Usability Services
- Usability Assessments
- Accessibility Section 508 Compliance
- Audience Analysis
- Information Architecture
Case Studies
— Jed D.
Web Site Usability
Surfing a Web site shouldn’t be rocket science.
Every day we are confronted with interface design. On our cell phones, in our cars, on VCRs, DVD players, MP3 players, computers, ATMs—sometimes it seems that we spend all of our time interacting with one user interface experience after another. Intuitive and consistent ones make us happy. Complex and confusing interfaces lead to frustration and negativity, and for companies whose business relies on those interfaces, to lost sales.
Brook Group Advantage:
- Two decades of
design experience - Software application
and Web site design expertise - User-centric orientation
- Accessibility experts
on staff - Learn More...
Web site usability and interface design
Whether you are developing a Web site or a software application, your customers will quickly decide whether to do business with you based on their experience with your interface. By nature, creating an easy to use interface is complicated. Translating complex processes into a lucid design is key to an effective user interface design. This level of interface usability requires a unique combination of creative designers and technical experts.
Brook Group’s business is “experienceware.” We chose that term because we are not a traditional HTML-based Web site design company, but a firm that places emphasis on design that enhances usability and optimizes the user experience. As a result, our clientele is heavily weighted toward clients that place a premium on the user experience and Web best practices.
The Usability Process
Discovery
Understanding business drivers, success factors, and project goals. This is done via interviews with the client and key stakeholders identified by the client. These stakeholders may be internal staff, end users, or partners: in this case, that may mean representatives from the target audience or users of the site or application.
Audience Profiles
This is the key part of the discovery process. Whether the audience is highly specialized, very general, or somewhere in the middle, developing an understanding and description of the expectations, skills, knowledge, and actions of the potential audience. This process is based on interviews with client-selected staff knowledgeable about customers: marketers, customer service agents, sales people, or customers themselves.
Product Understanding
This is a research phase that includes documentation review, product review (if available), and interviews with appropriate others identified by the client, such as business owners, engineers and programmers, designers, documentation specialists, etc.
Information Architecture
The foundation of an application is determined by information architecture, the way by which things relate to one another. It is the blueprint upon which all other aspects are built – form, function, metaphor, navigation, interaction and visual design. Developing an information architecture map, called the navigation map, should always be the first step in designing an application. Only then can you intelligently control the user’s experience, ensure ease of use and provide for your business needs in branding and product representation.
Development
During development, we offer two perspectives to understand the organization and content of your site: a navigation map and a RAD prototype. The navigation map is a detailed, iterative explanation of the possibilities within the site. It shows how one link moves to another, how aspects of the site correlate. It’s like a large flow chart, plotting out the paths a user can take. RAD is a prototyping system by which content and navigation can be viewed in three dimensions. Based on our award-winning content management system, Tacklebox, RAD creates a mockup of the site in progress. With it, clients get a non-linear, fully interactive prototype where they can add and edit content as well as change the navigation to best suit the site.
Reporting
The final phase of the assessment process is the development of the assessment reports: these will be presented in print, and depending on the needs of the project, can be accompanied by graphic diagrams, mockups, and flowcharts. Brook Group establishes a password-protected project site on its extranet, where all materials will be posted for sharing with the client.
Results
Ultimately, the design we present will incorporate these characteristics:
- It will be intuitive. Customers will be able to find information easily with an approachable design that won’t confound new users.
- It will be accessible to all users, allowing for the most basic to the most advanced application.
- Consistency will be retained throughout, whether as branding or templated pages, making your site more memorable.
- Our Web experiences are geared toward the expectations and anticipation of your audience. Navigating the site will be engaging, capitivating the users' attention and drawing them deeper into your site when necessary.
- Finally, strategic content layout will optimize the user’s experience and the creative components will be appealing.
- Essentially, those characteristics combine to maximize each user’s experience and lead to increased visibility for your company. A dynamic application is evidence of a powerful company. Whatever your intention for your application, it will be functional, scalable and extensible.
- We design user interfaces to attract and retain your customers. The simplicity and aesthetic quality of our designs makes for a smooth, seamless experience, leaving your customers eager to return.
