Week 14 - In Class

We are on break, so we did not have class today but here is an update on my testing. I plan to also have family members go through the website.

Jacqui: 

Jacqui is a math major and is a very analytical type of person, so I wanted to receive feedback from her using the Guerrilla Usability Testing. I allowed her time to look at the website a little before starting my questions.

First Task- What is the nonprofit about?

• At first she assumed it was for single Moms in Lancaster based off of the name.
• Found this information under the logo
• Then, Mom's raise children in a good space and kids can be educated in this space.
• Found this information in the About Us tab
• From here I just asked her if she felt this message should be put on the first page or in the About Us tab. She said she felt the message on the first page was a little confusing and it did not display the full message the About Us tab had. She felt as if it made it out to be that it is just for Moms and not all single parents.

Second Task: Find where to Volunteer

• She first clicked "Help Now" then could not find it. 
• She then clicked Participate and found it there.
• She said that both words had the same meaning and she was confused as to why the website included both when they could combine different information.

Third Task: Find the Board of Directors

• At first she clicked the "About Us" tab but did not find this information there
• She started clicking through other categories to find it to then randomly land on "Our Work" and find it
• She felt as if this information could have been included in the About tab.
• "Our Work" felt to her like it should only be about programs or stories of how the nonprofit came to be
• She had also mentioned she saw the programs pages somewhere else, both on the home page and in the "Parents" category
• Based on this finding she said it seemed repetitive and made her confused.

 Joyce (My Grandmom):
I had Joyce do both my Guerrilla Usability Testing and my "I Like, I Wish, What If".
She is older and not as technologically inclined, so for her she likes when things are easy to navigate through and that is why I felt both methods would benefit my research.













Guerrilla Usability Testing:

First Task- What is the nonprofit about?

• First said women but then went to Mother's and Father's seeking to get more education in order to get a good job to support their child
• Read the top
• Didn't see About Us tab
• Any more info? 
• She said that there seem to be repeats
• A little more could be added to the Home page for their mission

Second Task- Board of Directors?

• Went in Newsroom, then skipped over it and found eventually after looking at all the tabs
• She felt as if this could be in the About Us tab instead

I changed the third just to see something different- Christmas List?

• First went to Donate, then Events, then Help Now
• She felt as if this could be worried better such as "Get Involved" or "How to Give"

I Like, I Wish, What If

I like the message and what they provide. Some subheadings were very clear in what would be include on their page. Also, appreciated the main navigational bar rather than the top bar.

I wish it was more simplified and that there was more on the first page about their message rather than everything you find throughout the website. I feel as if to gain interest the message should be on the first page laying out benefits, where they're located, what they do and other mission statements.

What if they changed the name to Parents, families or Mom and Dad's House. Also what if they changed the Home Page to add more about their message like they have in the About Us tab.

Norm (My Dad):

I had Norm do both my Guerrilla Usability Testing and my I Like, I Wish, What If because he was a single parent when I was younger and as a single father I feel it is good to know how he would navigate through the website. Although the website would not fully be towards his audience I still feel like it was good to gain feedback from a once single father.

Guerrilla Usability Testing:

First Task- What is the nonprofit about?

• Looks like it is just for single mothers
• Confusing on message because the home page says single parents and then the About Us tab both says single parents, but also specifies Mothers.

Second Task- Board of Directors?

• Went to Our Work tab because he didn't feel like the other tabs made sense.
• Feels as if About would be better to include it in 

I changed the third just to see something different- Christmas List?

• Found in Help Now with no trouble

I Like, I Wish, What If:

I like that there is a lot of information but it just needs to be organized better to get the full mission across. As a once single father I would not know that I can reap the benefits as well. However the website is very helpful and user friendly.

• Things are also duplicated

I wish it just had 3 components such as a drop down for message, parents and their message in a tab and Volunteer in a section.

What if they have these 3 components and say who they are, participate and donate.

Week 13 - Outside of Class

Here is my code so far:

High School Visit:
Before our visit Jordan's car would not start, but we got it to start and were on our way. We had the opportunity of presenting to two different classes. The first class we presented then went over how critique works and some of the students volunteered for us to critique their work. We then did a quick demo of how to make a gif in photoshop which the students loved. For the second class we did the same thing as the first, but then had time to teach the students how to use the pattern tool in illustrator since they had just had a pattern assignment. At the end of the second class we had a student come up to us and ask us about graphic design more in depth which was really cool too! Overall it was a great experience.

Week 13 - In Class

Today in class we presented one of our methods to receive feedback from the class and Professor Pannafino. I presented my Card Sorting method since it was very complex and wanted feedback on my findings. Overall, everyone thought that my research was very helpful towards my argument of the website being unorganized. I explained that some categories from the original website were combined by the users I tested and my users felt as if the 7 categories provided by the website were too overwhelming. 

After presenting the website case study was explained and I sketched my idea for the website. 

My idea is to have clickable boxes to take the user to different pages for the methods. I feel like this would be better to organize my information. The very top of the main page will have Mom's House of Lancaster logo. Then the Introduction/About section will briefly speak about the nonprofits mission and why I chose the website for my project. Then each method will be displayed with title, icon and definition of the method. The method page will then include the definition of the method, initial observations, research, pictures and a summary of my findings. 

Week 12-Outside of Class

2x2 Matrix:
I spoke to a few others on my matrices and gained some feedback on the wording of some categories.
Here are the updated versions based off my feedback-

Based off of my card sorting both open and closed I found consistencies in the way users categorized the different topics. 

In the About tab users primarily put:

• Success Stories
• Contact Information
• Board of Directors and Staff Directory
• Our Supporters 

In the Programs tab users primarily put:

• Childcare Program
• Parent Program 
• Mom's House Graduate Program (2 out of 3)

In the Newsroom tab users primarily put:

• You should combine the News and Events tab
• Mom's House Gazette
• Around the House Blog
• Events

In the Donate Now tab users primarily put:

• Donation Form
• Everyday Giving
• Extra Giving
• Or make it just a button that goes straight to the donation form

A big debate was what phrase to use to include the volunteering options that others can partake in. The category names others came up with were "Get Involved", "Participate" and "Support Us."

• Volunteer
• Adopt a Mom and Adopt a Classroom were answers but also answers for programs
• I believe it should be for the Participate category because it is about volunteering and not about the programs offered by the non-profit. 

Conclusion-

Based off all of this information I found that not only is the navigation poorly organized, but because of this it confuses users on where to look for items. Topic names of different pages also seemed to confuse the user such as "Current Appeal" where the user did not understand what the page was about. I found in my research that this page overlaps with the blog and gazette that the website includes in their newsroom section. The website overall has multiple tabs that are repetitive and redundant. When conducting the closed card sorting I used categories I came up with myself to see how the user would respond and they did not change any of it and thought the information under each tab made sense.

Results from System Usability Scale-
I had 17 users answer these questions on the website.

Week 12- In Class

In class today I worked on my card sorting and had other students participate in open and closed card sorting.

Closed Card Sorting using the menu categories from the website:

Kristen:
- The top is how the website lays out its categories and the tabs/pages within those categories. Kristen felt there were too many categories and it was overwhelming to her. She then rearranged these pages and categories in a way that made more sense to her. The overlapping papers would be information that are on the same page. She also added a new category which she labeled "Support Us."


The result:

About:

• Success Stories
• Staff Directory, Board of Directors and Our Supporters
• Events
• Contact

Support Us:

• Everyday Giving
• Extra Give
• Volunteer

Programs:

• Parent Program and Childcare Program

Parents:

• Apply
• Share Your Story
• Mom's House Graduate Program and brief description of Mom's House

Newsroom:

• Mom's House Gazette
• Around the House Blog
• Current Appeals

Donate Now:

• Donation Form
• Needs List and Christmas List
• Adopt a Mom and Adopt a Classroom

Closed Card Sorting using my own categories:

Kristen:
- Kristen felt that these categories were labeled well and only removed the Donation form page.














I met with my roommates after class to have them do card sorting as well.

Open Card Sorting based off of categories from the website:

Hannah:
- Hannah was confused at first with what the different pages/tabs were about and had trouble with all the categories that the website gave. She thought some categories were unnecessary and could be combined with other categories.

The result:

Participate:

• Volunteer
• Adopt a Mom
• Adopt a Classroom

Programs:

• Parent Program
• Childcare Program
• Mom's House Graduate Program and Brief Description about Mom's House

Newsroom:

• Around the House Blog
• Mom's House Gazette
• Events

About:

• Our Work- Success Stories and Share Your Story
• Board of Directors and Staff Directory
• Our Supporters

Contact:

• Phone Number, Location and Email

Donate Now:

• Donation Form
• Everyday Giving
• Extra Giving

Open Card Sorting based off of my own categories:

Michaela:

-Michaela thought the categories made sense and started off quickly placing the cards. It did not take her long to organize them. She had a few questions about the information on some pages, but overall was confident in her result.

The result:

About:

• Location
• Brief Description about Mom's House
• Success Stories
• Our Supporters

Programs:

• Childcare Programs
• Parent Programs
• Mom's House Graduate Program
• Adopt a Classroom
• Adopt a Mom

Get Involved:

• Volunteer
• Apply

News and Events:

• Mom's House Gazette
• Around the House blog
• Events
• Christmas List
• Needs List

Contact:

• Email
• Phone Number
• Share Your Story
• Staff Directory
• Board of Directors

Donate Now:

• Donation Form
• Everyday Giving
• Extra Give

Week 11-Outside of Class

5 Methods:

1. Card Sorting
2. 2x2 Matrix
3. Guerrilla Usability Testing
4. I Like, I Wish, What If
5. System Usability Scale

I have been working on organizing things for each method over this past week. For card sorting I plan to print and cut my categories that I determined last class in the next class. I have done nothing in terms of the Guerrilla Usability Testing, but am working on the 2x2 matrix for next class. I also plan to call the non-profit and ask them what they like, wish and what if about the website as well as show my roommates and my Mom who is a single parent. Showing my Mom will help me understand what a single parent would want to get out of this website which the non-profit aims to achieve on making a single parents experience the easiest it can be. 

The system usability scale I am also in the process of organizing using the website tool given in class, here is what I have for that:

2x2 Matrix:

For these I made a list of what I would like to observe and combined it with similar problems. I plan to ask peers in the class what their thoughts are on these findings and show them the websites I used. All the websites I compared are nonprofits; 

https://www.malala.org/

https://creativecommons.org/blog/

https://www.uwlanc.org/

Week 11 - In Class

In class I talked about the methods I had planned to used and some changes were proposed to me.

5 Methods:
After reading through the terms I decided on these five terms to use for my observation-

1. Card Sorting: This method would be helpful to use because my website includes a lot of information and some is repeated in multiple tabs. It would be beneficial to my website to figure out how this information could be better organized or the best grouping for each category. 
1. Open and Closed Card Sorting; Have users sort into categories and then have groups of tabs and they name the categories
2. 2x2 Matrix: I am planning to use this method to compare other non-profits websites in hopes of finding a better way to navigate through Mom's House website. I would also like to compare successfully categorized information to my website. Some categories I want to research are functionality, donation pages, and single function vs. multifunction.
3. Guerrilla Usability Testing: Similar to the A/B testing I feel as if this method would help with finding a new way to organize the website. By using this method, I can gain feedback on the prototype I constructed as well as refine it based off of the feedback. This will allow me to quickly find and fix problems within the organization of the website.
4. I Like, I Wish, What If: This method can be used to gain a users feedback on what they like, wish and want for the website. From this information I can find way to categorize the information better. With multiple users I can also compare answers to see if any are similar or what factors seem to be more important to users.
1. Call the website again and gain their perspective
5. System Usability Scale: For this method I plan to ask user's questions on where they believe content is throughout the website. This will allow me to find out what user's prefer in where their content is categorized. 

For the rest of class we started to work on research for one of our methods:

Card Sorting-

This method is used to define my content structure based on an understanding of how users expect the content to be organized. I was recommended to do both an open and closed card sorting method to gain perspective on either side of organization. The process works by having the first participant come in and organize cards into groups based off of the categories previously picked by the tester. Then the next person would come in and move, add, or remove cards based off of what they would like to see. The tester would make notes of what has beed moved, added or removed as well and repeat this process with 3-5 more people. The result will help the tester know how users expect the websites information to be categorized. 

I plan to do 2 rounds of card sorting; one with categories the website already uses to sort it's information and another round with categories that I believe should be used. 

1. The first round includes these categories:
1. Our Work
• Parent Program
• Childcare Program
• Success Stories
• Staff Directory
• Board of Directors
• About
2. Help Now
• Everyday Giving
• Extra Give
• Current Appeals
• Events
• Needs List
• Christmas List
3. Participate
• Volunteer
• Adopt a Mom
• Adopt a Classroom
4. Parents
• Parent & Childcare Programs
• Mom's House Graduate Program
• Apply
• Share Your Story
5. Events
6. Newsroom
• Around the House Blog
• Mom's House Gazette
7. Donate Now
• Our Supporters
• Donation Form
8. Contact
• Email
• Location
• Phone Number
2. The second round includes these categories: 
1. About
• Brief description about Mom's House
• Success Stories
• Staff Directory and Board of Directors
• Contact Information
2. Programs
• Parent Program
• Childcare Program
• Mom's House Graduate Program
• Apply Now
• Share Your Story
3. Get Involved
• Volunteer
• Adopt a Mom
• Adopt a Classroom
• Donate
• Giving
• Everyday Giving
• Extra Giving
• Needs List
• Christmas List
4. News and Events
• Around the House Blog
• Mom's House Gazette
• Events Calendar

Week 10 - Outside of Class

Call with Mom's House of Lancaster:

I spoke with Dawn, a woman who has been working with Mom's House of Lancaster for 2 years now. She started as a teacher with the non-profit and then had to switch over to data management. With her new job of data management she is having applications come to her, organizes the sign up genius for donations and still works in teaching the kids.

• Background of the non-profit:
• Started in 1991 and has had over 300 graduates through the program. 
• It is all about assisting single parents who desire further education and cannot find the financial means to do so. They work towards making sure a single parent can have all the tools to better their life for their child and better their education in the process.
• Their education is StarFour certified through Keystone Stars Programs which means they have the highest level of accreditation 
• About 48% of families with single parents are in poverty in Lancaster County so Mom's House looks to assist all who are facing poverty
• Website:
• Through the website parents can apply to be a client and have access to all the programs and benefits at no cost such as food and clothing banks, tutoring, an education area, things parents could need for school projects and much more
• The website focuses on providing all the information to it's users on how to apply and make it a quick process for parent's who need to know what care is available and when
• People can also donate on the website
• Around Christmas time they highlight a sign up genius for people who want to sign up for Christmas items and people like Dawn are able to keep track of what is going on fairly quickly
• The website also highlights big events that are going on 
• With education from this non-profit the teachers are able to track milestones and kids experience individualized teaching (infants through preschool age).

General Notes on the Website:

• Issues of repeating tabs and information ("Our Work" - Programs and Success Stories)
• Extra give tab takes you to another website
• Events tab is listed twice
• "Also under "Help Now"
• Lists could be organized better (needs list and Christmas list)
• Redundant in Volunteer being under "Help Now" and "Participate"
• "Our Work" and "Parent" tab have parent and childcare program under both
• Two "Donate" tabs
• 3 menu bars and the top and bottom are the same in terms of information

5 Methods:

After reading through the terms I decided on these five terms to use for my observation-

1. Card Sorting: This method would be helpful to use because my website includes a lot of information and some is repeated in multiple tabs. It would be beneficial to my website to figure out how this information could be better organized or the best grouping for each category. 
1. Open and Closed Card Sorting; Have users sort into categories and then have groups of tabs and they name the categories
2. A/B Testing: This method would allow me to find a better way to display navigation on the website. The website includes 3 different menu bars, so I wanted to put more research into how all of the information can be displayed and compare to the original version using this method.
3. Guerrilla Usability Testing: Similar to the A/B testing I feel as if this method would help with finding a new way to organize the website. By using this method, I can gain feedback on the prototype I constructed as well as refine it based off of the feedback. This will allow me to quickly find and fix problems within the organization of the website.
4. I Like, I Wish, What If: This method can be used to gain a users feedback on what they like, wish and want for the website. From this information I can find way to categorize the information better. With multiple users I can also compare answers to see if any are similar or what factors seem to be more important to users.
1. Call the website again and gain their perspective
5. System Usability Scale: For this method I plan to ask user's questions on where they believe content is throughout the website. This will allow me to find out what user's prefer in where their content is categorized. 

Quantitative Audit:

For the quantitative audit I focused on the top navigational bar and then continued with the main navigation bar at the top of the page.