Monica Ferraro - Usability Testing with Young Children Why do usability testing with children? Children start interacting with technology at a very young age. Often these technologies, products and services are created without the involvement of children in the design process, and that can jeopardize the success of the product and investment. In this talk we will look at the differences, similarities and challenges of running usability testing with young children, compared to adults. How to do user testing with children? We will look at case studies to illustrate which techniques work well while carrying out usability testing with young children. We will also talk about practical tips on ethics, recruiting children, how to keep them focused, and plenty of useful information to take into consideration when designing with young children. About Playhows Playhows is a London based UX consultancy specialising in children-centred design. We help companies to create better experiences for children’s products and services through our children-centred design approach.

1. 1
Usability Testing
with young children
UCD14 24th October 2014
Monica Ferraro
@londrareale

2. 2
Monica Ferraro
UXPA UK Secretary
User Experience Researcher
Freelancer
@londrareale
@UXPAUK
About me

3. Usability Testing
3
with
young children

4. 4
Former
user
tes*ng

5. 5
DISCUSSION
PANEL
ON
USABILITY
TESTING
Rolf
Molich
Steve
Krug
David
Travis
Jakob
Biesterfeldt

6. 6
User
tes*ng
with
children

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9
• 42
leMer
sounds
• Diagraphs:
combina2on
of
le6ers

10. 10
• Understand
Goals
how
children
of
different
age
(3
-­‐
6
years
old)
engage
with
the
app
• Iden*fy
any
design
problems
• Find
any
key
difficul*es
experienced
• Find
key
areas
for
improvement
• What
parts
are
confusing?
• What
parts
do
children
like?
• Where
are
the
bugs?

11. 11
Participants 3
-­‐
6
years
old
Jean Piaget
• Sensorimotor Stage
Birth – 2
• Preoperational Stage
Ages 2 – 6
• Concrete Operational
Stage: Ages 7 – 11
• Formal Operational
Stage: Ages 12 – Adult

12. 12
Preoperational Stage: 2 – 6 years
• Language
development
• Can’t
understand
logic
• Can’t
manipulate
(much)
informa2on
• Difficulty
to
take
the
point
of
view
of
other
people
• Very
jealous
of
their
own
ideas
• Get
impa2ent
very
easily

13. 13
Participants

14. 14
Participants
October 2013
1
child
aged
4
aMending
Nursery
2
children
aged
4
aMending
Recep*on
2
children
aged
5
aMending
Recep*on
2
children
aged
6
aMending
Year
1

15. Participants
1
child
aged
3
aMending
Nursery
1
child
aged
4
aMending
Nursery
1
child
aged
4
aMending
Recep*on
1
child
aged
5
aMending
Recep*15
on
March 2014

16. 16
Setting
• Wear
informal
clothes
• Adults
at
the
same
level
of
children
• No
hand
raising
• Use
first
names
• All
ideas/comments
are
good
• There
are
not
right
and
wrong
answers

17. 17
Setting

18. 18
• Introduce yourself
“…Hi! I’m Monica and this is Alex…”
• Break the ice
• Give them importance
“…we have designed a new game to learn the
letters and we need your help to understand if it
works or not…would you like to help us please?...”
“…but remember…the design is till “top secret”!...”

19. 19
No scenarios
No specific task
YES user journey
YES observation!
WHAT do they do?
WHY?
WHAT works?
WHAT does not work?
WHY?

20. 20

21. 21

22. 22
Colouring
page

23. Sounding
page
23

24. Blending
page
24

25. 25
Segmen*ng
page

26. 26
Apple
game

27. 27
Observation – behavior
• signs
of
engagement:
• smiles
• laughs
• leaning
forward
to
try
things
• signs
of
disengagement:
• frowns
• sighs
• yawns
• turning
away
from
the
computer

28. 28
Post task questionnaire
• Would
you
play
with
the
app
again?
Why?
• What
did
you
like
the
most?
• What
you
didn’t
like?
• Did
you
have
any
surprise?
• Was
it
easy
to
use
or
difficult?
• Why?

29. “We
need
to
keep
trying
this
for
5
more
minutes…
then
we
can
try
something
different.”
“…let’s
go
and
see
the
next
page…maybe
there
is
something
new…maybe
a
surprise!”
“Now
I
need
you
to…”
“Let’s
do
this…”
29
Attention spam

30. 30
Rewards

31. 31
Rewards

32. 32
Lessons learned
• Have clear goals in mind
• Be organised
• Short sessions
• Be open minded! Take what you get!
• Make the children feel important
• Thank and reward the children
• Thank and reward the school
• Keep in touch with the children, school
and parents for future collaborations

33. 33
They
are
users!
People
using
the
technology
we
design!

34. 34
NO little adults…but special people
with their own specific mental model!

35. 35

36. 36
Why testing technology
• Know
with children
more…they
are
the
users!
• Understand
their
prospec2ve
• Brutally
honest!
• Can
feel
empowered
(adults
want
to
listen
to
them)
• Look
at
things
differently
• Adults
are
experts
in
their
own
field
–
Children
are
expert
in
being
children!

37. 37
“Whatever
you’ve
designed,
you
absolutely
have
to
test
with
children
because
they’ll
use
it
in
ways
you
never
expected.”
-­‐
Jackie
Wolf
of
Ann
Arbor,
Mich.
Reference:
What
Can
Experience
Designers
Learn
from
Kids?
UX
MAGAZINE

38. 38
Coopera*ve
Inquiry

39. Design
for
Kids
39

40. 40

41. Thank you!
41
@londrareale