Usability test for sneaker bardetroit

Usability Test for SneakerBarDetroit.com
Test Preparation
In order to get a good idea of how well SneakerBarDetroit.com is doing in regards to user
experience, a usability field test will be conducted. Two participants will be given the same four
tasks to complete on the site. To prepare to conduct the tests, I went through each task myself
and recorded what problems I encountered below.
Task 1
The first task is to find Shaquille O’Neal’s most recent sneaker release and his first
sneaker release. The first thing I did when I got to the site was look at the navigation bar
for anything related to Shaq. I did not find anything, so I typed “Shaq release” into the
search bar and found six pages of results. The first problem I ran into was that there is no
way to filter or sort your results. This would make it a lot easier to find the newest release
if I had the option to sort by date. After scrolling through the results, I found Shaq’s
original sneaker release to be mentioned in an article at the bottom of the first page, the
Reebok Shaq Attaq. Due to not having the option to sort by date, I found what I believe
to be the newest release by finding the latest article put out on September 16, 2020 of the
Shaqnosis release.
Task 2
The second task is to search for a 2020 Reebok sneaker that aligns with voting. The first
thing I did was go to the “Brands” dropdown on the navigation bar and clicked on
“Reebok.” I scrolled through the Reebok section of sneakers until I saw one that said

“vote” on the heel. Reading the article, the shoe is part two of a series that lets the
consumers fund the production of the shoe. 500 pairs must be sold before the shoe is
made, and the sale of this “vote” version began on August 20, 2020. This task was easier
to complete than task one, but an issue I found is that the title of the article doesn’t
mention the name of the shoe or anything about voting.
Task 3
The third task is to find coverage of Kobe Bryant’s death and see if there are any Kobe
sneakers mentioned in that coverage. The first thing I did when on the site was search
“Kobe Bryant” into the search bar. The search pulled up 42 pages of results, but the first
result was a podcast honoring the life of Kobe. In the description of the podcast they
mention Kobe’s sneakers, but nothing specific. The podcast is 1 hour and 38 minutes
long, so I do not want to make my testers listen through the entire thing, but as I listened
to it, they do mention some specific sneakers worn and released by Kobe. I think the
biggest problem with this task is just that the podcast is so long and makes it difficult for
a usability test. If they had an article about it as well that may help readers find the
information a little quicker.
Task 4
The fourth and final task of the test is to see how many sneakers you can find relating to
Black Lives Matter. If you find some, did the results turn up the Sue Bird/Diana Taurasi
sneaker? I entered “black lives matter” into the search bar and found 10 results. I found
one pair with “Black Lives Matter” on the shoe and one pair that the purchase of them
donated to BLM along with multiple articles addressing BLM and race in our country. I

did not come across the Sue Bird/ Diana Taurasi sneaker but after a quick google search I
found them right away on SBD. I think this was the biggest problem I encountered trying
to complete this task and if they had mentioned BLM anywhere in the article more people
would find them. I did a “control+f” to find if they had mentioned “BLM” or “Black
Lives Matter” anywhere in the article and they did not.
Choosing Participants
Tester Comparison Summary Chart
Tester 1: Jane Everly Tester 2: Tracey Koranda
Gender Female Female
Age 22 44
Hours Browsing/Week 18 60
Browsing Habits Doesn’t shop or work online,
only uses social media for a
few hours a day
Does a lot of online shopping,
including groceries. Prefers to
browse on mobile device, not
computer.
Other Observations Often gets interrupted by 4-
year-old granddaughter
and/or dogs in the home.
Tester 1 Details: My first tester is Jane Everly, age 22, female. She works as a barista
and spends her days working out, listening to music and occasionally browsing social media. I
chose this participant because I wanted someone who didn’t browse the internet very often. She
has no familiarity with SBD or sneakerheads and doesn’t use the internet much other than to
scroll social media a few hours per day. I thought she would be a good fresh perspective since
she usually does not participate in any online blogs or shopping sites.

Environment for Tester 1
• Location of test: The usability test for tester 1 was conducted in person, at
her home. We sat on the couch because she usually does most of her
browsing there.
• Physical environment: The physical environment was dim lit with her
mantle in the living room decorated for Halloween, lit up with bright
orange lights. Three cats reside in the home, so they occasionally jumped
onto the couch and walked around, not being too big of a distraction. She
sat with the laptop on her lap.
• Technical environment: She used an Apple MacBook on Wi-Fi with
safari as the browser. No browser add-ons.
Tester 2 Details: My second tester is Tracey Koranda, age 44, female. She works as a
service coordinator for First Steps and spends her days working from home and browsing the
internet. I chose her because she spends a lot of time online, especially shopping. I think she is a
good balance from my first tester because she is older, and she also spends a lot more time
online. She does not have any familiarity with SBD, but she does browse sneakers here and there
through online shopping.
Environment for Tester 2
• Location of test: The test was conducted in person, at her home, in her
bedroom. This location was chosen because this is where she works from
home and does almost all of her online shopping/browsing.

• Physical environment: She sat on her bed sitting crisscrossed with her
laptop on her knees. The lights were normal, TV on in the background and
two of her four dogs lying beside her. The biggest distraction was her 4-
year-old granddaughter who likes to chat, but this is a usual distraction she
has.
• Technical environment: She used her work laptop, an HP, with Google
Chrome on Wi-Fi. No browser add-ons.
Test Results
Initial Site Thoughts
Tester 1: The first thing she noticed was that she liked the look of the site and the
colors. She did not like the add at the top of the home page and said it was distracting. All in all,
she said it looked easy to navigate.
Tester 2: Tester 2 also started by mentioning the colors and believed it to be a site
where you can buy shoes, such as Jordans. She said, “it looks like a basketball type tennis shoe
site.” After scrolling for a bit, without clicking on anything she began to get frustrated with all of
the ads popping up. “All of these ads are in my face,” she said, “I close one and another pops
up!”
Similarities and Differences: Both of my testers basically said the same things at
first glance of the site. They liked the design of the site but did not like the advertisements.
Task 1: Your favorite basketball player is Shaquille O’Neal. Find the most recent
sneaker release connected to Shaq. Find Shaq’s first sneaker release.

Summary for Both Testers:
Tester 1 Tester 2 Average
Average Satisfaction 4 4 4/5
Success Rate 100% 100% 100%
Tester 1 Task Completion Process
The first task took her about 3 minutes to find both answers. She began by
scrolling down through the home page. Finding nothing, she went to the search bar and
typed in “shaq.” She then scrolled through the results of this search and found the article
“Rebook Brings Back the Shaq Attaq-Modern.” After clicking on this article and reading
it she concluded that this was his original sneaker. She then went to find his newest
release and typed “shaq” once again into the search bar. She scrolled until she found the
newest Shaqnosis release.
The first task took tester 2 about 5 minutes to find both answers. She began by
going to the navigation and clicking on the “Sneaker Release Dates” tab. After scrolling
for about a minute she went to the search bar and typed in “Shaq.” She said she assumed
the articles were in order by date, so she went to page 9, the last page of results, looking
for his first release. After realizing they were not sorted by date, she went back to the
search bar and typed in “Shaq first release.” She got a little frustrated that the results of
this search brought up “releases happening this weekend instead of his first release.” She
kept scrolling through the results and found an old pair of Shaqnosis that mentioned it
was his “signature release.” She assumed this meant it was his first. She then went back

to the “Sneaker Release Dates” tab and scrolled until she found the newest shoe by Shaq
– the Shaqnosis web.
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem for this task was definitely the issue of not having a way to
sort the search results. If they could have sorted by date it would have helped them find
their answers much faster and more conveniently.
Alignment to Heuristic: Recognition Rather Than Recall
Recognition rather than recall means the user should not have to work extra hard
for results, the options and actions should be made visible. This aligns with the biggest
issue of not having any type of sorting actions available when using the search bar. The
user shouldn’t have to scroll to find what they are looking for; they should instead be
presented with the option to advance their search and sort by date. They have this option
under some of the sections of the site, below is the “Reebok” section, but this option is
not available for the searches.

Task 2: You’re a proponent of voting and you’ve heard there is a 2020 Reebok
sneaker that aligns with your commitment to vote in local and federal elections.
What is the name of that sneaker, and is it actually being made?
Average Satisfaction 1 2 1.5/5
This task took her about 4 minutes of searching before deciding she could not
complete the task. She started out on the home page and went to the navigation bar.
Under the “Brands” dropdown she clicked on “Reebok.” After scrolling for a little while
she went to the search bar and typed in “reebok voting” which brought up 0 results. She
went back to the “Reebok” section of the site and scrolled again for about a minute. She
then clicked on “Sneaker Release Dates” on the navigation bar and came up empty. Her
last attempt was going back to the “Reebok” section once again and sorting by “most
popular.” She still could not find and sneakers relating to voting, so the task was
incomplete.
The second task took her about 2 minutes before declaring it incomplete. She
began the task by going to the navigation bar and clicking on the “Brands” dropdown and
clicked on “Reebok.” She scrolled for a bit and then typed “Reebok vote” into the search

bar. She scrolled through the results and did not find anything. She then typed “Reebok
voting” into the search bar and came up with 0 results. After this she said, “I do not see
anything to do with voting.”
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem for this task was that the photo for the shoes did not fully
shoe the word “vote” which is featured on the back of the shoe, nor did the title include
anything about voting. Both of my testers scrolled past them multiple times and could not
find them because the preview does not indicate that the shoes have anything to do with
voting, as seen below.
Alignment to Heuristic: Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design means that only important and necessary
information should be displayed. This aligns with the biggest problem of not being able
to find the shoes because very necessary information was missing. The shoes are about
supporting voting, yet the word vote is missing from the preview photo and the
title/description of the article.
Task 3: Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020. Find coverage of
his death. Does the coverage mention any specific Kobe sneakers?

Average Satisfaction 4 4 4/5
The third task took Jane about 2 minutes to complete. She first went to the search
bar and typed in “kobe.” The second result on the page was a podcast honoring his life. In
the description of the podcast it mentions some sneakers, but nothing specific. She
assumed the podcast would go into more detail about these sneakers but did not listen to
the entire podcast.
Tracey completed task 3 in about 2 minutes as well. She went to the search bar
and typed in “kobe.” After searching through the results, she clicked on the podcast
honoring Kobe’s life. As for if any specific sneakers are mentioned, she noticed that the
background for the podcast preview is a pair of sneakers, which she assumed those pair
among others was spoken about during the podcast.
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem with this task was finding if any specific shoes were
mentioned without listening to the entire hour and 40-minute podcast. I think this could
be resolved by mentioning any specific shoes in the description of the podcast or having
links to those specific shoes mentioned in the written section. This would help users find

those shoes before or after listening to the podcast and would eliminate the need for
listeners to go search for those sneakers.
Recognition rather than recall is when you want to minimalize the user’s memory
load by making things readily available to them. This should eliminate the need for users
to memorize things from one section to another. This aligns perfectly with the biggest
problem for this task because if the shoe links or names were mentioned in the written
section of the podcast, the user would not have to go search through the podcast for those
exact shoes mentioned, they could just click the link after listening or copy and paste the
names into the search bar.
Task 4: You are a supporter of Black Lives Matter and you’d like a sneaker that
shows your support. About how many different sneakers can you find that
specifically show BLM support? Did your search turn up the Sue Bird/Diana
Taurasi sneaker?
Average Satisfaction 4 5 4.5/5
Jane began this task by going to the search bar and typing in “BLM.” This only
gave 2 results, so she went back and typed in “Black Lives Matter.” This gave 10 results,

so she scrolled and found the Air Jordan 1 sneakers featuring “#blacklivesmatter” on
them. This was the quickest completed task as it took about a minute to find the shoes.
No other shoes mentioned BLM in their titles or photos, so she only found the one pair.
The Sue Bird/Diana Taurasi sneakers did not come up in the search.
This task took Tracey about 4 minutes to complete. She began by typing “Black
Lives Matter” into the search bar. After scrolling for a little bit, she then went to the
navigation bar and clicked on “Sneaker Release Dates.” Once on this page she clicked on
“shop” because she thought maybe more shoes would be there. To her surprise, this took
her to StockX to shop. This is when she fully realized that you cannot actually shop for
the shoes on SBD. After closing StockX, she went back to the search bar and typed in
“Black Lives Matter” again. At this point she found the Air Jordan 1’s and said that was
all she could find. The Sue Bird/Diana Taurasi sneakers did not come up in the search.
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem with this task was finding the Sue Bird/Diana Taurasi
sneakers. Although the task did not say to find them, it only asked if they came up in the
search, I wanted to talk about why they did not come up in the search. When I finally
found the sneakers, I was shocked to see that “BLM” or “Black Lives Matter” was
mentioned nowhere in the article. This is why they never came up in either search.
Recognition rather than recall means the user should have options available and
visible to minimize their memory load. This would be the case if SBD had included better

keywords in their preview descriptions or titles of articles. Instead of having options
readily available, the user must search quite a bit and read through full articles before
finding what it is they are looking for.
Final Site Thoughts
Tester 1: By the end of the tasks, tester 1 felt that the site was not as easy to
navigate as she initially thought. She said the site was a bit hard to find the results she
was looking for due to the search results being a little off-topic or hard to figure out what
each shoe was just by the title of the articles.
Tester 2: Tester 2 at the end thought the site was very confusing to navigate
because there were so many advertisements making the site seem a little too busy. She
also did not like that the “shop” button led to a different website, StockX.
Similarities and Differences: The similarities between tester 1 and 2 were that
both felt distracted by the abundance of advertisements, and both testers felt less
comfortable navigating the site than they thought they would in the beginning.
Recommendations to Improve User Experience
Single Problem Being Fixed
The one big problem I will be fixing is task 1: users not being able to find Shaq’s latest
and oldest sneaker releases efficiently.

Problem Improvement
To improve this problem, I will suggest adding an advanced search option for search
results on SBD. To explain this further, below are some before and after screenshots of
what the site would look like with this change. In the first photo, you can see that when
conducting a search on SBD, you are not given any advanced search options so if you
cannot find what
you are looking for,
you simply have to
scroll through the
many results or do another search. My recommendation would be to apply the sorting
feature that is already implemented on other sections of the site to the search bar. In the
photo below we can see what this would look like after the changes have been made. The
user would now have the option to sort their search results by latest, featured, most
popular, 7 days popular, by review score or random. This would help users find what they
are looking for quickly and more efficiently.

Works Cited
“Sneaker Bar Detroit (SBD): Sneaker News / Release Info.” Sneaker Bar Detroit, 12 Oct. 2020,
sneakerbardetroit.com/.

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