MyUT is the University of Texas main page of information for all students regarding any
questions
they may have. It is a one-stop shop for all students' needs.
Project Scope
- Client: MyUT
- Time Frame: 5 Monts
- My Role: UX Researcher
- Team: Deep, Jenny, Melissa, WanTing-Wang
- Methods: Competetive Analysis, Heuristic Evaluation, Participant
Interviews, Screener
- Tools: Figma, FigJam
Client Kickoff
UT envisions MyUT as a comprehensive student hub, but current usage suggests otherwise.
To bridge the
gap, we're
analyzing mobile MyUT, uncovering usage patterns and identifying improvement areas. By
understanding
student needs,
we'll develop actionable recommendations, transforming MyUT into the essential resource
it was
designed to be.
Objectives
Our mission is to elevate MyUT to its full potential as the central hub for the student
community.
Armed with valuable
insights, we aim to formulate actionable recommendations for user experience
improvements. These
recommendations will
drive MyUT towards fulfilling its intended role as a seamless and essential resource for
all
students.
Notes
Target Audience
Primary: Any undergraduate student
Secondary: Other Non-UG UT students
Heuristic Evaluation
User Control & Freedom
Violation
- When clicking the hamburger menu, there is no button to go back to the
main
page.
- The user is not offered an easily
accessible or visible form of exiting the page hence limiting the users
freedom to escape the situation.
Recommendations
- There should be a return button to take the user back. Which could be an
(x)
or a (<--)preferably in the top right corner.
Violation
- There are two horizontal scrolls in a single page.
- I tried to scroll
horizontally then both the navbar and the page both
scrolled at the same time. I was having difficulty scrolling.
Recommendation
- There should an arrow on both sides of the link bar which will
differentiate
both the scrolls.
Consistency & Standard
Violation
- The icon displayed in the top right corner is unrecognizable to first-time
users and difficult for users to know about
the function since the color and placement is not effective for user to
locate.
- The icon bar is also missing from the
mobile version, and the lack of consistency makes it easy for users to get
confused.
Recommendations
- Recommend adding labels to each icon to help users identify its function.
The
size and color would need be changed so
that users could see them at a glance, and the weight of the icon should be
equal.
- The school logo can go all the way to
the right and the icons can go to the left of the logo. The icon should be
constant in placement for both desktop and
mobile version so the users would not be confused.
Violation
- Clicking the infographics, the top one does not have a link to external
pages, while the others do. However, the links
are not functional.
Recommendations
- Either delete these unfunctional infographics, where users may perceive them
as an interactive response by clicking the
icon, or present users with the icon that informs them they are going to an
external link, like the one shown next to
“Grad Student Mentoring -Students”.
Flexibility & Efficiency of Use
Violation
- When the user goes on the mobile version of the website they are only
presented with half of the website and are unaware
of the second half.
- The other half of the website is hidden from view and
can only be accessed by 2 light grey dots on
the bottom of the page that blends in with the bottom tab. This causes
confusion for the user as they are unaware of the
“hidden page”.
- This makes the mobile version hard to use and ineffective. As
an advanced user recognize the dots mean
there is more to website that I am seeing.
- However for others this may not
be the same and they may need amore obvious
design.
Recommendations
- Recommendation would be to replace the light grey dots with a larger bright
orange toggle. To make it more obvious to
users at first glance.
Screener
Recruitment
With the use of our screener we recruited those that met our
qualifications
that
include:
- University of Texas at Austin student
- Gender: Mix
- Age: Range of age (18-32)
- Range in experience of using MyUT
- Agreement to sign NDA and be recorded
Terminated
For those that did not meet the screening requirements we still decided
to
include their inputs with separate questions.
We gained various insights from this group such as:
- What other sites they use to access information regarding school and
why?
- What they believe MyUT is missing?
- What can be added to MyUT to enhance user loyalty and satisfaction?
- The reason they do not use MyUT.
Task Analysis
Task 1: Scenario
Using MyUT homepage find your first course that shows up on the homepage.
Can you find your syllabus for that first course without leaving the page?
Observations
- Some users were unaware that there is a horizontal scroll.
- Conflicting layouts depending on participants updated IOS.
- Users thought system was glitching or perceived it as user
error.
- The horizontal screen bar conflicts with accessing the secondary
page.
Recommendations
- Vertical dropdowns menu would be efficient as its best to design
with a vertical screen in mind.
Task 2: Scenario
Please open up MyUT on your phone’s website page. Locate the hamburger drop
down menu. Now can you exit out?
Observations
- Some users have issue viewing the hamburger icon among clutter.
- Most users take a while to realize their is no exit button, but
quickly recover and tap out of frame to exit.
Recommendations
- Clear the cluttered area so that the hamburger is easily
accessible.
- The hamburger menu should have a clear exit labeled such as an
(X) on the top right.
Task 3: Scenario
Please open up MyUT on the phone’s website page. Can you check to see if you
have any registration holds without leaving
the home page or going to an external link?
Observations
- The toggle option was not obvious enough to alert users of the
second page on the website.
- Many users who know where it is on desktop assumed the
information would be further down since its a vertical screen.
Recommendations
- Remove “second page” on mobile screen as vertical screen must be
taken into consideration in design, hence all its
components should be vertical.
- If second page is to remain then there must be a more obvious
form of toggle to alert user.
Task 4: Scenario
Using the MyUT website, on the homepage go to your class schedule and find
your first courses’ building name. Next can
you locate the street number of your first class from the MyUT website?
Observations
- The expanded version confuses the users as they believe there is
nothing after the “ACADEMICS” portion.
- Users expressed annoyance having to scroll all the links of all
the expanded categories under hamburger menu.
- Campus maps was all the way at the bottom and user was forced to
scroll.
Recommendations
- The options inside the Hamburger menu should be condensed and
not expanded.
- They should only be expanded once the user clicks on it.
Task 5: Scenario
Find MyUHS (University Health Service) to check your Profile from the
hamburger menu.
Observations
- Most users were confused about the re-login option. They assumed
they either logged out or never logged in.
Recommendations
- Users on the MyUT site should be required to log in only once
initially, and this login should persist throughout their
entire session on the site.
Task 6: Scenario
Please go to MyUT on your phone’s website. Let's say you lost your ID and
need to request another one. Using the homepage of MyUT go to the ID center
to request an ID.
Observations
- All users needed the hint to be able to complete their task.
- After clicking the first link user gets confused as the page
does not work and there is no re-direction.
- User is hesitant to click second link as if its exactly the same
as the first.
- Still confusion as page is redirected to “New Service Portal”.
Recommendations
- There should be only 1 link instead of multiple links. As well
as have the working link be set in only under 1 category
to avoid link farm.
- The redirecting page should also be removed as most users
expressed confusion.
Result Analysis
Participants' scores ranged from a low of 20 to a high of 60, indicating that
participants were less likely to recommend the site to others. After comparison,
none of the participants scored higher than the average SUS score of 68.
Additional Recommendations
Condensed Text
Most participants mentioned that the texts are too cluttered which makes it hard to
search for the things they need. Two
out of five participants said that they would rather “Google it”. Therefore, we
recommend to condense the context and
make texts easy to read by:
- Prioritizing the most important functions students need and delete repeated and
dead links to avoid overcrowding.
- Adding icons, quick search and user history to easily navigate through the home
page.
Avoid horizontal scrolling in mobile version
Many users encounter challenges when switching between a horizontal navigation bar,
finding it counter intuitive. We can
address this issue by:
- Creating drop down menu or organizing all information on a single page to
eliminate the need for scrolling.
- Integrating the switching page information into a unified vertical homepage.
Ensure Consistency
- Uniformity in how devices display information can enhance clarity and user
experience.
Reduce redundant process
- The broken links, repetitive information and re-login process failed to help
users find information on MyUT website
efficiently. It is imperative to prioritize user convenience and streamline
the browsing experience to save their time.
TakeAways
Double-check the layout promptly
- During testing, some participants failed to complete the task due to different
layout on the screen and
unknown system
error.
- We should double check whether it is a system problem immediately after the testing.
Be flexible to the unexpected result
- Results don't always align with our initial expectations, and it's crucial to
recognize that
participants may not follow
the same path to complete tasks.
- This in turn informs us just how complex the user experience can vary from person to
person.
Don’t split the tasks into many steps
- It is important to make the task easy to understand. In Task 4, the question is
lengthy, making it
difficult for some
participants to grasp.
- We learned to simplify the task to be achievable in a single action, avoiding
multiple steps.
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