User Experience
Making the World a Better Place — One User at a Time
Ever wanted to punch a website in the face? That’s bad user experience. We’ve all been there. The Internet has made it possible to not just turn off customers with an ill-conceived marketing plan, but to actually enrage them.
What enrages customers? It’s not ugly website design. It’s not a silly tagline. It definitely isn’t the lack of video.
It’s bad usability.
I am your customer. Your website is only as good as I say it is.
Enter User-Centered Design
A participant contemplates her
card sort arrangement
When you sit a real person down in front of your website or application and watch them use it, that’s Usability Testing. When you actually take those observations and make your site easier to use, that’s Good Business. Sound easy? It is. Sort of. Here are the two keys: 1) Have project team members conduct or observe actual usability testing on a regular basis, and 2) Make usability evaluation and review part of the project plan.
It’s not enough to use self-reporting techniques such as focus groups, interviews and surveys. This only tells us how users think they behave, not how they actually behave. When you make usability testing and evaluation a regular part of your long range plans, you’re ensuring that you continue to meet the changing needs of your users… and your business.
Lab Coats, Anyone?
Cameras capture both on-screen and
off-screen activity
In addition to weaving a User-Centered Design process through all of our client work, we also offer stand-alone usability services at our lab here in Boulder, including: user testing, ethnographic studies, card sorts, interviews, and more. We can even design a customized test or evaluation method for your website or software application.
If all you’re after is a state-of-the-art usability lab facility so you can do the work yourself, we can help with that too. Contact us today to find out more.
