Assignment:

Usability assessment report

This assignment page includes introductory information, a list of readings (if any) required to do
this assignment, instructions for doing the assignment, and grading criteria.

References to ABO are to Alred, Brusaw, and Oliu (2015).

Introduction
Your boss at Larson Communications (LC) has a new project for you and a team of your colleagues.
LC has a new clientMinneapolis-based Furnisimple, Inc.that manufactures low-cost furniture
similar to that sold by IKEA, the Swedish retailer. Furnisimples product manager, Candace
Nielsen, likes the idea of providing assembly instructions similar to those that come with IKEA
furniture. (They would not copy IKEAs instructions, of course, but would use the same approach.)
Furnisimples operations director, Erik Hanson, on the other hand, thinks the IKEA instructions
are frustrating and not very useful. The companys president, Carla Magnusson, wants to know
whether customers would find IKEA-style instructions useful, and she has hired LC to figure it out.

A couple of key facts:
Ms. Magnusson is quite cost-conscious, so this project has a limited budget. She
nevertheless decided to hire LC, because she figured internal testing would be difficult with
Mr. Hanson and Ms. Nielsen already having formed opinions.
Furnisimple has retained LC to perform usability testing on the IKEA assembly instructions
for one producta bookshelf. Larson sold them on the fact that LCs technical
communication teams are made up of younger folks, a significant demographic for
Furnisimples products; thus the decision to assign this project to your team.
Ideally, Magnusson would like usability testing by customers from other cultures, as
Furnisimple is hoping to compete with IKEA in other countries. Furnisimple wont pay for
that, however, so Larson has said that the report should have a section that addresses ways
that Furnisimple might, in the future, conduct usability testing addressing the needs of
people living in other cultures.
Finally, Furnisimple expects the results in the form of a formal report.

Readings for this assignment

Topic sheets to read (or review now):
Topic sheet: Group work
Topic sheet: Usability principles

We will read the following over the next couple weeks:
Topic sheet: Analytical report (later)
Topic sheet: Interviewing for information (later)
Topic sheet: Think aloud protocols (later)
Topic sheet: Global communication (later)

2015 Brian N. Larson

Assignment: Usability assessment report

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Assignment description
Larson has directed your team to conduct the testing and write the formal report. He wants you to
use three different methods for collecting the usability data.
Analysis of your audience: Do your best to analyze Furnisimple and its executives as your
audience and the rhetorical situation in which they have placed you. This should guide your
performance of the assignment, but you will not describe this analysis in your report. Given
this made-up scenario, you may have to guess some about this, but we will also discuss in
class. As far as you know, LC has never prepared a report of this kind.
Report format: Based on the readings in ABO, prepare a Microsoft Word (or PDF)
document for your instructor that conforms to the conventions of a formal report. Larson
wants a report format very much like ABO figure F-5.
Report contents and method of development: You get the sense that Larson has not
really done this kind of work before. He wants you to identify the best approach for
preparing this report by the clients deadline. Larson has ideas about how you can gather
the necessary usability data, but he says hell talk with you about that in the next few days.
Submission instructions
You will work on this assignment inside and outside the classroom for the next few weeks
with your group.
Your group may (optionally) turn in a draft or detailed outline of the report by the date
specified on the course schedule to receive feedback from Larson on it.
The final report is due on the date set out in the course schedule.
You will submit it as an MS Word document or a PDF file.

Grading criteria

Report uses proper format as laid out in ABO (adapted based on your discussions for this
purpose).
Report has strong organization, with clearly articulated subject and purpose and clear
address of audience (in this case, Furnisimple executives).
Report fully covers the items described above.
Report is free from grammatical and mechanical errors.
See the syllabus for general grading principles.

Value toward final course grade

15%. This assignment is not subject to an opportunity to revise. Do your best work by the
submission date.

Works cited
Alred, G. J., Brusaw, C. T., & Oliu, W. E. (2015). Handbook of Technical Writing (11th edition).
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.

2015 Brian N. Larson

Assignment: Usability assessment report

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