Articles by Tharon W. Howard

Dr. Howard has directed Clemson University’s Usability Testing Facility since 1993 and teaches graduate seminars in user experience design, visual communication, and digital rhetoric(s) across media. He is the community manager for UTEST and has received awards from the UPA and STC recognizing his contributions to the field of usability studies.

The UTEST Community: Celebrating 20 Years of a Safe Space for UX Discussions

Article Contents UTEST, the online community of user experience (UX) practitioners and researchers, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. If you are a member, you know it as a place where you can ask questions, get help and opinions from your UX colleagues, contribute to discussions, find out about potential jobs and interesting non-profit events, […] [Read More]

Unexpected Complexity in a Traditional Usability Study

Abstract This article is a case study of a demonstration project intended to prove the value of usability testing to a large textbook publishing house. In working with a new client, however, the research team discovered that what our client thought were simple problems for their users were actually complex problems that required the users […] [Read More]