Internet | User Centered Design

Introduction

Everyone has experienced trying to find information or products on the Internet and being unable to do so. With the competition only a mouse click away it is a business imperative that users can find the information they want quickly and efficiently.

You may be planning a new website or redeveloping your existing site but in either case if you want to achieve your business goals you need the content structure and navigation built to enable the user to achieve their objectives.

User Centered Design involves scientifically structuring your content, logically for its' end users. Information architecture designed and tested by Usability Specialists with input from real users is much more likely to be usable upon launch. Getting a thorough understanding of usability implications before site building commences can considerably reduce development costs and timelines.

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The Process

Our Usability Specialist creates wireframes (page mock-ups of individual screens) of the interface after a careful consideration of the site's intended content, intended audience, scenarios of use and technical constraints. These prototypes are created using tools such as Visio and Freehand.

Each element in the wireframe is verified by employing specialised techniques such as card sorting, to elicit user feedback on the developing User Centered Design. The wireframe is constantly revised based on this feedback and any necessary design modifications are made. Throughout this process the technical feasibility of the proposed solution is constantly monitored.

User Centered Design has 3 key deliverables:

1. Interaction Schema - wireframes providing a page-by-page storyboard and descriptions of page elements and features. It details what each screen should contain, and how the user can interact with it. It illustrates screen layouts, navigation rules and site information flow. It is essentially a blueprint for design.
    
2. Site map - a graphical overview of the proposed site structure in the form of a hierarchical diagram. It depicts all of the pages within the site and the relationships between them.
    
3. Style guides - used to guide designers/site builders in developing the entire site. The style guide will offer rules for the use of navigation, design elements, controls, labelling, and error messages.

User Centered Design frequently includes the development of user personas and scenarios for use as part of the overall project. If you would like to understand more about how our User Centered Design service can help you achieve a usable and scalable design then please call or email us and a consultant will be happy to talk to you.

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User Centered Design and Usability Evaluations: The Usability Company's work with Victor Chandler

The Usability Company was employed by Victor Chandler for User Interface (UI) and User Centered Design (User Centered Design) services. The objective was to build these capabilities in order to make incremental improvements to the existing Victor Chandler site and to inform the development of the future Victor Chandler site.

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User Centered Design and Usability Evaluations: The Usability Company's work with Camelot

Camelot enlisted the help of The Usability Company for its User Centered Design needs for online gaming on The National Lottery website. The Case study illustrates how User Centered Design plays an integral role in developing the most appropriate processes and structure for websites to fit specific business and user needs. The User Centered Design work completed for Camelot required a review of subscription and registration processes, customers' personal account management features and the online gaming process in order to determine the best options for processes and structure. Usability Evaluations were also conducted at key stages in order to test the User Centered Design's recommendations with real users and to inform the User Centered Design and Camelot team in choosing the best fit solutions.

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User Centered Design and Usability Evaluations: The Usability Company's work with The Planning Portal

The Usability Company has conducted usability evaluations for The Planning Portal over the last two years and continues to work closely with the site's content and development team

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