Overview
For my User Centered Research and Evaluation Methods class, I chose to explore and evaluate iTunes’ ability to cater to Music students’ academic and recreational music listening needs. I was tasked to utilize contextual inquiry and interviewing skills to explore the users’ listening habits and from the data, model their interactions and uses of various music applications. After more research in the forms of a literature review and competitive analysis, I was able to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of iTunes and design new features that would help the students and minimally disrupt the current structure of iTunes. Through think aloud studies I then gaged the effectiveness of these new features to gain a better understanding of how to further develop these designs. To conclude this project, a final report summarized the findings and documented the process from the user research through evaluation phase.
Process
- Literature Review
- User Interviews / Contextual Inquiry
- Competitive Analysis
- Iteration of Design Solutions
- Usability Testing: Think Alouds
