The team of Mike Garland ’15 G’16 and Tyler Parrott ’15 G’16 prevailed against student groups from more than 20 universities.
In the contest, hosted by TryMyUI, a usability testing company, Mike Garland ’15 G’16 and Tyler Parrott ’15 G’16 captured first place against student groups from more than 20 universities.
As part of its winning entry, the Elon team ran tests to compare the usability of the Apple store and Microsoft store, and prepared a written report of insights collected from their results. In their report’s conclusion, the students explained which website offered a better user experience.
“Their submission report for UX Wars, Apple vs. Microsoft, showcases a relevant test setup, cogent analysis, and smartly incorporated user insights,” wrote Karan Saggi, TryMyUI’s director of educational partnerships, in a congratulatory message online.
As a result of their victory, Garland and Parrott, both strategic communications majors as undergraduates at Elon, won the contest’s grand prize of $600. Additionally, the group’s report will be featured on the TryMyUI blog and showcased to its industry readership.
During the competition, participants – divided into teams of 2-4 individuals – choose one of five cases: Nike vs. Reebok, Netflix vs. Hulu, Student Universe vs. STA Travel, Microsoft store vs. Apple store, and Chegg vs. Amazon.
Garland and Parrott weren’t the only participants from the Interactive Media program as Elon had a total of four teams (and 12 students) competing. The contest was part of the iMedia students’ usability test projects in their “Interactive Media Strategies” course, according to Qian Xu, assistant professor of communications.
In addition to congratulating the winning entry, Saggi commended the Elon team of Tarah Holland G’16, Erin Turner ’15 G’16, Nicole McEwan G’16 and Jordynn McKnight ’15 G’16. “Their report is fantastic and impressed our team instantly. They deserve applause for their effort,” Saggi wrote in an email.
As part of the EDU Program, faculty, staff and students at Elon University have access to free, unlimited usability testing and UX industry resources with TryMyUI. The UX Wars Case Competition is part of the EDU initiative.