For the second round of HX testing, we want to test out our current story, popups, circuits, and compare with other types of books. From previous testing we have determined that our appropriate audience is children 8 to 10 year olds. We will be testing with an 8 year old as well as a 10 year old. We hope to do more testing after user testing is due as well. We plan to reach out to more people about the kiddos in their lives as well as try to set up a time for testing at a library.
We ended up asking our 8 year old and 10 year old almost all the same questions, but we had a little bit of a difference in the items we tested. We had a button circuit when we tested with the 8 year old, and we had the narrator circuit when we tested with the 10 year old; we were still able to use the same circuit questions though. We also we not able to do the book comparisons until we tested with the 10 year old due to trying to get ahold of materials. So, only the 10 year old answered questions regarding the book comparison.
In addition to these questions, we are also asking our users to choose from the 7 narrator bee designs. So far, the two honeycombs farthest left have been chosen with one vote each. We have only tested this with two users and need to do more testing before we can choose the final design.
From this round of user testing, we interviewed an 8 year old as well as a 10 year old. By interviewing both an 8 and 10 year old we were able to confirm our updated audience age range of 8-10 year olds was appropriate for our project. We focused this round on the popups as well as circuit interaction, but we did receive feedback on illustrations and the story as well.
Both children enjoyed the story, popup designs, illustrations, and circuit interactions. Based on responses, they understood the words and meanings of the story and liked Willie's character a lot. In our interview with Brooklyn we were able to show a picture book (The Nightmare Before Christmas) and a regular popup book (The Color Monster) for comparison, and it turned out that she still enjoyed our book the most! We asked both of our users to pick out their favorite bee narrator design (included in HX Testing Round 2 Part 1), and we were able to see that there is a preference for the simpler rounded honeycomb designs; we plan to do more user testing before we decide on the final design.
Based on the reaction we received from the circuits, we were thinking we could try to encourage learning about circuits by leaving the nylon tape circuits exposed and showing how the path from a sensor to a power source. Since we received such positive feedback, we will continue to build the rest of the book and learn new skills to make our book even more interactive and interesting. For example, Brooklyn really enjoyed some of the popup styles from regular popup book, so we plan to learn how to implement more complicated popups.
Gracie's (8 year old) Answers:
Story:
Were there any parts or words that you had trouble understanding?
No, I think the wording is fine.
What did you think of the story?
I like the story, about the right level for me.
What was the message of the story? Do you think Willie did the right things to convince Bucky to be his friend?
Becoming friends with everyone. I believe Willie did the right thing.
What would you do in Willie's place if someone like Bucky was being mean to you?
I would follow in Willie’s steps and also try to make friends.
What do you think about Willie as a character? Is there anything you wish was different about him?
I like that Willie is kind. I wouldn’t change anything.
Pop-up Questions:
What do you think about the look of the characters? The objects?
Everything is fine, I like it!
How do you like the layout of the pop-ups on the page?
Yea!
Do you wish anything was different about the pop-ups?
Nothing at all.
Circuits:
How easy was it to make the LED light up? Did you know what to do without instructions?
The button was simple and easy to use.
How do you feel about interacting with the pages this way? Is there anything that you wish you could do with the page? (such as moving/changing objects or characters?)
Having some lights would make it more interesting! Something like pull-able tabs would also make it interesting.
Brooklyn's (10 year old) Answers:
Story:
Were there any parts or words that you had trouble understanding?
It all made sense
What did you think of the story?
Liked when Willie went to the field and made the garden
What was the message of the story? Do you think Willie did the right things to convince Bucky to be his friend?
Be yourself and nobody else
Treat others the way that you want to be treated
Yes
What would you do in Willie's place if someone like Bucky was being mean to you?
Does not have social media
Probably do what Willie's parents said and stay away from social media
What do you think about Willie as a character? Is there anything you wish was different about him?
Liked that Willie didn't give up
Liked how all the animals went to school
Pop-up Questions:
What do you think about the look of the characters? The objects?
Like the pictures because it helps to illustrate the story
How do you like the layout of the pop-ups on the page?
Like the pop-ups that put the reader in the perspective of Willie
Do you wish anything was different about the pop-ups?
No
Circuits:
How easy was it to make the LED light up? Did you know what to do without instructions?
It was easy to see the outline of the bee in order to place it in the right place and make the interactions happen
How do you feel about interacting with the pages this way? Is there anything that you wish you could do with the page? (such as moving/changing objects or characters?)
It's cool because the narrator bee allows you to interact with the page
Book Comparison:
Which do you like better? The regular popups or the popups with interactions?
Liked the bee narrator and the perspective popups
What did you like about the popups and interactions in the regular pop up book? Didn't like?
Liked the "animated" portions of the popups, such as the rain page where it looked like it was raining and the hearts one with the moving hearts
Liked movements because of the "coming to life" aspect
Consistent design (dots)
