Scenarios - Garrett Minster

Usability Scenario 1: Lynne

Lynne is a mother of two young children and an aunt to a newborn, looking to purchase toys for her 2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, while also searching for suitable items for her newborn nephew for the upcoming Holiday season. Lynne is an office worker by day, meaning that when she isn't occupied with looking after her children, she is occupied with work. As a result, Lynne wants to find a one stop place online where she can find high quality products at low prices. She would also like the option to shop locally so she will not have to deal with shipping costs and possible delays.

Lynne has experience using various online shopping sites such as Amazon or Walmart's websites, but she is looking for a better option than either of these sites. Walmart's website can have a limited selection of products, and Amazon will often show results from unreputable sources if you search for toys or baby products on their site. The focus of Amazon and Walmart's sites is also broader in scope than just selling toys, meaning that unrelated products may appear, or Lynne may get distracted by other non-toy related products on either site, which is troublesome for Lynne, as she would like to take care of her task during short work breaks at her office computer. She has an enclosed office with minimal noise, and if she times it right, she will not be faced with any interruptions while she searches for toys and baby gear. As a result of these factors, Lynne needs a simple and effective solution to her task.

Lynne's sister recommended she try looking on Fisher Price's website for toys and baby gear, as from what Lynne's sister has heard of the site, Fisher Price's website may be what Lynne is looking for. Lynne has never heard the name "Fisher Price" before, but after being told that Fisher Price is the company behind toys like Little People and Power Wheels, Lynne feels confident that she will not have to do any research beforehand to use Fisher Price's website or research their other products. Lynne also has experience with other shopping sites, as mentioned above. Lynne is confident that with her expertise and Fisher Price's catalog of products, finding toys and baby gear for her children and newborn nephew should be a snap!

Usability Scenario 2: Joey

Joey, a lively 5-year-old preschooler, is going to try and familiarize himself with using computers by exploring the internet on a computer in his preschool's computer room. There are 12 or so other children in his class, most of whom are more familiar with using a computer than Joey. He has used a computer before, but he still needs to try and familiarize himself with using a computer. Trying new or unfamiliar things is difficult for Joey, like making new friends or when he first had to get used to going to preschool. One trick Joey's dad advised him was to try and connect familiar things with unfamiliar things. Though this strategy worked well with making new friends, Joey is not sure how to apply this to trying how to use a computer.

One of Joey's teachers tells Joey that there are websites for all kinds of things on the internet, and that there are likely websites for things that Joey knows about. After a little bit of brainstorming, Joey decides to try and see if there is a website for a company that makes some of his favorite toys, Fisher Price. Joey often gets toy catalogs in the mail. Whenever Joey gets a toy catalog, or whenever he gets toys for his birthday or the Holidays, he recognizes the name, "Fisher Price" on the toys and the boxes. Fisher Price makes a bunch of different toys Joey loves playing with, like Imaginext and Power Wheels, meaning he will be able to recognize all the different webpages and articles on the site, even if he is not sure what a webpage or an article is.

Despite his newfound confidence, Joey is still a bit nervous about using Fisher Price's website. Joey has heard stories about his grand dad making mistakes with his computer from his father, even when trying to execute simple tasks, so Joey is worried he may still make a mistake. Also, despite being separated from other more active areas of his preschool, the computer room can get a bit noisy from the sound of the other children and the other computers in the room. This means that Joey may find it hard to focus on exploring Fisher Price's website and may miss something important. Thankfully, since there are other children in the room with him, Joey can easily ask one of the other kids in the room for help, or he can ask a teacher. Joey is hopeful that his familiarity and enthusiasm regarding Fisher Price toys will make learning how to explore the web much more interesting, and that he may find some new toys he may ask Santa for in the process.