Usability Testing on Brochures Within the Forest Industry – a Qualitative Case Study

There is a clear knowledge gap regarding usability testing on brochures in the forestry industry. By testing how users perceive information in brochures, it is possible to identify potential obstacles towards understanding and thus create better communication tools. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether usability testing can be applied to physical brochures in the forestry industry by analyzing how visual elements affect communication and the recipient's understanding. A qualitative case study has been conducted with usability testing and semi-structured interviews. The study has also conducted the Design and Creation research strategy, as two brochure versions have been created to compare its usability and communication. The study showed that the “think aloud”- method has an essential part when testing the usability of a brochure using usability testing. The results from the scenarios alone did not provide sufficient data compared to the “think aloud”- method which gave more in-depth answers. A combination of usability testing and complementary semi-structured interviews turned out to provide more detailed and in-depth answers about the communication and usability of the brochures. The study also indicates that the use of visual elements such as images, pictograms and color indicators is beneficial in reinforcing the communication in a brochure. It was also found that a clear structure in the form of headings and layout is beneficial in helping the user navigate. Reworded and simplified texts also helped the user absorb information. Using these elements together was shown to significantly increase the recipient's understanding. Several hypotheses about the results for the first question have been discussed. One of them is that brochures can be difficult to test if they consist of few pages. Another is that the respondents' attitude towards what the brochure is about plays a role in how well they perform the scenarios.