Usability can make or break a web-site or consumer product. People want to be able to perform their intended task simply, quickly and intuitively. We help our clients build interfaces that provide a positive user experience. The benefits are that a good web interface can boost traffic and sales, and usability studies at an early stage of development can help avoid costly mistakes and re-working later on.

User-centred design draws heavily on cognitive psychology. Our simplest offering is an audit of an existing product by an expert consultant. On larger projects we either thoroughly review an existing interface with a view to improving it or help design a new one from scratch. In either case we establish metrics, collect usability data by various means and produce an analysis report. This usually contains a description of users' models of the tasks and environment, figures for performance against the metrics and a set of recommendations. If the design is iterative, we may go through several cycles of data collection and analysis to reach a refined solution.

Expert Review

In an entry-level project we would carry out an expert review of your existing web-site or product. We would make an assessment in terms of a list of key attributes such as graphic design, navigation, information content, structure and language, performance etc. and produce a report. This would also suggest recommended changes. We can then work with you to produce the next version of your site or product.
 

Collecting Data - about the users' experience is a critical first step.

On larger projects we start with a data collection phase. We collect data that allow us to understand the user's goals, their implicit models of how they think they can achieve them and their priorities. Factors that users believe are important include: ease of finding information and performing actions; the ease of discovering how to achieve goals if it is not obvious; performance (e.g. page load time); the clarity of the languge used; and accessibility. We collect data on users' experiences using a variety of methods:
Lab testing.
Direct observation.
Interviews.
Focus groups.
Questionnaires.
 

Analysis - summarising the key findings.

We generally produce reports that summarise performance against the key metrics and highlight areas for improvement. We also use techniques such as protocol analysis and task analysis.

Strategy - taking a wider view.

We can dig deeper into the context within which the web-site or product operates and answer questions such as: How do you rate against your competition? What are the different user profiles? How do these relate to customer segmentation? What do people with different profiles want? How should the web-site re-inforce the brand image / communication strategy? What is the business case for a web-site refresh? How do you measure return-on-investment for a usability study? How is the content managed and do you have an information architecture?

In addition to this we offer the following services:
Accessibility audit and advice.
Prototyping based on user-centred design.
Competitor benchmarking.
Usability training.