Creme Brulee: Rough Drafts

HiggsBoson's picture
Submitted by HiggsBoson on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 22:40

Novice Instructions = For people that are unfamiliar with basic techniques and equipment. Several graphics illustrate these.

Advanced Instruction = For people who have done some cooking before and are comfortable with some of the techniques listed-but not explained. This format is more on the lines of an entry in a cookbook with margin asides.

For the test: I've attached a pdf of the questions here. You can send a message to me via this websites messaging system or email me at smstella@purdue.edu

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winninraces's picture
Submitted by winninraces on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 23:00.

Testing

Mike Sheridan

Test

jonesae's picture
Submitted by jonesae on Sat, 03/14/2009 - 00:08.

Food and fire? What's not to love?

Andy

Testing Complete

jonesae's picture
Submitted by jonesae on Sat, 03/21/2009 - 20:40.

Usability Test for Crème Brûlée Instruction Sets

1. Scan the documents (one at a time). What is your first impression, specifically, does the document flow well? Does the arrangement of things guide your eyes through the steps?

  • Document flows well, a lot of white space in the novice instructions. Expert instructions flow nicely as well. Structure of the expert instructions (instructions and sidebar with tip) is helpful.

2. Were the instructions easy to follow from beginning to end, including notes and cautions? If given all of the materials and these instructions, would you be able to complete all steps to obtain the final product?

  • My girlfriend and I attempted to make crème brûlée following the novice instructions. We got a custard-like substance. I had some problems with my oven so they didn’t quite get cooked fully. Besides that we were able to follow the directions and create a yummy dessert. We were even able to caramelize the sugar using the broiler.

3. Which steps, if any, were overly complicated? Could the same instructions be given with less words and achieve the same affect?

  • I didn’t feel that any step was overly complicated. You had a good mixture of words and pictures.

4. Which steps, if any, did not give enough information? Which steps of the instructions would benefit from more clarification?

  • On the novice instructions we were confused over when the cream was hot enough. Including how long to heat it or a certain temp. that it needs to reach would have made things a little clearer.

5. Are you able to refer back to previous steps at any point while reading easily? Are the steps memorable enough to facilitate this?

  • Referring back to previous instructions was easy.

6. Is the format accessible? Would you have used a different page layout, brochure foldout or something else?

  • Format was fine. I just looked at the PDF on my computer while I made it.

7. Besides the oven picture in step 1 of the novice set (changes pending), which graphics were unclear? Which did you like, if any?

  • I didn’t feel that any one picture was exceptionally unclear but using the Photoshop filter like you did made the pictures a little muddled. Also I felt that you could have increased the size of the pictures without sacrificing too much white space.

8. What would you change about these documents? List as many changes as you see fit.

  • Putting the prep time/cook time/etc. at the top of the instructions would have been helpful. I didn’t read the instructions fully before starting (partly my fault) but knowing that it would take 2 hours in the fridge plus cook time would have been nice.
  • Not sure if the material that the ramekin or “larger baking dish” is made of has any effect on the cook time but including those adjustments (if any) would be helpful.

9. Additional information, provide any commentary you feel is appropriate.

  • Your instructions were quite clear. The bowl trick was helpful. And was way easier than I thought it was going to be.

Andy

usability test

winninraces's picture
Submitted by winninraces on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 22:26.

I hope it's ok just to put the answers in here, it's easier.

1. I really like the format of your expert set of instructions. I think the flow well and I love that they are on just one sheet of paper. I think that you can be a little more creative with your novice instructions. I know they need to be longer, but try to create a more modern, stylish format for separating a full page of steps rather that just indenting every other one. I also don't think you need graphics for every step, this just adds to the document's repetitiveness.

2. Yes, your steps are detailed enough to follow, but I have no idea what a ramekin is and you never really explain that. (it seems pretty important to the whole process)

3. In the novice instructions, step 2 needs to be called something different. I think I can get through the rest of them.

4. what a ramekin is and you could spend more time (and graphics) on carmalizing and even separating eggs, since that is what people have probably never done before.

5. This is where I think reformating your novice instructions would help. Just break them up into sections and combine two or three related steps in one section with bullet points and only use the neccessary graphics

6. covered

7. you certainly don't need a picture of a timer, and I would use several to help explain the carmalizing to show steps along the process and what it's supposed to look like

8. covered

9. I would change the format of your warning and your mechanical tip within the novice set as well. My printer is running out of ink and skimming the document, I didn't even realize there was a warning or a tip because they all look the same. I also might show a picture of a ramekin by itself even on your expert instructions even if you don't explain what it is.

let me know if you need more clarification

msherid@purdue.edu

Mike Sheridan