University of Minnesota Press
The University of Minnesota Press is recognized internationally for its innovative, boundary-breaking editorial program in the humanities and social sciences and as publisher of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the most widely used objective tests of personality in the world. Minnesota also maintains as part of its mission a strong commitment to publishing books on the people, history, and natural environment of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. Established in 1925, Minnesota is among the founding members of the Association of University Presses (AUP).
The University of Minnesota Press was seeking insights and advice about how to make their website more user-friendly.
Client: University of Minnesota Press
Methods: Heuristic Analysis, Usability Review, Usability Testing, Wireframes for recommended changes.
Tools:Sketch, Zoom, Illustrator, Keynote, Miro, Google Sheets, Trello
Site Goals
Encourage exploration and discovery of their books and authors
Facilitate conversations around their books and authors
Encourage and generate sales of their books
Support the purchase of their books
Primary Users
Academics or scholars looking for course texts and/or publishing opportunities.
Non-academic, regional readers interested in books by regional authors and/or on specific topics
Non-academic, national general-interest (trade) readers interested in a single book or timely topic.
Research
To learn more about the UMN Press website, I conducted a usability review and performed a heuristic analysis to identify pain-points. Using a scale of 1-4, with 1 being the best (no issues) and 4 being the worst (severe issues), I rated the site's simplicity, Visual Hierarchy, Navigability, Consistency, Responsivity, Accessibility, Conventionality, Credibility, and User Centricity. The site had an average score of 3.2/4.
Our team compared each individual’s usability review findings and compiled a list of project goals. Keeping the goals in mind, we then wrote a script with questions, scenarios, and tasks for users to help us achieve these goals and find more pain-points that we may have missed.
Goals
Gain insight into the navigability and recognition of the website, in particular the home screen.
Identify pain points and opportunities for improving the usability of searching and browsing for books.
Evaluate the user path to gain insight into visual hierarchy.
Tasks
Find a book based on a topic of interest.
Find the UMP Podcast
Find an upcoming event, and sign up or it.
Find a specific title and add it to your cart.
Sign up for the UMP newsletter
Usability Testing
Remote Usability Tests
Using the script we wrote together, each team member performed 2-3 usability tests remotely.
In-Lab Usability Tests
The team conducted 4 in-lab usability tests together, switching roles each time (host, moderator, note takers).
Data Synthesization
We compiled all of our notes from both the remote and in-lab sessions to synthesize the data using google sheets and Trello.
We found that the site’s most severe issues were Recognition, Simplicity, Visual Hierarchy, and navigability.
Findings and Recommended Changes
Finding: Participants found the logo chaotic and not indicative of the organization. People did not know where they were upon first viewing the site.
Recommendation: Update logo to make organization more recognizable as a whole, and specifically to have users more easily identify where they are upon first view of the site.
Finding: Users found the side bar navigation distracting. Users also found the header navigation a bit strange - the way it was only highlighted at the top confused them, as well as the lack of separation between the larger and smaller text.
Recommendation: Eliminate side navigation from the home screen, and add drop downs from the header navigation.
Finding: Almost all of the users that we tested had difficulty signing up for the newsletter, and many of them could not find how to do so at all. Many users also struggled to find where to submit their work for consideration. Those who did find it were very surprised about how many steps it took to get there.
Recommendation: Create footer navigation containing important information
Finding: While some users were eventually able to find how to register an event, all users had trouble with the task due to the placement of the link to do so.
Recommendation: Add a button at the top of event pages for registration