Design practice

Usability Test Workshop

Run a think-aloud usability test, apply severity ratings, and present findings with recommendations

Start the exercise

01 / Prepare

What you’ll
work on.

Plan and conduct a moderated usability test on an existing product or prototype. Practice task design, think-aloud moderation, severity rating, and findings presentation. This is the evaluative research counterpart to the interview exercise.

Before you begin

  • Familiarity with task-based usability testing and think-aloud sessions
  • A product or prototype to test (your own or a public product)
  • Access to 3–5 participants
  • Screen recording capability

02 / Practice

The work,
step by step.

Work through these 4 parts at your own pace. Keep your notes and work together so you can review them when you finish.

  1. Test Planning

    60 min

    1. Define the research questions — What usability questions do you need answered?

    2. Identify the product/prototype — What will participants interact with?

    3. Write 4–6 task scenarios — Realistic tasks that probe your research questions. Each task has a clear starting point and success criteria, tasks should be achievable in 2–5 minutes each, avoid giving away the answer in the task wording. Example: "You want to change your notification preferences. Please show me how you'd do that."

    4. Define success metrics per task: completion (binary: did they succeed?), time on task, error count, satisfaction (post-task rating, 1–5).

    5. Write a test script — Introduction, consent, warm-up, tasks, post-test questions.

  2. Conduct Tests

    90–120 min

    1. Run 3–5 sessions (20–30 min each).

    2. Introduction (3 min) — Purpose, think-aloud instruction, consent, "the product is being tested, not you."

    3. Warm-up (2 min) — Brief background questions.

    4. Tasks (15–20 min) — Present each task, observe, take notes.

    5. Post-test (5 min) — Overall impressions, SUS questionnaire (optional).

    6. Practice think-aloud moderation: remind participants to verbalize ("Keep telling me what you're thinking"), don't help when they're stuck (this is data), use neutral responses ("Mm-hmm," "I see," "What are you looking for?"), after task failure ask "What did you expect to happen?"

  3. Analyze

    60 min

    1. Score each task — Completion, time, errors, satisfaction per participant.

    2. Identify usability issues — What went wrong and where?

    3. Apply Nielsen's severity ratings (0–4): 0 = Not a usability problem, 1 = Cosmetic (fix if time allows), 2 = Minor (low priority fix), 3 = Major (important to fix, high priority), 4 = Catastrophic (must fix before release).

    4. Group issues by theme — Navigation, labeling, feedback, flow, visual hierarchy.

  4. Present Findings

    60 min

    1. Executive summary — 3 sentences: what you tested, key finding, top recommendation.

    2. Methodology — Participants, tasks, setup (brief).

    3. Task results table — Success rate, avg time, satisfaction per task.

    4. Top 5 findings — Each with: description, severity, evidence (quote or observation), recommendation.

    5. Prioritized recommendations — Severity x frequency matrix.

03 / Review

Look at what
you’ve made.

Gather your deliverables, then use the criteria to find what worked and what you would change. They also give a peer something specific to respond to.

What to bring together

  • Test plan with task scenarios and success criteria
  • Test script
  • Session notes for 3–5 participants
  • Task results table (completion, time, errors, satisfaction)
  • Findings report with severity ratings and recommendations
  • Prioritized issue list

How to assess your work

Task design
Tasks are realistic, unbiased, and have clear success criteria
Moderation
Think-aloud maintained, no leading, neutral responses
Analysis rigor
Severity ratings justified, issues grouped thematically
Recommendations
Specific, actionable, prioritized by severity and frequency
Presentation
Findings are concise, evidence-based, and actionable for stakeholders

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