Content testing

Testing the new content of food safety training guide, Buddy 1

April 2024 to July 2024

On this page

Key info

Project type

Content design testing

Core team

A service designer, visual designer, an adviser, and team manager

My role

Planning and facilitating content testing and analysing results

Tools used

Microsoft Teams
Paper and pen

Skills

Planning research
Recruiting users
Training others
Communication
Data analysis

Quick facts

Tested content with 10 users working in food service businesses
Test feedback was positive.
Test participants had a high task success rate.

Project goal

Revise Buddy 1 which is a food safety resource food service workers.

Background

Buddy is a food safety guide simplifies key food safety practices for food service workers. NZ has about 22,000 food service businesses and much more staff. Staff have varying learning needs and literacy levels. For many, English is a second language. So, Buddy needs to be simple to understand and engaging. As part of a campaign to promote New Zealand Food Safety training materials, Buddy was updated and revised to make sure it’s accurate and easy to understand. This campaign was in response to poor food safety audit outcomes in areas such as personal hygiene, cleaning, pest control, and temperature control.

Process

Suggestions for change

I reviewed Buddy to identify areas of improvement

I suggested changes such as:

Plain language - clarifying wording
Removing acronyms
Including QR codes along side URLs as Buddy is intended to be printed
Including previously tested diagrams to explain difficult concepts such rules to manage temperature control

The visual designer consulted with food safety subject matter experts to ensure accuracy of content and made changes as per my suggestions.

Planning

Topic areas to test were identified as a team

I wrote the questions and checked them with the team to get their input

I pulled together a plan to test the content with users

The plan included:

Who to approach
Script for recruiting participants
Script for the test including tasks
Information sheet and consent form
Data capture form
Spreadsheet to analyse data

I shared the plan with my team and walked them through it

Testing and refining

To begin with a colleague and I went to food businesses during quiet periods (before and after lunch). I facilitated and my colleague took notes. Other participants were recruited via email or phone.

During the tests, I introduced myself as a designers and briefly explained what that meant. Then explained the test and asked for consent to take notes and use anonymised quotes. I then asked questions about the business and their experience. Then I moved on the questions to test their understanding of the content. An example was ‘read this section on pest control and tell me in your own words what you can do check for pests’.

One of the challenges was getting enough volunteers. I reached out to people in food service that I already know and asked food service auditors for people who would be willing to help. I also explained to my manager that this was an issue. They also tested the content to get more data.

In total the team and I tested the content with 10 people. At that point there were some consistent themes and meaningful findings.

All businesses shared positive comments on the use of visuals and colour-coded sections for clarity. Most understood the test content.

They made some comments that pointed to improvements such as the font being too small in places or being confused by some terminology. We had enough information that allowed us to make meaningful tweaks to Buddy.

Screenshot of two improvements: addition of QR code and definition of 'bugs'

Impact

Most test participants were unaware of Buddy, so the testing acted as a promotional tool.
Generally test participants found Buddy easy to understand and engaging.
After the revised Buddy was released, I collected sales and download data as a measure of engagement. I saw an increase from the previous months but that could have been the result of good promotion rather than the ease of use.