The UX Lifecycle

At the core of the diagnostic process is analytics. Knowing how users are interacting with your application is essential to understanding what’s working and what’s not. Without analytics we know nothing about which screens, elements and user journeys are being used. Where are users either being lost or getting lost and so where attention must be focused with regards to re-engineering UI, features and functionality. We find that with many people it is not a lack of analytics tools that is the problem but how those tools are configured. Our UX Analytics day workshop will take you through the key principles of gathering good analytics, the best tools to use and how to configure those tools and then how to interpret data. Based on this data intelligent decisions can then be made with respect to changes to the application. During the workshop we will look at your applications key user journeys and how analytics can be set up to measure these. The workshop not only helps your team to diagnose immediate problems but also how to work with analytics over time. The workshop is followed by running analytics on your application and we then provide you with a report outlining what can be learnt from the captured data. You can use this data to inform decisions for the next product iteration.

Many of our diagnostic products measure how users interact with your application by recording their physical interactions such as via the mouse or using their fingers. But that is only half of the user story, what such analytics do not show is how the user came to that decision. Where there are elements of the UI that they considered first or are there key features of your application that are being ignored because they are simply being missed by users. The UX Eye Tracking workshop will walk your team through the benefits and process of undertaking an eye tracking exercise. We look at your specific application and identify key user journeys. We then apply an eye tracking analysis to these and provide you with a report. From that we work with your team to interpret the results and identify changes to address key problems.

The most important input into the user experience decision making process is the user themselves. Many of our diagnostic products help to gather important data about how the user is interacting with your application by recording their physical interactions. UX User Testing goes further and records the users experience including an audio recording of their thoughts and impressions. You get to see where they may be hesitating and the features that they may be exploring before making the final decision about what to click on data to enter. Our workshop will walk through how to set-up user testing, the tools to use and how to interpret the data. We will work with your team to identify the key user journeys through your application which can then be tested by sample user groups. The resulting report can then be analysed, problems identified and solutions sought.

An application that is slow to start and/or respond to users actions does not inspire confidence and can seriously harm adoption. It also damages productivity gains which maybe the point of the application in the first place. Performance is therefore key to the complete user experience. Through our UX Performance service we work with you to identify the different use cases of your application and the user journeys that these represent. We can then test these against various scenarios to see how different levels and types of usage impact the performance of the application. We will help you set-up the tools necessary to measure performance and then interpret the results. The result is a report that will highlight where the application is failing to meet either internally set or industry standard benchmarks. Based on that report we can help to identify the main areas of the application to focus on with regards to improving performance. These could be anywhere from the interface to the database or beyond. We will provide you with some suggestions as to how to address some of these issues and how to investigate others further. Like all of our UX products performance needs to be consistently monitored through the application lifecycle.

Often the solution to a problem is not clear and the final judge should always be the end user. To that end being able to try different solutions and gather valuable data from each is essential. A/B testing allows just that. Users are given one of the two possible solutions on a random basis and the statistics gathered will point towards which of the two is best. Our UX A/B Testing product consists of a workshop in which we will run through the principles of A/B Testing, the best tools to use, best practice in terms of implementation and then most importantly how this can be applied to your own application. The aim is to leave you with a firm understanding of how to implement A/B testing now and also over time. Our workshop is followed up with a live A/B test on your application. We will work with your team to set-up the test and analyse the captured data. We then provide a report outlining which options tested should be included in the next release of the product.

Behind every great UI lays a technology infrastructure consisting or code, data storage, servers and so on. The way that this is constructed will dictate the reliability, scalability and performance of the application. All of which are key components of the complete user experience. If an application crashes, is slow to respond or is unable to handle increasing numbers of users then those using it will become frustrated and untrusting. Through our technology workshop we can look at the architecture of your application to identify problem areas and solutions. We work with the application’s architects and developers who understand this infrastructure best. Ideally this discussion is driven by metrics gathered in the diagnostic phase that points to existing or potential points of concern. Through this process a greater understanding of how the work of the development team impacts overall user experience is imparted so that this is a key consideration in future development work. The outcome of this workshop is a report outlining the action points both short and long term that will see immediate improvements in UX but also making sure quality is assured over the long term. We also include benchmarking that will be included in the development process to ensure a great UX is consistent as the application involves. This can include putting in place new processes within the development lifecycle for measuring these KPIs. The benchmarks also provide the basis for verification once changes have been made.

Your application’s interface is the coming together of functionality and design to create an experience that not only provides users with the capabilities they need from your application but delivers them in a way that is intuitive and highly usable. As part of the requirements gathering phase of your application development lifecycle you will have identified a number of use cases. Those use cases now need to be translated into user journeys made up UI elements and different application screens. Our UX Interface workshop walks through those user journeys, identifying the different functional requirement and organising them into a clear flow that guides the user easily towards their goal. We also look at how certain features need to be prioritised and where we can create common UI experiences that users will quickly become familiar with. The result is a wireframe document that lays out each step in the user journey, concentrating purely on the features and UI elements without the distraction of colours, branding or other design features. A great wireframe can save a lot of time later in the design process and helps everyone on the team focus on what’s important in your application. It also lays the foundations for applying standards and compliance criteria. Once the wireframe is complete it is possible to move into the design phase or undertake a prototype.

Most obvious to the end user with regards to their experience is the design of your application. The layout of screens, the size, colour and position of UI elements and how they react to user input is all part of design. The design process is driven by two key elements, fundamental design principles and data gathered from application usage. Design should never be subjective but instead guided by accepted rules and more importantly user feedback. Our UX Design workshop will help to provide your team with an understanding of good design, the principles that guide it and how to interpret user metrics. Using your application we will then run through specific user journeys, focus in on identified problems and work together to create solutions. This will help you to address issues both now and over time. Following the workshop we will apply our own design capabilities to problems identified in collaboration with your team. Our application design process can re-work anything from specific UI elements to entire screens. Each design feature is backed up by data gathered from your application, industry report findings and our own experience.

Through good data gathering we can learn a lot about your customers and the users of your application. We can learn about where they come from, the technology they use, the problems they experience and the most important features and functionality. That means we can tailor an application to as broad or as narrow as set of user requirements as needed. This comes with its own challenges such as how to serve users on different platforms equally well or how to make sure the experience for a user with a disability is as fulfilling as those who do not. The answer lies in the application of standards such as those published by the W3C or other industry bodies. Once we understand your user we can identify the applicable industry standards and also set your own benchmarks. This should be done as part of the early requirements gathering process but once the application has been built it is important to measure whether these standards have been met. Through our UX Compliance workshop we look at the most common industry standards, the tools for measuring compliance and how to use them correctly. We also look at your specific application and the standards that are applicable and those that have been set internally. We can then help you to put in place the necessary capabilities to measure compliance now and as the application evolves. The workshop is followed by us helping you to set-up the necessary compliance tools from which we provide a report outlining where there are problems and suggesting solutions.