Stitch Niche is an application designed to assist with resizing and designing crochet and knitting patterns. Stitch Niche will help those of all skill levels be able to customize their patterns to fit their needs. Stitch Niche is unique because it tackles the difficult task of resizing patterns that often requires a great deal of time and effort to do the calculations. This application hopes to make working on the projects you want to make a little easier!
In this final sprint, the UX team and dev teams of Stitch Niche separated to work independently on different aspects of the project. For the UX team this sprint was dedicated to creating a working prototype and running a User Test of that prototype's functionality. In order to conduct this test there were a few tasks and artifacts that needed to be created prior to the test which have been described below.
Mock-Ups
Mockups were created following the design of the wireframes from the previous sprint. These were made to serve as a guide for creating the prototype. This design was later scrapped following the creation of the prototype for something more aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly.
Prototype
The prototype was created to be used as a sample of how the Stitch Niche application would function for its user base. further details of the prototype’s functionality and uses are described below in the methods section.
Documentation
The third set of artifacts created during this sprint were the Protocol and the informed consent form. These documents were used during the User Test to record notes as well as a formal acknowledgment from the User Test participants were aware of what their contribution entailed and their rights. Further details about this documentation is described in the methods section below.
Below the UX team has outlined the research and outcomes of their contributions during the third and final spirit. !
This section will describe the process and steps taken to conduct the User Test.
Set Up
Before the User Test could be conducted there was a list of tasks that needed to be performed in order for the UX team to be approved for their study.
The first thing that needed to be done was the creation of the prototype itself. The prototype was initially designed off of the Mock-ups that were based on the wireframes designed in sprint two. However, after attempting to implement the required features and it proving to be difficult the prototype was built from scratch following a more user friendly and less crowded design.
Some required features of the prototype were: *Working inputs for measurements *A simulation of the resize function *A simulation of creating a rectangular pattern for both crochet and knitting *A simulation of creating a square pattern for both crochet and knitting *A functioning and useful help menu
The second task was creating the necessary documentation for the User Test which included a test protocol and an informed consent form.
Protocol
The test protocol was divided into three sections (Background, Tasks, and Conclusion) and utilized a think-aloud methodology to gather information. Moderators would ask participants in the introduction to think out loud and to express any likes, dislikes, feelings, or questions that may arise during the User Test. This was in order to gather information in real-time and note down any thoughts that may be lost if participants were asked for their thoughts at the end.
The participants would be asked to complete a set of three tasks each designed to gather specific information about how a user interacts with the application. For each of the tasks participants were given a verbal description of a goal that they would attempt to achieve while using the prototype. While performing this task they would follow the request to think out loud and moderators would record notes on a copy of the test protocol. Once the task was completed, or the participant could go no further, the moderator would ask the participant to rate the difficulty level of the task on a scale of 1-5 where 1 is "Very Difficult" and 5 is "Very Easy". Below is an analysis of each set of questions and the individual goals of that section.
Background information
Within the background information section participants were asked a series of questions centered around their use of competitor applications and what features were liked or disliked. This set of questions could be modified by moderators in the event the participant had no experience with other applications. This set of questions was designed to gather information about prior experience and expectations of an application like Stitch Niche.
- What are some of the Crochet or Knitting applications you use for making your patterns?
- What are your favorite features of them?
- When you are choosing to use an application what features are most important?
- What things could be improved?
Task One
- “Your friend gave you a knitting pattern for a scarf and suggests you use Stitch Niche to resize and adjust the pattern to your measurements. However, You have never used the application so you decide to try and find out how to use the application. Can you find a way to figure out how to use the application?”
This task was designed to test if a user is able to navigate through stitch niche if they had never used the application before. The main goal and what would count the task as complete was if the user could access the help menu to answer their questions since most answers to commonly asked questions were found there.
Task Two
- “Let's say you have a gift exchange/secret Santa coming up, and you want to make a custom scarf for that. You cannot find a pattern that is the specific size/length you want to make it. Try and see if you can use Stitch Niche to create a new knitting pattern for this scarf.”
Task two was made to have users see if they could navigate the basic mechanics of the pattern making tool. This task would be marked complete if users could go through the necessary steps to create a brand new pattern. This task would help the UX team determine if there was any confusion of the steps taken or if there are any new features that are needed.
Task Three
- You have an old blanket pattern that you want to use for your best friend’s baby shower gift. You realize that it is not the correct dimensions for the baby's crib so you need to adjust that. Can you try and adjust the blanket to fit those new dimensions?
Task three was created in order to have users test if they could navigate the basic mechanics of the pattern resize tool. This task would be marked complete if users could go through the necessary steps to take the measurements of one pattern and resize it. This task would help the UX team determine if there was any confusion of the steps taken or if there are any new features that are needed.
Informed Consent
In addition to the protocol, an informed consent form was written that would be signed by user test participants at the start of their session. This form was created to inform participants of any risks that may arise during testing as well as what the test set to accomplish.
The third task was completing an IRB training and receiving certification for working with human subjects. This course was to inform us moderators about ethical research and data collection practices and what pitfalls to avoid during our study.
Once all of this documentation was completed we then compiled it and filled out our IRB application which gave a brief explanation of our goals and methods of study. Once the application was submitted and approved the UX team began final preparations for the User Test.
Participants were gathered via recruiting volunteers from CSCI 431W
User Test Day and Data Analysis
On the day of the test, participants would meet moderators in an isolated room. At the start of the session, the moderator would have the participant read and sign an informed consent before beginning to go through the test protocol described above. During the test the moderators would not provide help, their main goal was to determine how well the prototype worked for a variety of users.
Once the tasks were all completed the moderators would thank the participants and send them on their way before preparing a fresh set of documents and resetting the prototype.
Once all user tests were completed the data was then compiled into a spreadsheet where analysis of the findings and results was conducted. These findings and conclusions are discussed in the next section.
The pilot testing revealed valuable insights into Stitch Niche’s functionality and user experience. Most participants appreciated the resizing feature and pointed out its value in simple pattern customization. The visualizer was frequently mentioned as a feature users wished to see implemented to provide a view of pattern adjustments. Many participants ran into unclear labels and inconsistent measurement units. They expressed a need for more helpful features, such as pop-ups or tooltips, rather than relying on a separate help menu. Participants suggest the need for the ability to upload PDFs or existing patterns and adding a feature to shared patterns and providing video tutorials. While most participants completed the tasks successfully, beginners struggled because of the limited knitting or crochet knowledge, indicating that the app would benefit from more instructional support. The lack of fully developed features and incomplete sections also contributed to confusion and frustration during testing.
Stitch Niche application proved to be more efficient and user-friendly. The simple UI design lines up with users’ mental models, making tasks easier to complete. To improve the application further, participants recommend enhancing the visual design, adding helpful features like tooltips, and improving error messages to guide users better.
The Stitch Niche UX team’s participant pool consisted of students who lacked experience with knitting or crochet. This absence of domain knowledge may have influenced how they interacted with the app and the feedback they provided. Additionally, the UX team’s limited experience with conducting user tests could have affected the testing process. There were also the limitations of the program used to create the protocol which led to a more limited design that lacked some functionality that is seen in the final product of the Stich Niche application.