User Testing

User testing for me involved getting peoples opinions about the overall look and functionality of the site.
I ultimatley wanted to find out

• Which navigation system (horizonal or vertical) was more appealing to users
• Which navigation system (horizonal or vertical) was easier to use and allowed greater functionality.
• If people could find what they were looking for easily.
• If people found the visuals engaging/appealing.
• Any areas where there was confusion about navigation.

Pdf's of the website layout were shown to a group of people of varying ages and computer literacy.

Findings

• People generally preferred the horizontal menu as it didn't impose a heirachy on various catagories and allowed the different headings to be viewed in a clear logical manner.
• Twitter and Facebook logos needed to be used not hidden in the "follow us" section and the blog changed to a heading/link.
• Users related well to the visual language and felt the colour scheme and graphics were clean while still maintaining a feminine feel.

From the findings i have decided to use a horizontal drop down menu as it was the design layout favoured by the user study group. All other changes and suggestions will be implemented in the website formatting.