First Usability Session and Project MyGov Wireframe
{.alignright}One of the ideas we’re working on with Project MyGov is reducing the burden when filling out government forms. To that end, we created a user flow for what that might look like, and spent the past two days doing some scrappy usability testing out in the wild.
- Task: Changing your name
- Number of participants: 10
- Demographics: Equal mix of men and women across varying ages and races
- Location: Outside a nearby coffee shop
- Methodology: Paper prototype
- Time: 5-10 minutes
- Script: For the women, it was “Let’s say you’re getting married…” and for the men, “You were just cast in a new action movie, but when you get to Hollywood you find out a famous actor already has your name and you need to change it…”
(Cue smiles from participants.)
Here’s how we framed this task to participants:
“Introducing MyGov, your online guide to navigating government. Gone are the days of having to enter and re-enter your basic information like name and address every time you visit a government website or fill out a form. With MyGov, your information is safe and secure. Creating your account is easy, and only a few clicks away.”
We showed them a low-res wireframe, asking them to think out loud as they went through the task. To gauge the experience, we asked the same question before and after: how likely they’d be to use a service that allows them to store their personal information online if it meant it was easier to fill out forms. In between sessions we made tweaks to the experience based on patterns we saw in the feedback. Between rounds one and two, there was a 62% increase of likelihood to use the service. Sweet!
Now that we have a couple of usability sessions under our belt, we’d like to get your input.
We’re looking for your help with…
- How can we make the call to action stronger in this experience?
- What questions do you think would users have at this point?
Let us know in the comments below!
Project MyGov, 1 of 5 initiatives that are part of the new White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program, is reimagining how citizens interact with government through an experience designed around their needs rather than a confusing and fragmented bureaucracy.
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