Usability Testing is intended to evaluate a prototype experience. It is the Test phase of The Design Thinking Process.

By performing usability testing, UX designers evaluate the ability, or inability, of users to complete specific tasks. Typically, test participants are asked to complete these tasks while UX designers watch, listen, and take notes. Results from the user testing are recorded and prioritized for the next prototype iteration. The process is repeated until UX designers are satisfied with the utility, usability, and usefulness of the prototype.

The goal of usability testing is to observe users interacting with the prototype and note what works and what does not work. The information informs revisions to the UX design.

I find it interesting to see how users interact with a design. It is informative and leads to improvements in the user experience.

Following are the results from my first user testing for the vocabulary app project from the Intro to UX Design course. I learned a lot and was immediately able to make improvements to the UX design for the next prototype. You can see in the example how changes were made to the UX design and prototype based on the usability testing.