Logan Davis – Arts and Crafts

Introduction

The website I have chosen for my heuristic evaluation is a Pinterest article. The specific article can be found under a collection entitled “Art and Crafts for Kids,” which contains a vast number of similar articles that offer arts and crafts activities that are supposedly meant for kids. The specific article I have chosen is titled “Tulip in a Heart Card Mothers Day Craft,” and includes a short video giving instructions on how to make the card specified in the title. Along with this video is a very brief description and a comments section.

Scenario

The scenario that I am imagining for the evaluation of this website is that of a younger child looking for something to make for their mom for Mother’s Day. With that being said, I am viewing the provided instructions in the video as they would be from the point of view of a child. I am assuming this child does not have any help from any adults and are attempting to complete this craft entirely on their own.

Analysis

The first flaw that shows itself is the use of materials that are not obviously available. In the instructional video, the demonstrator has multiple templates that are used to trace out various aspects of the craft. Despite these being such an important part of the process, there is no mention of how to attain these templates, or even how to make them yourself. There are no links provided outside of the video that would lead someone to finding these templates either. On top of this there are multiple comments asking about these templates as well, all with no answers. Secondly, there is no provided list of the necessary materials for completing this craft. Throughout the instructional video, the demonstrator uses scissors, glue, multiple sheets of construction paper, and the aforementioned templates. At no point in the video is it stated that the user will need to use all of these materials, and the only way they would find this information is by watching the full video and making a note of each material being used. While this normally would not be an issue for someone even slightly older, a younger child might find themselves beginning the craft without having the necessary materials gathered. This could prove to be a problem, especially if said child is attempting to complete this without the help of a parent. The final issue that I have found relates to the landing page of the website, rather than the specific article itself. The main page consists of what is essentially a wall of thumbnails that could easily become overwhelming for anyone, let alone a child. Along with this mess of thumbnails, the images are much larger than the titles of the articles, which are in a small font underneath the images, which could prove to be confusing or even easy to miss, leading to navigational issues.

• The first flaw I mentioned, the use of templates without any explanation as to how to attain them, falls under heuristic rule number 2 “match between system and the real world.” The second flaw I mentioned, the lack of an explanation of materials, falls under heuristic rule number 6 “recognition rather than recall.” The final flaw I mentioned, the overwhelming main page, falls under heuristic rule number 8 “aesthetic and minimalist design.”

• The first flaw I mentioned violates the second rule because information does not “appear in a natural and logical order.” The demonstrator uses the aforementioned templates which are not entirely obvious to the user. It may have been clear to the creator where or how to obtain these templates, but to the user it is not obvious at all. The second flaw I mentioned violates the sixth rule because it falls upon the user to be able to recall what materials they need while in the middle of the instructional process, rather than recognizing the necessary materials from a prior materials list. It would be much easier for the user to recognize the materials they need if that information had been explained prior to the instructions. The final flaw I mentioned violates the eighth rule because the main page is not aesthetically pleasing at all and could serve to be much more minimalistic. The images are way too big, the text is way too small, and each article’s link takes up far too much space.

Design Recommendations

In order to improve this site, I would add a link to the templates that are used in the video as well as a list of necessary materials. Adding a method to obtain the shown templates would cut out a lot of confusion for users, and provide them with a much simpler way to complete the craft instructions. A materials list at the beginning of the video or even as a text entry outside of the video would allow for users an easy to way to gather what they need before completing the instructions, rather than during the process. Along with these, I would fix the main page by making the thumbnails for each article smaller and their respective titles slightly larger. The main page would also benefit from being reorganized in a much more appealing fashion. These changes to the main page would provide users with a much simpler way to navigate through the available articles and decrease frustration.