UX, Data & Research
Understanding novice users' interaction with a complex UI.
This project was completed as part of a course on Usability Test and Evaluation at McGill University’s Information Studies department.
VCV Rack is a virtual modular synthesizer, a type of sound generating software that mimics its analog hardware counterpart. Modular synthesizers are made from a collection of specialized modules that can be patched together in many different ways, depending on the intented goal. For this research, we were interested in understanding how easy or hard it is for novice users (i.e. individuals who have no experience with synthesizers, either hardware or software, and little to no musical skills) to learn a new, complex user interface. To do so, we developed a very basic patch and users were required to follow a set of instructions: (1) Add one module to the patch, (2) connect the modules, (3) play a sequence of musical notes from the resulting patch (assuming steps 1 and 2 were performed correctly) and tweak that sequence and/or other parameters in the patch. Task completing time was measured and participants had to answer a questionnaire at the end.
Task (left) before and (right) after completion:
Although sample size was low (n=3), the results suggested that the learnability of VCV Rack’s user interface was, at best, moderate. Partipants perceived the interface as complex and tasks that should be relatively straightforward, such as adding a new module, proved to be complicated to the users. The usability test resulted in a few suggestions that could improve the user experience of novice users and included new ways to access the module library as well as improvements to the module library itself; improved usability when users attempt to connect modules together; improvements to the sequencer module (none of the participants were able to run the sequencer).
Since this was an academic project, we had no access to the VCV Rack development team. But, interestingly, a few days before we presented the results of the usability test, VCV Rack 2 was released and included some of the suggestions we had proposed, such as better user feedback when the cursor hovers over critical parts of the user interface.
Read the full report
Results of the post-test questionnaire:
