Yesterday my group and I wandered about CMU campus looking for people to fill out the US Postal Service’s mail forwarding change of address form so we could see what types of problems people have. The idea was to use the information we gathered to inform the redesign of the form that each of us will be completing by Friday.

We ended up testing five people. While that may seem like a small number, it’s amazing what you can determine from even the smallest amount of user testing.

Today in class, the three groups compared findings. The two major issues that everyone encountered were:

• No one read or even knew there were directions, since they’re not attached to the form
• Most people did not know how to mail the form when they were done.

People did not have much trouble with the form itself, as it’s pretty simple. But the design could definitely be improved to make it friendlier, at the least.

The forms we are creating will be 10.5 inches x 6.125 inches (the current form is 7 inches x 5.5 inches). So we’ll have room to bring in any needed directions as part of the form.

For tomorrow we are to create thumbnail sketches of proposed designs. I’ve already done mine, one as a vertical layout, and the other horizontal. They include numbered sections to help people easily figure out what they need to fill out and where to go next. At least, that is the intention.