Setting Up The User Testing Session
To set up the process I kept the workshops as simple as possible. I was interested in testing if the book or the prompts would lead to the most interesting conversations during the workshop and was happy with the results I received from testing with 6 participants.
Questions Asked During User Research
- How did you feel about the use of the beads and the materiality of stringing them?
- Did the book support you while you were crafting the experience?
- Did the prompts make sense and did you find them interesting while creating your charm bracelet?
- What was the best part of the experience?
- If you could change something what would you change?
- How did you feel after completing the process?
Feedback
I received a ton of great feedback from my experience engaging with people who interacted with the project in addition to a lot of constructive feedback. Overall a majority of the female participants were eager to dive in, one of the surprising outputs of the project was the conversation and intimate details of people’s lives which emerged. We dug deeply into ideas around taste and friendship, and the workshops felt very symbolic of early girlhood.
There was pushback by some of the male participants, having little to no connection with the process of friendship bracelets, and lacking the ability to connect to the prompts was a challenge for some people.
The pain points in this process were specific to the materiality of the string, I learned quickly that while it was aesthetic, it present several frustrations to people while trying to tie the objects.
For the future I will need to look into alternative options for stringing together the beads, and will need to look into more advanced clasps.
