Design your website

The number one rule in any user centred project is to determine who your users are and what they want to do. We use a variety of approaches to understand your users' characteristics, the tasks they need to complete and the expectations they bring to the process.

Tasks may include:

• Surveys and questionnaires
• Contextual inquiry
• User interviews
• Scenarios and use case studies
• Usability testing
• Focus groups

Benefits of user research include establishing a realistic foundation early in the project, exposing hidden requirements and ruling out unfavourable ideas before it is too late (and costly) to make changes.

During the requirements analysis phase we identify the current and future needs of both your business and your stakeholders. These requirements then act as a touchstone for all ongoing development and provide the basis for translation into a design concept.

Tasks may include:

• Business process analysis
• Stakeholder management
• Requirements management

Our capacity for conceptual design sets us apart from the usability crowd. This often neglected phase is the powerhouse where clear requirements are converted into a focused model, forming the DNA of the design solution.

Tasks may include:

• Requirements Analysis - Analysing the formal results of our process to identify patterns, relationships and directions
• Affinity Diagramming - Organising ideas to form and explore conceptual relationships
• Design Brainstorming - harnessing creativity to translate directions into design models.

Interaction design builds on the information and conceptual design framework, adding functional elements through which the user is able to control and receive feedback from the system.

Our approach involves analysing the steps within a user's activity to ensure the product interface supports effective and accurate task completion. Identified user goals and processes are addressed through applying a comprehensive range of tools and methodologies. The outcome is an optimised solution for user interaction.

Tasks may include:

• Collaborative design
• Control and feedback design
• Procedural design
• Feature design
• Cognitive walkthroughs

Deliverables from the interaction design process include sets of screen blueprints or wireframes for use by developers. Alternatively, a business process diagram, flowchart or report may be provided for management.

The Information Design phase of a project relates to the organisation and shaping of data or content across the site. During this phase we gather, structure, and present information in line with proven user centred principles.

Tasks may include:

• Information analysis
• Internal content workshops
• Workflow diagramming
• Card sorting.

Deliverables from the Information Design phase include Information Architecture Diagrams, Site Maps and Procedural Flowcharts.

Where information architecture focuses on grouping information, content design focuses on the information itself. A content plan maps the content required for the product. We can also write or translate content for web presentation while providing "writing for the web" training which will train your content writers to publish the right content to your new website.

In prototyping we develop the proposed user interface in order to test various aspects of the design, illustrate ideas or features and gather early user feedback.

Prototyping reduces the risk and cost of building a product which may prove less than optimal to users' needs and therefore require further refinement. There are two common approaches to prototyping:

Paper Prototyping allows users to interact with paper-based representations of the product keeping the cost of the user testing to a minimum. This approach tests the interaction design and gathers feedback which will determine the need for further testing and analysis.

Electronic Prototyping involves an electronic model of the proposed design. Although less cost and time efficient than paper-based techniques, this model closely represents the proposed interface allowing us to observe users' reactions to a semi online environment. As with the paper prototype approach, this method provides feedback about the interaction between the user and the interface allowing us to add more cycles of testing, more subjects, or more prototypes as required.

We have demonstrated expertise in translating the findings from research activities in to an interface design.

In this phase, we produce up to three design concepts which visually represent the research and analysis conducted during the user interaction phase.

Our visual design forms an integral component of the usability framework, reflecting both business and user objectives.

The result is a visual style/concept, representing a detailed visual approach for your product. A visual style guide can also be provided which captures specific design elements and branding requirements. We can also supply a CSS to ensure the design elements retain their integrity as they are brought across to your website.

Web Brand Management involves understanding and translating your brand in the online world. This involves a holistic appreciation of not only the visual and content aspect of your website but also the interactive level and how this all impacts on user perception and overall brand.

Providing an online presence exposes the brand to a new range of perceptions and expectations around usability, accessibility and content values. User experiences online have an impact on sales, credibility and brand perception potentially impacting on adjacent communication channels such as email or your call centre.

At Stamford we ensure the solutions we recommend produce an online asset, rather than a digital liability.

Managing the user experience means being aware of the entire user-experience lifecycle from first contact, through to engagement and transactional outcome.

We can identify your users and find out their end-to-end needs and wants. We analyse and prioritise their requirements from a holistic, practical point of view.

Our services cover the totality of the user experience, including user support (such as product documentation and call centre support), fulfilment, billing and branding. By understanding the user experience cycle we can then evaluate all the channels through which you and your products interact with your customers.