echo | usability

Ethics - Core Values

Essence: At EchoViz, our core values demand that we stand by our convictions and never compromise our ethical foundation. We take this very seriously. Every member of the EchoViz team is familiar with and abides by the codes of ethics of the leading professional societies to which we belong and which govern our areas of practice:

• Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)
• American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA)
• Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES)
• Usability Professionals' Association (UPA)

Gravity: As a team, we review these standards annually and we openly discuss projects and situations that may be confusing or cause concern for a member of our team. We are never more serious about ethics and standards than when we are protecting the intellectual property of our clients or working with human subjects in the course of research and usability testing.

Ethics - Professional Education

Essence: Lifelong learning and professional education are hallmarks of the value system embraced by EchoViz. We encourage independent study, participation in conferences and seminars, and the sharing of knowledge with other team members and project stakeholders.

Formal Training: In addition to regular participation in conferences and seminars, all members of the EchoViz development team involved in usability testing have received training from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and have passed their certification course "Human Participant Protections: Education for Research Teams."

Professional Affiliations: EchoViz team members also maintain memberships with the Usability Professional's Association (UPA) and SIGCHI in order to keep abreast of current thinking and best practices in research and usability testing.

Ethics - Subject Precautions

HFES-Article IV: EchoViz strictly adheres to Article IV of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society's Code of Ethics regarding Subject Precautions:

• We believe in the informed consent of subjects, and:
• Their understanding of what is involved in any participatory study including risks and potential discomfort.
• Their right to decline participation or to withdraw from participation at any time.
• We respect the privacy of participants.
• We strive to minimize the invasiveness of data collection.
• We are familiar with Institutional Review Board approval processes.
• We avoid the deception of subjects.

UPA Code of Conduct: EchoViz also adheres to the Code of Professional Conduct prescribed by the Usability Professional's Association. To that end:

• We will act with integrity in all of our dealings with our clients, colleagues and study participants.
• We will always strive for an atmosphere of honesty and transparency in our professional dealings - particularly during usability testing.
• We will conduct ourselves professionally.
• We will report findings honestly and objectively.
• We will take extra care when dealing with protected populations such as children, the disabled or the elderly.

Language and Culture - ISO

Echo Visualization is familiar with ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and military standards. We routinely design to these standards as well as other standards dictated by corporate doctrine. EchoViz can also provide research services to identify appropriate standards that may apply to a product or interface.

Language and Culture - Static Vs. Dynamic

Essence: The first rule of interface design: there is never enough space to adequately show and explain everything on the screen. Designers must convey a meaning at-a-glance in limited space, without the benefit of protracted explanations. User comprehension difficulty may be compounded because the concept in question is new to the user, therefore, it won't be 'intuitive'. Issues related to informing users within a limited space often leads to the decision to use icons or pictograms due to the belief, whether it's true or not, that 'a picture is worth 1000 words'. All too often, it's not true and poorly executed or ill-informed graphics only serve to further alienate users.

Comprehension: Products are often designed for use in multiple countries. As a result, representative symbols, pictograms, icons and colors can be further obscured to users due to language and cultural differences. As a consequence, every graphic interface element should be tested for comprehension across all languages and cultures in which the product will be distributed.

Iconography: Regardless of language or culture, icons work best when used to depict nouns (i.e. physical things). Icons don't work nearly as well for verbs, adjectives, systems, processes or abstract ideas. Icons falling into these categories must be learned. Whenever possible, EchoViz recommends the use of text labels with icons to assist users with comprehension.

Animation: The decision to animate icons should not be taken lightly. Animation may or may not improve comprehension. In fact, it can actually increase the amount of visual "noise" on the screen, which can distract users, muddy the intent, and make matters worse. Again, testing for user comprehension across language and culture is critical.

Protocols - Heuristics

Essence: Investigations into interface usability need to be guided by methodical analysis and comparison to best practices in design and usability. This systematic approach, referencing usability issues to heuristics, provides quality feedback in an iterative design process by producing a list of usability problems with the interface as reported by test participants. It is an efficient method for quickly identifying issues.

Usability Issues: Throughout the interface, heuristic evaluation serves to holistically consider issues such as visibility of system status, communication of warnings, cautions and advisories, consistency, system similarity to real-world situations, error prevention and recovery, help materials and user efficiency.

Context: Often, the heuristic evaluation will occur in the context of actual usage scenarios based on the task analysis developed during the research phase of the project. This type of evaluation offers a great deal of flexibility and can even be conducted in the earliest stages of interface development.

Protocols - Releases

Legal Protections: Whenever EchoViz is involved in conducting usability tests with participants, it is our standard practice to have all participants sign a general consent form. Typically, the consent form notifies the participants of the nature of the testing, their right to decline participation at any time and that audio and/or videotaping will occur during their test session(s). EchoViz participants are also required to sign a general non-disclosure agreement in order to protect the intellectual property of our clients.

Protocols - Evaluation Methods

Essence: Testing can and should be conducted throughout the design process to insure the project meets or exceeds all usability goals. Testing continually informs the design team with feedback that can be employed immediately.

Objectives: Evaluation tools are generally designed to capture either quantitative data or qualitative data. The objective of the testing -- in conjunction with the type of product or system to be tested -- the user population and the context of use all influence the manner of data collection.

Tools: EchoViz uses a variety of tools and survey instruments to collect data and capture user attitudes and impressions during testing. Our palette includes the following:

• Audio tape
• Video tape
• Questionnaires
• Semantic differential scales
• Heuristic evaluation
• Observation
• Interviews
• Focus Groups

We adapt our palette to the goals and needs of our clients.