Rachel Lurie Dustin Moore Karen Vasey

Goals: Test the Usability of the Include an Assessment of the Library Sub-site Usability testing: Task List Screener Software and Equipment Process

Hours and Information Positive Features o Information presented in small, quick portions. o Sections separated by graphic dividers – allows the user to quickly find the section they need. o Map in upper left corner is a quick and useful alternative to standard directions.

Hours and Information Possible Improvements o While most participants instinctively navigated to the Hours and Information page while attempting to complete task 1, many users had difficulty indentifying the information needed, even when looking directly at it. o In the following video, a participant attempts to find information on pay-what- you-wish admission on the hours and information page, and never identifies the information.

Hours and Information Web Page Changes by User, Task 1 o Of the five users who successfully completed the task, three needed to change web pages two or fewer times to do so, while the other two changed web pages eight or more times. o Possible solution: Had the information been in bold, to differentiate it from the standard hourly schedule, the information would be much more identifiable.

Education and Events: Overview Events Overview Page o Navigation menu differs in style from many other pages. Example of inconsistency found within whitney.org. o Text links used to delineate subject categories instead of graphic dividers. o Long, narrative descriptions used instead of short, concise, bulleted descriptions.

Education and Events: Overview Possible Improvements o Graphic dividers instead of text. o Pictures used should provide specific infor- mation to the user about that subject category. o Reduce the amount of text! Change narrative descriptions to bulleted descriptions, limit information to most useful for user. o Order the selections more logically. Daily events at top, weekly events below, etc.

Education and Events: Overview Program Descriptions o Testing in the events page brought to light several potential issues that noticeably hindered users in completing tasks. o Testers were unsure of where specific programs should be categorized – long, narrative Program descriptions did nothing to aid this. o Placing a specific event listing within the Program descriptions while leaving all other events hidden is also confusing.

Education and Events: Overview Possible Improvements o A more concise and descriptive program description could help. A possible example for Public Programs: Public Programs allow artists, critics, scholars, and writers to address and discuss topics pertinent to the Whitney collection with adult audiences. Programs under this category include: Seminars with Artists series Open Studio, Afternoons with Artists series Special lectures, seminars, and events. o Testers also resorted to using the ctrl+F search function on the programs page, revealing the need for a search box function, as the evidenced by the following video.

Education and Events Time on Task by user, Task 5 o Completion time for task five ranged from slightly more than 40 seconds, to over 6 minutes. o Two times of more than 5 minutes 20 seconds, and another of 2 minutes, indicate that the long task times are not aberrations. o The following video addresses another contributing factor to the difficulty participants exhibited with task 5.

Calendar o Problems with the calendar came into play in two different tasks. o The event that is the objective of task 5 was not entered into the calendar. Searches by participants turned up no results. o One participant, who previously failed to locate information on the Task 5 event in the calendar, chose not to even try a search for the task 6 event because of his previous lack of results. o The following video illustrates this incident.

Library Library Pages o Primary issue is the poor organization and lack of clarity within the Collection navigation menu. o Library relevant items are intermingled with items that bear no relation to the Library. o Recent Acquisition item bears no connection to the library, but its proximity and title can make the user believe it does. o 5 out of 6 users who attempted task 11 mistook Recent Acquisitions to be related to library acquisitions; instead, it addresses art acquisitions exclusively.

Library Time on Task by user, Task 11 o Of the four participants who attempted the task, all took more than 70 seconds to complete the task o Even though WhitneyCat includes an excellent new Acquisitions search feature, participants invariably looked for a link in the navigation menus first before heading to Whitneycat.

Library Possible Improvements o The single most important change for the Library would be the establishment of its own navigation menu heading. o Would greatly clarify every aspect of the Whitney library. o Possible menu items for the Library menu: Library Information – replaces Library, modeled after Hours and Information. WhitneyCat Library FAQ – would add answers to questions regarding access, hours, content, etc. Rights and Reproduction New Acquisitions Search – directs to WhitneyCat new Acquisitions search.

Whitney Homepage Primary Observations o Poor use of white space leads to a homepage that is small, cramped, and cluttered. o Site is designed to work on 800x600 resolutions. Should be updated and optimized for a larger resolution. o Increasing size will give potential for better organization and larger font sizes. o Overuse of greys, dark greys, charcoals, and blacks results in too little contrast, especially on menus.

Whitney Homepage Observations Cont’d o Dark grey menu backing surrounded by grey stone, grey borders, and high black and grey content in pictures, and coupled with small text, leads to poor menu readability. o Exacerbated by long, poorly organized menus. Menu items often belong on different hierarchical levels of the site, and jargon is prevalent. o The following video illustrates the amount of time needed to examine the menu set while looking for a particular link.

 Difficulty in “seeing” items on the page  Frustration with the navigation system  Hard to find specific events  Confusion regarding library subset

 The Whitney has a good website with great information.  A few strategic enhancements could easily lead to increased traffic and higher ticket sales.

 Type faces, type sizes, and color combinations re-enforce text  Information presented in concise segments  Global navigation  Robust search function  Fully functional events calendar