Feedback from Usability Evaluation to User Interface Design:Are Usability Reports Any Good?

This paper reports from an exploratory study of means for providing feedback from a usability evaluation to the user interface designers. In this study, we conducted a usability evaluation of a mobile system that is used by craftsmen to register use of time and materials. The results of this evaluation were presented to the designers in different forms. First, the designers were presented with a traditional usability report. Second, we facilitated a dialogue where the results of the evaluation were discussed. During this process, we collected opinions from the designers on the main strengths and weaknesses of the system. The findings indicate that detailed descriptions of problems and log descriptions of the user's interaction with the system and of system interaction are useful for the designers when trying to understand the usability problems that the users have encountered