UX Research
Assessing the Usability and User Experience of Canadian Museum of Nature’s website
Overview
The Canadian Museum of Nature is Canada’s national natural history museum located in Ottawa, Ontario. Their website, designed in 2009, aims to offer visitors an engaging way to learn about their research programs, extensive collections, and exhibitions.
Project Goal
Evaluate how users are able to effectively perform tasks on Canadian Museum of Nature’s most frequented pages, on desktop devices.
My Role
UX Researcher
UI Designer
Duration of the project
6 weeks (March-May 2020)
Our Process
Designing the study
The first step in our process was to meet with our client to learn about their goals and expectations. During the kickoff meeting, CMN revealed the primary challenge of their website was to change the “old look and feel” that does not mach the current time, nor is information presented in a way that provides optimal viewing experience for their most frequented pages.
With the client’s challenge in mind, our team framed our goal as: to provide visitors with a seamless user experience for the “Home Page” and “Plan Your Visit” sections of the website, and include an updated content and aesthetics design for our recommendations. Additionally, we discussed about the audience they would like to target. They requested us to focus in two profiles: Parents and Tourists.
2. Recruiting participants
Based on the profiles prioritized by our clients we prepared a screening questionnaire, that was sent out via different channels to guarantee the recruitment of the desired profiles. Some of the avenues we used were:
Canadian Museum of Nature’s listerv
Pratt School of Information’s listserv
Center for Social Innovation’s listserv
Personal networks
A total of 28 people responded to our a screening questionnaire. To filter and select our 9 participants we used the following selection criteria:
Caregiver of a person under 18 years old
Has traveled for leisure within the past year
Has visited a local or foreign museum
Has used a museum's website
Is comfortable with using the internet
Who were our participants?
3. User Testing
The method we used for this study is User Testing, which involves users as experimental subjects and is conducted in a controlled setting. In a usability-testing session, a researcher, called a “facilitator” or a “moderator”, asks a participant to perform tasks, usually using one or more specific user interfaces. While the participant completes each task and "thinks aloud", the researcher observes the participant’s behavior and listens for feedback.
Tasks
Target: Parents, Admission Page
“You are currently not a member of the museum and you want to visit with your 8-year-old daughter. You are interested in attending a 3D movie. Find out what the admission cost would be to visit the museum and attend a 3D movie for both you and your daughter.”
Target: Tourists, Home & Event Page
“You are preparing for your trip to Ottawa in late May and saw an evening event on the Canadian Museum of Nature’s homepage. You’d like to find out when the next event of this series will take place, what time the next event will start, and up to how many friends can you bring to the event?”
Target: Parents, Home & Event Page
“Your 10-year-old nephew is learning about the microbes in school. You heard about an exhibition on microbes and want to take him to see it this weekend. Check out the event and find out if this exhibition is included in your museum entrance ticket.”
4. Data Analysis
After each session, we analyzed our data individually then came together as a team to talk about the general insights learned from our sessions. A consolidated list of usability problems were then created based on participants’ feedback. Each problem was assigned a severity rating and frequency number, which allowed us to prioritize the most critical problems and provide feasible recommendations for our clients.
List of Usability Issues
5. Recommendations
Overall Findings
Before jumping to the recommendations, let’s take a look at the overall impression participants had when using CNM’s website.
Most participants were impressed by the variety of content offered, they also found CMN’s website to be family-friendly and welcoming. The results from our post-test rating scale questions showed:
50%
of our participants found that it is relatively easy to navigate the site
60%
of our participants thought planning a visit to the CMN was an overall pleasant experience
33%
of our participants found the
interface aesthetically pleasing
Based on this feedback and the analysis of the user testing, we put together three detailed recommendations that will improve the User Experience of the frequently visited Home Page, Admission Page, and Event Page.
Recommendation #1 Present key information at the top of page and rely on one main navigation bar
Usability Issue #1 Information architecture and labeling does not match user’s mental models.
Participants revealed that there were an exorbitant number of ways to discover the intended information, which caused hindrances in the completion of tasks. The numerous labels, which are not always clear, did not align with the user’s mental model. There is currently not a distinguisher of what entities are prioritized in the information architecture.
“It’s redundant. I’m torn between buy tickets online and plan your visit. Actually, both are at the top.” Participant #3
To overcome this issue we recommend presenting key information at the top and relying on one main navigation bar, as it can be observed in the figure on the right below.
Recommendation #2 Improve visual hierarchy of elements and use filters and dropdowns to organize information
Usability Issue #2 Information is not easily discoverable to help users make important decisions quickly.
When observing participants’ reactions while interacting with the website we found that many of them were impatient when looking for information due to the excess of text and unclear hierarchy throughout the different pages.
" In the dropdown menu for admission, it would be helpful if I saw all of the different admissions options that I had, and that I could just click" Participant #5
To better communicate all the content and options available, we recommend improving the visual hierarchy of the elements. Displaying the most important information at the top will help users find their way more efficiently. Also, organizing the different options available under categories that can be displayed in dropdown format with filters will help reduce scrolling and confusion.
A proposed redesign of Admissions page
Screenshot of the current Admissions page
Recommendation #3 Emphasize important event details and information so they are easily discoverable
Usability Issue #3 Layout and text do not support readability for optimal user experience.
While the majority of participants were able to accomplish the tasks assigned, feedback from the user tests indicated completing the tasks could have been facile if key information was more visible. The current manner in which event information is presented on the website is overwhelmingly text heavy along with the small font size text. The vital information necessary for completion of tasks are often overlooked because they are hidden within long sentences and are cramped in the center, displayed in small fonts.
“It's so hard to read. The words are so small and cramped into the center. Everything looks the same so it really forces you to read closer to find the relevant information you need.” Participant #8
We recommend emphasizing important event details and information so it is easily discoverable. We suggest making the date, time, cost, and age group of intended audience more visible for all events and exhibition related pages. Also, presenting the information in a bigger, more readable font and removing the secondary navigation bar on the left hand side will create more room for the main content. Moreover, moving the photos to the bottom will allow event information to be displayed first.
6. Communication
The last step in our process was to communicate the results of study to our client. During the presentation we went through the entire process, the methodology and the findings and recommendations.
We got positive feedback of our work. The points we raised after our analysis and the solutions we proposed made sense to our client. Particularly the many entry points from the home page was a challenge they spotted before, and with our study they have more data to tackle that issue.
For future studies we would recommend conducting user testings using high fidelity prototypes trying some of the solutions we presented to get feedback from participants and iterate on our design proposal.