put the user first

Public Zone is one of the UK's leading digital communications agencies working exclusively with clients from the public and non-profit sectors. We're following up on our Online Campaigning Handbook with a guide to designing the user experience to maximise your campaigns.

This is our research blog. We'll post some of our inspiration here as we write the book.

January 6, 2011 11:00 am

Getting designers onboard with usability testing

52weeksofux:

This week’s guest author is Christine Perfetti, CEO of Perfetti Media, a Boston-based user research consulting and training firm.

Many designers come to me for usability testing consulting services. One of the reasons they reach out is because they assume usability testing must be a…

2 notes

November 2, 2010 11:39 am

Removing one data field results in $12m extra profit

Online travel firm Expedia has found that data analytics can deliver a multi-million dollar kick to a company’s bottom line.

The company used analytics to identify a single change to a web page that generated an overnight surge in sales, Expedia’s VP of global analytics and optimisation…

October 13, 2010 2:00 pm

Listen with Caution to Expert Users

“The article suggests that you should resist the pressure to oil the squeaky wheel that expert customers often are. Don’t be fooled into believing that these vocal, enthusiastic, and opinionated users represent all users.”

(Source: uxmag.com)

September 30, 2010 8:38 am

Why you only need to test with 5 users

8:34 am

"The central premise of user centred design is that the best designed products and services result from understanding the needs of the people who will use them."

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Design Council

8:33 am

"Just as you wouldn’t want an architect designing your house without your input (or someone arranging your kitchen without understanding how you go about cooking), users don’t want some “genius” designer designing our users’ web applications. For the majority of interesting design challenges, we have to listen to our users in order to give them what they want. Otherwise, it just doesn’t work."

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Andrew Maier - http://www.uxbooth.com/blog/the-user-centered-design-conundrum/

8:29 am

"Remember: without user research, design is meaningless. Make sure your client knows this, too. Providing even rudimentary research findings can help everyone on the team make informed decisions as we move our design process forward"

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Andrew Maier
http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/general/three-steps-to-fostering-a-user-centered-design-culture/

7:37 am

"In order to improve your website, you need to understand who is visiting it and why. Only then will you be able to tailor your site to their needs"

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adaptavist.com

7:36 am

A good user centered design infographic

7:29 am

"while analytics can tell you in great detail what people are doing on your site, they can’t tell you why they are doing those things"

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Understanding that users could not determine what to do next because of bad button copy is infinitely more valuable than knowing that 95% of your users drop out before they complete a transaction.

http://52weeksofux.com/post/1166915234/user-testing-can-save-your-life