Testing for User-Centered Design
User-centered design is a philosophy and process which focuses on the needs and wants of the end user at each stage of the design and development process. Today, smart companies build websites and online software applications with their end-user in mind. Our portfolio of service solutions supports the needs of the user-centered design practitioner. So no matter where you are in the design and development phase of your project, we have a service solution to help.
How our solutions support the User-Centered Design Phases
- UCD Phase #1: Assess current status and set measurable business goals. For this phase we recommend Attitudinal Analytics® to determine your site visitors' demographic, attitudinal and behavioral patterns, and to help establish initial benchmarks for your website. This solution will uncover current user experience issues and help you determine your business goals for planned improvements.
- UCD Phase #2: Understand your user and their needs. We also recommend complementing Attitudinal Analytics® with our Behavior-based Website Personas Development solution. Along with the user information collected for phase #1, this service will help define your site's key personas. These personas are later used to guide test participant recruiting for Usability Tests and/or Focus Groups.
- UCD Phase #3: Assess competition and best practices. For this phase we suggest our Comparative and A/B Testing solution to collect competitive data to help identify user-preferred, best-of-breed features and functions. We also suggest our Panel-Based Competitive Benchmarking to support the building of a SWOT analysis and to determine your website's competitive position.
- UCD Phase #4: Design the optimal user experience. Usability Sciences does not offer design capabilities. However, we are well positioned to perform a Heuristic Evaluation of your design to ensure that earlier insights and recommendations have been appropriately incorporated into your site plans.
- UCD Phase #5: Test and evaluate at each phase of development. For this phase we offer several solutions: (1) our Design Walk-Through Study can be used to test user reactions to initial designs, (2) Usability Tests can uncover usability issues and help ensure a positive user experience, focusing on "success based on intent", and (3) our Express Usability Tests can be used to check on the efficacy of final website modifications.
- UCD Phase #6: Monitor by continuous observation. Finally, we recommend redeployment of Attitudinal Analytics® to quantify the impact of your site's redesign. Continuous observation of the user experience produces key performance indicators (KPIs) that will illuminate necessary ongoing site improvements.
No matter what stage of development you are in, we can still help you uncover user experience issues and provide you with recommendations for improvement prior to launching your new website or online application. If your product or website is already public, you can still benefit from our services. Just ask us how.
If you are not sure which service solution if right for you? No problem. Take a look at our Solutions for Common Challenges page for some ideas or Contact Us today for help.
