Prototype & test

Run usability tests

Watch people use the prototype and report what happened.

How to do it

1. Run 5 or more sessions.
2. Record task success and where people got stuck.
3. Turn the patterns into findings and recommendations.

Tip. A test report can feed new how-might-we statements, so the web loops back.

This step needs real people. The draft only organises what they said and did; it never makes it up.

What you need

Start from:

• Prototype
• Interview script

It is better with: Persona.

What you get: Test report

A test report template has these sections:

• Findings
• Recommendations

Where it fits

• Deliver (Double Diamond): Test the chosen answer with real people and hand it over.

Usually comes after

• Build a prototype
• Write an interview script
• Write a usability test script

What to do next

• Synthesize insights
• Map opportunities
• Write how-might-we statements
• Write a handoff spec
• Write a readout
• Find contradictions
• Code the data
• Check what new evidence changes

Templates that use it

• Evaluative study: Does this design work for the people who will use it?
• Double Diamond: A whole project, from understanding a problem to a tested answer.
• Assumption-led (Lean UX): You already have an idea. What could sink it?
• Continuous discovery: A product team learning every week towards one outcome.
• Design Thinking: Empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test, in the classic five modes.
• Design Sprint: Five days from a big question to a prototype tested with real people.