we are: London

Our mission was simple; quickly turn the NSPCC’s main site into an effective place to learn about child cruelty, support change, raise money and ultimately end child abuse in the UK.

Our approach

Before we started thinking about the redesign we talked to the end users through a mix of online true intent surveys, providing breadth, and one to one usability testing, providing depth.

Our consultants also spent a great deal of time working with the internal stakeholders to ensure we understood the direction of the business as well as the needs of the customer.

Turning insight into action

From the research we were able to create a clear picture of how the new site should work, keeping in mind the fact that the CMS would not change and much of the site copy would be refreshed but not rewritten.

Our design work was split into two distinct streams, information architecture and brand design.

Rapid prototypes

The information architecture (IA) team started by creating a number of quick paper prototypes, that were quickly worked up to low fidelity wireframes prototypes; all of which were reviewed with key stakeholders on a regular basis.

Brand design

Once the IA had reached a mid-point our visual design team took on the task of refreshing the online brand, in line with the existing NSPCC guidelines. Much of their effort was put into de-cluttering the layout, providing simpler visual clues to key areas of interaction and creating standards across the site from links and photos to templates and navigation.

Prototype to production

The final design phase saw us develop a high fidelity (fully designed) prototype that was used for sign off by the client and as a template for our front end developers to create the code for the CMS.

Working closely with the NSPCC’s own tech team and a pair of freelance Rhythmix experts, we set to the challenging task of integrating a new look with an old site, from navigation and templates to forms and functions.

Amazing results that speak for themselves

Firstly and most importantly the new website, launched earlier this summer, has lead to an eight-fold rise in online reporting to its Helpline about suspected child abuse.

In the month since the new look NSPCC website launched on 28 May, the NSPCC Helpline dealt with 209 online reports from people worried about a child - up from a previous monthly average of 25.

NSPCC digital communications manager Stephanie Hughes said:
“A key objective of the NSPCC website refresh was to provide people with engaging content, and ensure they could find what they were looking for with fewer clicks.

“Making sure everyone could access the NSPCC Helpline, encourage them to seek help and advice and report suspected child abuse, was top of the list.

“To make the Helpline easily accessible to all audiences we’ve placed prominent ‘Report a concern’ links and Helpline promotional units in the right hand column throughout the site, plus an NSPCC Helpline hero banner on the homepage”.

Stephanie Hughes continued:
“It’s important that people feel confident about reporting abuse, and that they are doing the right thing by contacting the NSPCC Helpline. To provide this reassurance all the Helpline pages feature clear, concise copy about how the service works and what happens when you report a concern.

“Overall, we’ve completely reviewed the NSPCC website user journey, to meet our audience’s needs as much as our business priorities, and the site is now fit to support donations, volunteering and campaigning too. Another key factor was to optimise the copy to make sure people would find us when concerned about a child.”

We could not have wished for a better result from our work on this important project.

And the thanks go to…

We worked tirelessly to make the site redesign successful, but we alone can not take all of the praise, we must also highlight the efforts of our client, who helped keep the project on track over time, make sense and rewrite much of the content and be there when we needed them to review and sign off on the project.

Visit the NSPCC website now and help make a difference.

A full press release can be found on the NSPCC PR website

Content strategy, Design, NSPCC, Research, User testing information architecture, Lab Research, Online surveys, user centred design

National Express has launched an innovative ‘low fare finder’ on their coach web page to make booking a £1 fare even easier for customers.

The National Express coach website receives over 60k visitors everyday, with a journey booked every eight seconds. The coach operator was aware that in a competitive market the customer’s time is precious and the new booking system needed to offer unbeatable value at the touch of a button.

The new booking system will simplify the booking process for customers, who can immediately access a calendar of low cost fares for over 180 routes without having to search through multiple booking pages.

The low fare finder has been developed by web usability specialists we are: london who were briefed to create a booking system which would make it truly simple for National Express’ customers to find their lowest fares.

Chris Averill, Managing Director, from we are: london, said:

“We have been working with National Express to create a booking system which is simple and transparent, meaning customers don’t need to search for £1 fares, they simply let the fare finder do the work for them.

Before developing the new system we undertook extensive research to understand who National Express’ customers were and what they wanted from online booking. The low fare finder provides simple, quick pricing across their most popular routes, making it easy for customers to find the best offer available. It is a sophisticated and stylish booking experience which is designed with customer ease in mind.”

Kevin Milnes, Head of E commerce for National Express, said:

“We set out to create a booking system with unrivalled simplicity and ease of use. The low fare finder delivers a wide range of £1 fares to the customer quickly and easily giving them the choice of when and where they want to travel within seconds.

The system has been built with the future in mind and we intend to build and expand upon the fare finder moving forwards. We believe this system is leading the UK transport industry when it comes to delivering simple, value fares online. Whether our customers are looking for a specific journey at a set time or want inspiration for a day out or ‘staycation’ our website delivers the best value fares to over 1,000 destinations across the UK. ”

National Express released 250,000 £1 fares across all routes to and from London. For more information or to make a booking visit http://www.nationalexpress.com/springcoachfares.aspx

Coaches, Design, National Express, Portal, Research

National Express, as the Official Travel Partner to Wembley Stadium and Official Supporter to the England Teams, sought to “make travel simpler” for fans of the beautiful game. we are:london were appointed to design and build a CMS-driven microsite, National Express Football world, that would provide football fans with exclusive football news, travel solutions to their favourite games and the chance to win money-can’t-buy prizes, whilst integrating a simple booking system.

Working to set a set deadline to deliver the full site, we utilised our knowledge of Wordpress, having just re-launched our website on it, whilst working with National Express’ internal design team to create a flexible site that met the challenges of an adaptable layout and flexibility of updating the content by a third-party marketing agency.

The site launched on time and to budget and proves that high value sites can be built with low budgets, yet still provide a robust and reliable CMS platform. We worked closely with National Express’ technical development team to integrate key booking functions from the main portal site, offering a seamless browse-to-buy experience.

The whole project was run using an agile approach and delivered to provide the best experience for both customers and content providers. Ongoing optimisation will be undertaken using Maxymiser behavioural targeting tools.

If you would like to find out how you can implement high value, low cost projects, from design to usability research the please call now on 0207 1991 321 or drop us an email.

Design, National Express Agile approach, information architecture, rapid prototyping

Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), formed in June 2007, is Abu Dhabi’s national media company which includes Abu Dhabi TV, Abu Dhabi Sports and Emirates TV Channels, four radio stations and various publications including Al Ittihad (Arabic), The National (English) newspapers, Zahrat, Majid and Super magazines.

Requirements

We are:london were appointed by ADMC to help launch ‘The National’ newspaper website and help put processes into place to help with other ADMC projects.

With ADMC building up a new digital team, we are:london were asked to provide support across the various digital media projects providing process management, project management, user centred design and development skills.

The National Newspaper website

Approach

With tight deadlines across various project channels, as highly skilled consultants, we are:london’s team were tasked to implement processes for various projects to ensure that ADMC staff had the support necessary to successfully deliver these digital projects.

Working closely with key stakeholders within ADMC, we are:london’s team identified project goals and deliverables and helped plan for the long-term delivery of these various projects, helping to minimise risk and ensure successful launches.

We are:london have continued to provide on going support throughout 2008 as ADMC has been recruiting it’s digital team, across various aspects from strategy, project planning, user experience design, graphical design and template build.

Result

ADMC have successfully launched ‘The National’ website and are in the process of launching several other digital projects over the coming months, across TV, web and mobile platforms, which have had the continuing input and support from we are:london.

Abu Dhabi Media Company, Design, Research, Strategy competitor review, information architecture, Online surveys, rapid prototyping

Website usability testing

The Metropolitan Police Services (the Met) have launched a new careers section in their website. To be successful, the new site has to be user-friendly and raise the brand profile of the Met amongst the target audience.

we are:london were commissioned to test the site by Empower, the Met’s communication agency. Our research methodology included a series of user tasks, taxonomy cards and brand-based questions to analyse the customer experience.

we are:london provided an expert team to record both quantitative and qualitative results over three days at the Science Museum ’s testing lab. This data was then translated for the Met into constructive reports on:-

User interaction - to identify the most common routes used around the site and any stumbling blocks.

Card sort - to understand any problems with comprehension of current terminology.

Brand review - to evaluate external reaction to and understanding of the Met’s brand and message.

Competitor review - to benchmark against sites operating in similar fields.

Shelley Rees, Director of Empower, said:

“Ensuring the user leaves the careers site with a positive view and complete understanding of what is involved in the varied jobs offered by the Met is crucial to the success of this site, as is the ease of use and compliance with accessibility standards. we are:london’s expertise in user testing, research and usability ensured that the project ran smoothly and has lead to what is probably the most in-depth user study of any careers site in the UK .”

Design, Metropolitan Police, Research competitor review, Lab Research

As part of the NSPCC’s on-going new media strategy, we are:london was employed to audit fifteen of the NSPCC’s most critical sites for accessibility compliance and make recommendations to ensure all sites could be brought into line with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

The Project

With such a vast audience for their sites, ensuring access to all information for every user is crucial. The need for accessible websites is compounded by the fact that one of the NSPCC’s most vulnerable audiences is children with disabilities.  A number of the sites were due for a design overhaul as part of the ongoing content management implementation programme.

we are:london recommended the following services:

Outcome

Using automatic and customisable tools in parallel with we are:london’ s accessibility audit a full review was undertaken of the main sites.  All changes were then implemented to budget and to deadline.

Design, NSPCC, Research, Strategy Accessibility review, competitor review

The National Express group has launched a new look coaches website www.nationalexpress.com/coaches. The re-design of the website is born out of the brand development for the National Express Group, which focuses on their strap line:  ‘Making travel simpler’.

The Project

User centred design specialists, we are:london, was appointed to develop the new branding online by focusing on the navigation, information architecture and template simplicity. Key objectives focused on delivering a website that provided design consistency across the navigation and page templates and produced a cohesive and engaging new site for online users.

Services included:

• User centred design - through our proven methodology, detailed site maps and high level wireframes, in conjunction with brand design concepts, are produced to define the information architecture and navigation of the application. Interactive prototypes are tested thoroughly to ensure the end product is fully functional.

• Project management – working with multiple stakeholders to ensure all parties’ commercial requirements are defined & delivered using a seamless and unified methodology.

• Customer Experience Strategy – providing unparalleled visibility of your customers’ online activities with our monthly site monitoring service.

Outcome

we are:london’s agile development and delivery methodology ensured the project was delivered significantly within the project delivery deadline. Via we are:london’s ‘Customer Experience Strategy’ service, ongoing work to monitor the site’s performance is now underway.

Design, National Express, Research user centred design

National Express is the UK’s leading travel provider, with over 1 billion journeys made every year on its bus, train, light rail and express coach and airport operations. we are:london was appointed to deliver an engaging and interactive website that streamlined the various travel services that National Express operates.

The Project

The National Express group operates a number of travel services and companies and wanted a web portal that combined all of the services under a unified branded portal so that customers could plan their journeys more effectively and efficiently. we are:london recommended the following services:

• User Centred Design – through our proven methodology, detailed site maps and high level wireframes are produced to define the information architecture and navigation of the application. Interactive prototypes are tested thoroughly to ensure the end product is fully functional.

• Remote Testing - remote user testing allows you to connect with geographically dispersed users over the Internet, providing you with a rich insight into the key usability issues.

Outcome

The final version was developed to high fidelity and tested through lab based research to refine the layout, content and services. Changes to the site build were implemented and the brand was developed with National Express and CHI&Partners to meet portal requirements. The site was successfully delivered on time and to budget.  An ongoing review process is in place along with continued multivariate testing.

Design, National Express, Research, Strategy Remote research, user centred design

In November 2007, National Express launched Dot2Dot, a brand new airport transfer service.  With state of the art satellite navigation equipment, congestion tracking systems, highly experienced drivers and a range of specially configured shuttles; dot2dot will be the first-choice for savvy business or leisure travellers.

The Project

National Express recognised that the website interface would be a major factor in the success of this new service.  we are:london was appointed by National Express, with partnering agency Concentra, to deliver an engaging and interactive website with a unique, simple-to-use booking system.

Chris Averill of we are:london comments, “Our business is well-placed to deliver bespoke business solutions, which are created through a breakdown of the market demographics using our powerful user-definition research tools.”

Matthew Lovering, dot2dot Business Development Director, explains why he chose we are:london.  “We appointed we are:london to lead the development of the new website with our customers’ needs at the heart of the process.  As a booking service website it was clear that a user centred design approach was critical to the success of the site and we are:london ’s findings during user testing were instrumental to how the site now looks and works.

Chris and his team’s ability to develop site navigation and a booking process that delivers an extremely intuitive experience is testament to their skills.”

Project Initiation

we are:london simplified the process for the client by appointing specialist agency partners whilst taking full responsibility for the project management. we are:london ’s research team was commissioned to provide a detailed competitor analysis for dot2dot, which revealed its competitors’ strengths and weaknesses

Lab-based testing was undertaken at we are:london ’s custom-built facilities in London, using a broad mix of business & pleasure, domestic & foreign users.

Research Focused

Research findings helped define the brief, which included, target group requirements, site interaction, usability issues and identification of key sectors within the target market.  From the results, we are:london developed a number of iterative information architecture (IA) designs, which the team tested at two key levels. The results from the research prompted a number of dramatic changes during the development phase to both the site and the booking engine.

Design, National Express, Research information architecture, interactive prototypes, user centred design

Information architecture development

We have been successfully delivering information architecture projects for the past 8 months, directly to O2 and in partnership with Agency Republic. During a project that we were leading in early 2008 for a travel client, we started to investigate a new process for delivering complex information architecture and interface design projects in a more effective and efficient way. After working on a number of projects for O2 based on a traditional approach to IA development through Visio wireframes and multiple sign offs, we were able to pioneer our new approach on a live, cross platform project.

Our agile process

Our approach to rapid prototype delivery is based on a workshop or hothouse where key stakeholders discuss their requirements and, when applicable, start to define elements such as objectives, personas, user flows, navigation, behaviour, etc.

Week 1

An initial prototype is then built and hosted online for the client teams and 3rd parties to interact with prior to a review.

Week 2

A prioritised list of changes in agreed and the prototype is updated to reflect these changes, whilst new features and functions are added.

Week 3

A sign off review takes place to lock down agreed functionality and scope.The prototype is then either frozen, or developed in parallel to a detailed set of Visio documents.

Advantages

The main advantages of implementing our rapid prototype methodology are much faster UI development and sign off times; typically one third of a traditional IA project. Earlier input from stakeholders based on a tangible product rather than complex IA documents. Real-time changes during review sessions and workshops; this is key to reducing timescales. The delivery of a functional prototype that can be used for technical spec, demonstrations, usability research and marketing.

Nigel Suddell, project lead for O2 added: “we are:london delivered a very impressive managed service that dramatically reduced the amount of time usually required to develop an information architecture design. The interactive prototype was an invaluable tool, that led to a much better understanding of a complex set of process and interactions, across the O2 development agency teams.

By providing a clear definition of the functionality in a succinct manner there was little room for interpretation and little need for clarifications. This directly impacted the production of other project deliverables (requirement specs, technical designs, etc) and was of great benefit in the overall timelines. We will be communicating this example, across our business, as a best practice approach for similar projects.”

Design, O2 Agile approach, information architecture, interactive prototypes, rapid prototyping