Appendix D: User Testing Guide

The following guide will be used to lead research on two of our mockups as we conduct user testing. Our first mockup is a QR code that is located at the underpass along the trail. The size, placement, and surrounding information that will be used shall be varied throughout the trails. The second mockup is a list of potential plants that could be incorporated into the underpass. The type of plant (e.g. Vine, flower, shrub) as well as the exact species will be varied.

The tests include:

For the QR Code:

1.a) Changing the placement of the QR code and passively observing how many people use the code.

2.a) Changing the signs around the QR code and once again observing how many people will try and use the code.

3.a) Changing the size of the QR code and continuing passive observation

4.a) Changing the color of the QR code and continuing passive observation.

For the Underpass Plants:

1.b) Providing the user with a list of similar plant species and asking them to rate each plant on its aesthetics.

2.b) Reviewing the broad plant types and questioning the user on which has the best aesthetics.

The goals of these tests are to:

For the QR Code:

1.a) Determine what characteristics will maximize the amount of people who try the code, and

2.a) whether enough people use the code to warrant continual development of this mockup.

For the Underpass Plants:

1.b) Determine which plants, aesthetically speaking, are best to incorporate into the underpasses. We hope that each project could be tested on at least 10 users, although it can be difficult to plan on an exact number of participants on a passive observation.

Project: QR Code

This project is to design a way to display a QR code on the walls of the underpasses that span the green bay trail.

Task one (passive observation):

1. Display the 5”X5” in QR code

2. Observe how many people try to use the code

3. Repeat with the 10”X10” and 15”X15” code

4. Place the QR code on 1 of 3 positions along the underpass

5. Observe how many people try to use the code

6. Repeat with the other 2 placements

7. Place the QR code with 1 of the 3 prepared information signs

8. Observe how many people try to use the code

9. Repeat with the other 2 signs

Task two (interview):

When a user actively scans and uses the QR code, approach the user and ask them the following questions:

1. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the ease of use of the code/app?

2. How likely are you to use the app again?

Project: Underpass Plants

Our project is to improve the aesthetics of the underpasses along the path, and our team has chosen to fulfill this by adding plants along the trail under the underpasses. We will be showing you a series of plants that will be considered as potential candidates for us to incorporate, and we will be asking you which you prefer more. The images we will be showing you will not be complete representations of what the underpasses will look like with the plants, but your opinions of them will aid us to make final decisions of what plants to include.

Task one (initial testing):

1. Scroll through the images of each potential plant within the plant type (e.g. flowers, shrubs, etc)

2. From a scale of 1-10, how would you rate this plant’s aesthetics?

3. Place any plants tied for top score within their group

4. Which of these plants would you rate above the others?

5. Repeat for other plant types.

Task two (combination Testing):

1. Place the user’s top choice of each category in front of them

2. If you could only keep one of these plants for the underpass, which would you choose?

3. If you could replace the chosen plant with any prior plant, which would it be?

Performance Testing Report:

Due to the nature of the project, as well as the climatic conditions we live in, our team has decided that performance testing would be a difficult task that would result in little gain. Because of this, our team has decided to run performance testing. We can already gather the necessary information from research and interviews with experts, and it is questionable whether products that we will be using will behave the same under testing conditions and large scale application.