Usability

Creative solutions and actionable recommendations

Our first goal in every engagement is to understand what our client needs to achieve.  Different projects call for different approaches, we want to ensure that the method or combination of methods that will best address the problem or question is used.  We are resourceful, but never compromise integrity of the data. Our recommendations balance organizational, user and technical issues.

Typical usability testing metrics:

• Task success rates
• Task completion time for successful participants
• Participant satisfaction ratings (per device or product)
• Participant preference ratings (by device or product, using different preference attributes)

Typical usability issues identified from usability testing:

• Navigation through an application or product
• Mismatches between users’ mental model of a task and work flow imposed by a device or application
• Self-evidency of key features
• Affordance of controls
• Organization of information
• Labeling

Usability Research

Usability testing - Identifies usability issues with interfaces through analysis of user behavior.  Users are observed performing tasks on your applications in a controlled setting.

Eye tracking - Captures gaze activity while looking at a stimulus.  Offers insight into the cognitive processes involved in user interaction.

Usability evaluations - When the time or budget does not allow for formal usability testing, an expert evaluation might be the answer.

Remote testing - Assess users' responses and feedback from their own computers.