02  Methods

Testing

If testings are used in a design process people should be selected who can give valuable insights. Prior knowledge and cultural backgrounds should be acknowledged as a design always comprises different connotations. An open discussion is suitable in the beginning and towards the end. Otherwise, interview questions have to be carefully prepared and tested before. It is helpful to keep the questions short and rather simple to make them understandable.

In general, any complexity should be removed that can interfere with the interview situation, the test person should always feel comfortable.

The aim should be to define criteria and parameters, to filter out from a non-design perspective which is the most important aspect. For a successful A/B testing the material has to be tested in advance and must be prepared to an extent that there are clear distinctions between the comparison.

Project: Design research on financial information
By: Stephanie Müller
Year: 2017

I redesigned the German tax bill, called »Steuerbescheid« which goes to almost 40 Million citizens in Germany once a year. It is an important and influential document of the government. The organization which sends the letter is the german finance office. It is perhaps the most bureaucratic instance of the government and is responsible for the welfare of the whole nation.

That document can be improved in many aspects. Various considerations were defined through interview sets with different people coming from Germany. During the research, it becomes clear that many people feel uncomfortable or even anxious about the process of tax payment. The aim was to come up with a solution that can be handled more easily.

Testings and interviews were conducted one-on-one.

The slides show photographs and icons that do not belong to me, they were only used to transmit a mood. – The app was developed within a student programme.