Rapid Usability Testing
James Bach, Michael Bolton · 2025
Too few people realize how easy it can be to identify terrible design flaws through the filter of usability. One possible reason is that usability testing has a reputation for being cumbersome and expensive, with people in lab coats supervising users through one-way mirrors. The concept of personas originates from theaters and movies, where actors needed to get a deep understanding of the characters they were portraying. The basic idea is to watch people try to use the system to accomplish tasks and see where they struggle or get confused. If prototypes are available, they can be used for testing general structure and navigation, as well as visual design. Usability tests are often very specific tasks. This chapter presents some examples of common checklists: general checklist of usability, and web content accessibility guidelines.