We have finally entered the last step which is Test. All the other stages before this one have cumulated up until this point allowing the designer to test their product to see if it’s functional in the real world. If a product is proven to work, the next challenge is to than discover what improvements can be made to make the product even better whether that be functionally or aesthetically. The end point is to create the best product available. In an article written by Rikkie Dam and Teo Siang titled, “Stage 5 in the Design Thinking Process: Test,” it describes how main focus and the outcomes of the testing can be used as ways of receiving feedback. As one might guess, feedback is extremely useful because it allows the designer to understand which aspects of their design or product works and which parts don’t. It also allows the designer to step into the user’s shoes which helps in determining a specific target audience. Sometimes the designer has to go back to the ideation phase in order to obtain more ideas or the prototyping phase to create a more efficient model. If their prototype wasn’t tested they wouldn’t be able to go back to a specific step because they wouldn’t have any research to guide them. This is why it isn’t a surprise that testing ones’ product helps create a stronger more effective product.
As stated in the previous post, I had the chance to create my own wacky app. Once I had drawn out different screens and came up with a sold plan, it was then time to test out my app on the real world. By testing my app on multiple people it allowed me to create the best app possible. The first people who I tested were my parents which proved to be quite entertaining because I constantly had to explain why I created this and what I needed them to do. The main problem they had was that my pictures didn’t explain enough of what was going on so many times they ended up guessing. I chalk most of this up to my lack of drawing skills. The second problem they had was with navigation which proved to be a consistent issue with my other test users. Having a clear yet easy to understand interface proved to be the main challenge. As a user of many apps myself, I have experienced both the good and bad. I understand how frustrating it can be to have to basically learn how to navigate and use an app with little to no instructions or help. This is why it was important for me to have an easy to use interface so that people of all ages could use this app and not have to read and remember the steps they need to take in order to made the app work. Through this process of testing, it was clearly evident how important this step was and why so many leading developers and designers use it today.
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