“Brunch” Micro-Usability Test

Period

2020.9. (2 weeks)

Role

UX Researcher

Contribution

100%

Company

School project

“ Can Brunch light users easily navigate posts they want? ”

Overview

The aim was to enhance users' ability to efficiently search for and save information or writings. To achieve this, a usability test was employed to identify any pain points users experienced while navigating and exploring the app.

Brunch is a writing platform designed for aspiring writers from South Korea, similar to Medium. The platform only allows authorized writers to upload their writings. To identify user pain points when using the app, I conducted a micro usability test with a group of readers.
I designed and conducted the usability test, which includes recruiting participants and writing a task scenario, and synthesized data.

1. Goals/ Methodologies

The goal was to help users look for information or writings and save them efficiently. To achieve the goal, I chose a usability test as a method to find user pain points when navigating and exploring the app.
‍

Research Design & Recruiting

Task

Task1: Go to the menu where you can explore writings by categories, and find the category for Travel around the world’ to read the related writings
Task2: Search ‘Plant’ and read the writing at the top
Task3: Bookmark the writing you read at Task2 to read it later.
Task 4: Go to the menu where you can see writings you have recently read, and find the writing that you saved in Task 3.
Task5: Search ‘Plant’ and read the Magazine at the top.

Participants profile

3. Conclusion (Insights & sugesstions)

Names of the navigation bar are confusing.
Due to the use of metaphorical names such as "Brunch Now," "Readers' Room," "Feed," and "Writer's Drawer," the purpose of each menu can appear unclear.

‘Like It' button is NOT perceived as a bookmark
The "Like it" button was identified as having a sole purpose of indicating that the user likes the content, rather than functioning as a bookmark. Therefore, a separate bookmark feature is necessary for users who wish to save content without necessarily indicating that they like it.

IA is too complicated to find bookmarks
Users had difficulty finding the writings they had bookmarked using the 'Like' button. The navigation process was not smooth and required up to 4 taps. Therefore, a better information architecture that can guide users more naturally is needed.