Design Memo

Before beginning work on our project, our group decided to section the workload out into different roles. However, some roles didn't always have work to do, so we each occasionally help out in areas, that our roles didn't cover, with the people holding those roles having the final say. For example, while three of our members contributed to gathering usability data, our lead Usability Engineer, Evelyn, set the standards and wrote the official report. In this way, we were able to optimize our workloads, and avoid any one role being too boring or overwhelming.

Throughout the design of the LEGO set and the instructions, we tried to anticipate usability problems and work to reduce them as much as possible. The LEGO set itself, was designed by Naomi alone, along with all of the illustrations. The instructions were then written out in full, step by step, by our writers, Evelyn and Kameron. Finally, Isaiah took the written instructions, trimmed them, and put them on the website alongside the step-by-step pictures. In this way, everyone had ample opportunities to contribute to the final product and foresee potential problems.

In terms of web design, our web designers decided to go with a simple visual scheme and font, as flashy visuals risk distracting from the content in the website. Even on the Team Bios page, which is the showiest by far, we used the same font, and a complementary color to the rest of the site.

Usability was our primary focus during the project. After all, anyone can write some LEGO instructions, that isn't what this assignment is about. This project's main focus is usability, and our intensive testing and revision reflect that. Perhaps the principal that guided our testing the most was the ideal that the user should be able to construct the set based on either the pictures or the text alone. This ensured that both our illustrations and our written instructions were up to standards, but it also provided a subtler benefit. Having two ways to interpret each step side by side creates an error aversion mechanism of sorts. If the user is confused by the image, they can refer to the text, and vice versa. This is why we felt it was important to test the usability of both the text, and the images.
When it came time for usability testing, we realized that while our pictures were clear and easily followed, the written instructions were unable to communicate some of the more difficult steps effectively. In particular, our set contains two distinct sloped pieces, both of which are 2x1 and orange. The writing struggled to differentiate these two pieces effectively, and it took extensive testing and revision to find a satisfactory solution.

Although our LEGO set has some tricky connections and similar pieces, we have managed to make an instruction set that we think is usable and accessible. By doing usability testing and making revisions, we were able to find and fix the original flaws in our writing and deliver a result that is as readable as possible.
We hope you have enjoyed our LEGO Curiosity rover project,

- Builders United