Playbook for universal design

Universal design methods for more inclusive solutions

Show me how Add/remove

Purpose:

The purpose of ‘Show me how’ is to do a walkthrough of your product/service with a user. You would want the user to use your product/service without you explaining how to use it. Observing how users are using it exposes unexpected/alternative uses of your final design.

Step by step Facilitating tips Materials needed Goes well with

Tips to include participants who are not able to:

See

If your participants need to observe how a potential user interacts with their product/service but your participants can not see, you could tell the user to say each step he/she does out loud while someone notes down each step. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to have a helper who can see what the user does so that the helper can verify the users actions with the person who is blind.

Focus

If your participants have a hard time focusing and therefore would not be able to observe/note down every step the user does, ask the user to “show me how” to interact with the product/service multiple times.

Speak

As the participants should not provide the user with instructions not being able to speak would not be a huge issue. Only if the user asks a direct question. If so there could be a helper that could perform sign language.

Hear

If you or your participants can not hear, the method could be carried out anyways as it is more important to observe how the user acts. If you want to ask the user questions afterwards this could be done though a survey so that the person who can not hear does not have to listen to the answer but can read the answer in the survey instead.

Hold

If you or your participants can not hold on to a pen when taking notes while observing the user, there could be a helper who could take notes.

Overview

Input

Product/service to test

Output

Feedback/potential changes

Complexity

Simple

Time

30+ min

Participants

2-10+

Activity

  • Be observant 
  • Take notes

Step by step:

  1. Ask a potential future user to share and show you how they would interact with your product/service. 

  2. Observe and note down their interactions, while looking for gaps between what they tell you versus how they do it.

When doing this method you should consider:

If you have a large group of participants and you have chosen to add this method to your plan, it could be beneficial to invite more than one potential user to the test. The user might feel a little overwhelmed being observed by 10+ people. So if possible invite more than one user so you can split your participants up in groups of 3-4 for + a potential user.

It can also be a good idea to have prepared a survey or some interview questions after the user has ‘shown you how’. This way, you would make sure that you get the user to really reflect on how to use it as well as seeing if they answer questions in a way that resembles how they interacted with your product/service.

 

Materials needed:

Notepad or template, pens, prototype of either product or service.