Usability & information architecture services
Our usability & IA services: at a glance
We can conduct usability evaluations and expert reviews on websites, intranets and applications. We can also coach and mentor your staff in usability approaches, to allow you to apply practical usability techniques entirely in-house.
We can also help you to structure your intranet so that staff can easily find information, as well as advising on metadata issues and improving the design of your search engine. Beyond this, we can coach and mentor your staff on best-practice information architecture techniques.
A usable system is one that allows users to achieve their goals efficiently and effectively, that is intuitive and matches the user’s goals. Increasing the usability of systems has the advantage of:
- increasing uptake and use
- reducing training time
- reducing support requirements
- reducing development time and cost
Information architecture is the art and science of structuring web sites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability. Creating a usable information architecture:
- helps users to find the information they are looking for
- exposes users to additional information
- assists users in making decisions
Our services
We provide the following services to create or improve your information systems:
- Requirements gathering via user research
It is important to ensure that business goals and user goals are well understood and aligned. We gain understanding of users of the system by observing them in the context in which they would use the system and discussing their current goals, tasks and information needs. This method allows us to understand the tasks that users are trying to achieve and the important physical and cultural context in which they work.
User research can be done at the beginning of a design process for a new system, or at the beginning of a redesign process for an existing system.
- Information needs analysis
It is important to ensure that business goals and user information needs are well understood and aligned. We capture user’s information needs via contextual interviews, discussing their current goals, tasks and information needs in the context in which they work. This method allows you to understand what users are trying to achieve and the important physical and cultural context in which they work.
Information needs analysis can be done at the beginning of a design process for a new system, or at the beginning of a redesign process for an existing system.
- Expert reviews
One way of identifying likely usability problems in a system is to undertake an expert review. We use the system and assess it against usability heuristics appropriate for the type of system. This process can highlight likely usability issues in prototype systems or completed systems, and should always be followed by usability testing.
- Information structure and page layouts
We can assist you in creating an information structure for your site. We combine the information needs of users, the business goals of the system and the available content with our extensive understanding of site design and information management.
We work with your team and users to create a site map outlining the overall structure of the site and page layouts for key elements of the site. We create prototypes and undertake iterative usability testing.
- Metadata
Metadata is ‘information about information’ and is essential to the management of large sites. We can help you to identify your metadata needs and create controlled vocabularies that describe your information.
- Search engine improvement
Search engines installed out of the box generally do not provide the best results for users looking for information. We can assist you in customising your search engine so the results it provides better meet your users needs.
- Enhancing content management systems
Content management systems offer a diverse range of advanced capabilities. By applying our information architecture skills, we can assist you to design innovative ways of managing and publishing content to a corporate intranet.
For all of these activities, we can involve your team and provide learning opportunities. We can also provide structured training for all activities.