Work Samples
Created by Brooke on 29 Mar 2006 | Tagged as: Consulting
A competitive analysis can be many things but in this example is a review of the strengths and weakness, functions, and information provided by community service organization websites in the NYC area. I’ve created a simple Excel spreadsheet.
A website evaluation includes looking at several aspects of website including: graphic design and layout, workflow/taskflow, 508 compliance (meaning, is the site usable by people with disabilities), writing, performance, and more.
Generally I perform site evaluations after I have developed user personas (more on this later) and as a precursor to usability testing to try to make an assessment of what I think are some fundamental problems with the site based on research and my experience. I’ve created a simple review of the Fidelity.com site as. The second sample is based on a review coupled with a focus group I conducted with executives.
Each website requires a logical structure or blue print of how its information will be laid out. An Information Architecture diagram is similar to what a building architect may create to communicate the fundamental structure to a builder, in our case the development team. This first sample is for a small non-transactional website and the second is for a large scale transactional website
The business and development teams need a concrete example of what and how an application functions. A very effective means to communicate is to show wireframes. Wireframes give the business a clear representation of what to expect after development creates code and provides development an understanding of structure, display elements, and flow. I recommend no design elements at the early stages of wireframe creation.
To prepare for usability testing in a lab it’s a good idea to lay out what screens and questions will go together. Unbiased and non-leading questions should be asked of the user during testing. I like to use something like this example to give structure to the sessions and make sure that I am asking the right questions. It’s important to understand why each question is being asked and what are the expectations of each response before conducting the testing sessions.
Most clients want to see before and after screens of a project. I understand that they want to get a sense of how my work has improved a site or application and it is a valid request. What does concern me is that often a client does not understand the difference between design work and usability work. (See here.) Here are some examples of screens before and after usability testing and reviews.
A diagram of the primary flows that a user will execute to perform a task is often delivered to the business as a mechanism to expose processes before the development team begins to code.
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