My findings from my Artefact 2 results:
On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 was very diffciuit and 10 very easy, rate how easy each website was to use? (navigating the site)
Creative with a K: 5.28
Trade me: 7.28
On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is very slow and 10 very quick, rate how long it took to work out what to do on each website?
Creative with a K: 5.12
Trade me: 8.48
On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is feeling happy and 10 is feeling very annoyed, rate how frustrating did each website make you feel?
Creative with a K: 5.68
Trade me: 4.36
On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is excellent and 10 is poor, rate how visually appealing each website was?
Creative with a K: 5.04
Trade me: 5.16
Overall which website did you prefer to use over the other?
Creative with a K: 10
Trade me: 15
In the previous question why did you prefer the website over the other one?
Easier to use: 14
Looks more interesting : 11
User feedback
"Creative K has an unique navigation and layout design, during in my attention as a user. With Trade me, the navigation and layout is a lot clearer, however it is a very bland website."
"Too many things going on within the Creative With a K website."
"Creative with a K made me want to vomit. It was a really cool idea but it was way too busy, cluttered and it hurt my eyes. Trade me wasn't really a better website it was just less nasciating to stare at."
"Hard to compare as websites have different purpose. Although creative with a K looks unique without hovering over things there is no clear direction for navigation."
"The website (trade me) is self explanatory and I immediately new how to use. Where as the (Creative AK) site was confusing, and wasn't sure what it was and the navigation and usability is very poor."
Expected results
- The trade me website was easier and faster to work out what to do.
- The creative K website was more visually appealing but more frustrating and irritable to use.
- For users to prefer Creative K website more because it was different and exciting concept that people will enjoy discovering.
Actual findings
- More people found the trade me website easier to use and it took a shorter amount of time for them to grasp what to do.
- A lot more people found the Creative K website to be more frustrating to use. Also they got irritated faster by the Creative K website.
- To my surprise, users thought both websites were equally visually appealing. This shows aesthetics can be subjective.
- More people thought that the trade me website was more preferable than the other. Easier to use was outweighed by looking more interesting as the reason why users liked the website over the other.
Conclusions
Q. Does the novelty (interactive fun elements) make it more memorable or does functionality?Functionality. My questions did not ask about did they enjoy the interactive elements but I have asked this in a way because Interactive elements can be broken down to: usability and aesthetics. This is even better because it's broken it down. People prefer interactive elements that are easy to use.
Q. Does beauty destroy the concept?
Yes and no. Some people liked the beautiful website (40%). Others liked the usable website. (60%) Both are important UX considerations when designing a website. You need to compromise website aesthetics with usability.
