The Shedd Aquarium team warmly received our assessment of the usability issues in their ticket purchase process. Many of the challenges we identified aligned with concerns they were already aware of—particularly those frequently addressed by their call center staff. As an avid aquarium enthusiast, I truly enjoyed collaborating with the Shedd team and supporting their mission to provide Chicagoans with an engaging and educational experience.

My Experience with Eye Tracking:
Eye-tracking testing was a challenging but valuable experience. Coordinating participants and using Tobii Lab Pro for the first time presented a learning curve, but it provided meaningful data to support our usability recommendations. The process helped me understand how users’ gaze patterns—particularly the time spent on specific components—can influence their sense of orientation on a website and clarify what actions they need to take.

Ways I Can Improve:
Ultimately, I’d love to continue developing my eye-tracking skills and conduct further testing. As both a researcher and designer, I recognize the value of expanding my participant pool to include more diverse perspectives, as most of our participants were college-aged. I also see an opportunity to address usability concerns for non-English speakers—particularly Spanish-speaking users—to make the website more inclusive and accessible.