UCD Spotlight: Wisdom from Anselm Academic

This week, and every so often, we will showcase a concrete example of user-centered design in practice. Each showcase will shed light on an area, a division,  a project team or a person and their practice of user-centered design.

As I mentioned in last week's blog, Anselm Academic (a company aimed at the college market but housed in the same building as Saint Mary's Press) just finished usability testing on a College Study Bible.  The last two blogs highlighted what Anselm did in the usability test.

This week, we shine the spotlight on the Anselm staff so they can share their learnings with the rest of us.  

We asked the team, "What wisdom did you glean from this experience of usability testing?"

Kristi (Design Coordinator, Anselm Academic): 

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was how integral each step is and how each one builds on the previous. So, it is important to complete each step thoughtfully, before moving on to the next. When each step is completed well, the next step falls into place much more easily."

"One thing I would recommend to other teams engaged in this process is- to take time and care when phrasing the tasks in the script to make sure they are not leading in any way, but to also make sure that they will get at the nugget of information you are searching for…allow time to “test the test,” revise if necessary and then re-test. "

   PJ (Director of Marketing, Anselm Academic)

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was- the affirmation of some of our suppositions about the product juxtaposed against the “absolute AHA moments” in recognizing something we thought would be used by the customer wasn’t used at all."

"Something that surprised me from this was the reality that what professors say they do or believe about delivering concepts in the college classroom didn’t usually match their actions when teaching students."

"Something I realized from this process is the importance of incorporating usability testing into the flow of our product development.  There’s an old adage that says you’ll usually fail in life if you are too self-centered.   I have learned it is essential that we gather user-centered feedback along with our own ideas to create successful, marketable products that are engaging and accessible for the customers we serve."

Penny  (Administrator, Anselm Academic)

"I was surprised to see how useful UCD testing really is--even though we have experts and professionals developing these products--until you see your end user actually work with it, you don’t realize the final impact of the usability of the product.  Interesting!”

Brad (Director of Sales & Acquisitions, Co-Director of Anselm Academic)

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was how important the classroom observation was. We learned that what a teacher says they do in the classroom is not what they actually do. This was great insight into the type of product we might look to develop. " 

   

"Something I realized from this process is how marketing is also enriched through the usability process.  By doing usability testing on a key competitor product, we were able to see how to pitch our own product."

 Maura (Managing Editor, Anselm Academic)

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was how much a motivated team can accomplish in a short period of time! Anselm’s recent experience also reconfirmed my sense of the value of site visits and usability testing for understanding our customers."

    Jerry (Editorial Director; Co-Director, Anselm Academic)

"Something I realized from this process is how big a difference the “little things” make in usability—the precise wording for a label on a map; the exact location of a table in a book; the confusion that can result if the smallest detail is neglected."

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was the unique value of watching and listening to the person who actually uses a text. There’s nothing like it."