendar of events with the holidays and separated that from the holiday chocolate. This is something that I wasn't expecting, but makes sense as to why they would do so. She also decided to put the Breaking Bad experience into publicity which I also think is a good idea. This was originally on the home page and all of my people sorting didn't see the connection which I had trouble seeing as well with the site. With putting it into publicity this would eliminate the problem of confusion when you go to a candy site. 

My third sorter we had durring class did mostly similar things to the first two. She did not separate the breaking bad experience and kept them in their own category, but she did include the calendar of events into the holidays. One thing that she did do was separate "southwestern and mexican flavors" and "sugar free chocolate" when I asked what category she gave this group she said it was specialty items. This is something that I thought I could include in my closed card sort and see what sort of results I get.