We can help you simplify the interface of your new or existing products. Whether your product is Web-based or desktop, we apply the same process, which will result in a good user experience for your customers. We start by learning your product and by and talking with key stakeholders and customer-facing staff to gain insight into your users, your marketplace, your competition, and your business model. For existing products, we do a usability review of the user interface.

This inquiry helps us identify possible areas that could be stumbling blocks for end users. Often, our customers already know the areas that are problematic. User interface design is a multi-layered set of activities. The bottom layer consists of business requirements, user needs, and user tasks. As software developers know, it often takes several releases of a product to gain a comprehensive understanding of how people are using your product, especially if your product is in a unique and new category. Usability Resources can help you bridge the gap between your product and your customers, to get you the facts and feedback you need to make the best design decisions.

When a client hires us to do the interface design of their product, we like to collaborate with designated team member(s) throughout the engagement. We start the design process with UML diagrams to map out user actions, information architecture, and navigation flow. Once these aspects of the design are settled, we move on to wire framing, fitting our UI design deliverables into the overall project? schedule.

Some clients hire us to give feedback on an existing interface design. For these engagements we can assist with an expert usability review or usability testing with recommendations on how your product's interface can be made more intuitive. We can also help you develop usability and interface design skills within your team through on-the-job training.

It is wise to start the usability testing cycle early - as soon as you have key areas of your product defined. Paper prototype usability tests are an extremely effective way to get feedback on the product concept, feature set, navigation, workflow, and terminology. It is always amazing to see how much useful feedback you can get from these early usability feedback sessions. Another benefit of usability testing at the concept stage is you can make radical design changes based on feedback before implementation. These design changes will have maximum impact on your product's success with end users, with minimal impact on the project schedule.